EFFECTS OF TWO CONSTRUCTIVIST-BASED INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES ON STUDENTS’ ACHIEVEMENT AND INTEREST IN JUNIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL SOCIAL STUDIES
ABSTRACT
This quasi-experimental study examined the effect of PEDDA and 5Es on students’ achievement and interest in social studies in Ankpa Education Zone, Kogi State. The purpose of the study was to determine the effects of two constructivist-based instructional strategies which are; prior-knowledge, exploration, discussion, dissatisfaction, application ((PEDDA)and engagement, exploration, explanation, elaboration and evaluation(5Es) on students’ achievement and interest in Junior Secondary School Social Studies in Kogi state, Nigeria.Sample for the study consisted of 120 students selected with purposive sampling technique. Instruments for data collection consisted of Social Studies Achievement Test (SSAT) and Social Studies Interest Scale (SSIS). Both instrument were properly validated and appropriately tested for reliability. Reliability co-efficient of 0.69 and 0.78 were obtained respectively for the two instruments. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions, while Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) and t-test statistics were used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The findings of the study among other things revealed that PEDDA instructional strategy improved students’ achievement and interest in Social Studies much more than the 5Es strategy. It also revealed that learners show more interest in learning Social Studies when PEDDA is used than 5Es. These findings were exhaustively discussed with far reaching implications on how to improve Social Studies using innovative teaching strategy. It was concluded among other things that the two constructivist-based instructional strategies have statistically significant effects on students’ achievement and interest in junior secondary school Social Studies. It was therefore recommended that the application of PEDDA and 5Es instructional strategies in teaching Social Studies should be encouraged during teacher training and in-service training programmes of teachers in Nigeria.