Effects of Guided Discovery Method On Students’ Attitude to and Achievement in Social Studies in Nigerian Schools

Abstract

This study was carried out on the effects of guided discovery method on student’s attitude to and achievement in social studies in College of Education (Pre-service) students in Nigeria. Three research questions were raised and three null hypotheses were formulated. The research design was quasi-experimental non-equivalent control group. The study was carried out in four randomly selected Colleges of Education in Ekiti, Edo, Ondo and Ogun State in Nigeria. The sample size was 240 students from four randomly selected intact classes in the sampled school were used. The instruments for data collection were Social studies Achievement Test (SSAT) and Social studies Attitude Questionnaire SSAQ. Descriptive statistics were used to answer the research questions while T-test was used to test the null hypotheses. The results of the analysis showed that these was significant difference between the mean achievement scores of experimental group and control group. The study also revealed that there was no significant difference between the mean achievement scores of males and females’ students in the experimental group. There was a significant difference between the mean attitude scores of males and females students in the experimental group. Based on this study it was concluded that guided discovery method has positive effects on student’s achievement as well as improving their attitude towards Social studies and it is gender friendly. Based on the findings, it was recommended that among others seminars, workshops and conferences should be held for Social studies teachers to acquaint them with the knowledge of