EFFECT OF ACTIVITY-BASED TEACHING METHOD ON SOCIAL STUDIES STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT IN JUNIOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN KATSINA, NIGERIA

The study investigated effects of activity–based teaching method on social studies students’ academic achievement in junior secondary schools (JSS) in Katsina metropolis, Nigeria. A quasi-experimental pre-post test research design was used for the study. The population of the study was 10313 students, in junior secondary schools two in Katsina. Two schools were randomly selected and served as experimental and control schools. Non proportionate stratified random sampling technique was used to select 100 JSS III social studies students from the population. Fifty (50) students from government junior secondary school KofarKaura as experimental group while 50 students from government college Katsina junior as control group. The instruments used for this study was Social Studies Achievement Test (SSAT). The experimental group was taught using activity – based teaching method for five weeks, while control group was taught using lecture method. Two hypotheses were formulated and tested in the study. The findings of the study revealed that there was significant difference in the academic achievement of JSS students exposed to an activity – based teaching method and those exposed to lecture method. Also, there was no significant difference in the academic achievement of male and female JSS Students when exposed to an activity-based teaching method. Based on the findings it was concluded that students taught using activity- based teaching method achieved better than those taught using traditional method. The recommendations were made among others that social studies teachers should learn to make learning students-centred, and not teachers- centred.