Effects of Instructional Materials on Secondary Schools Students’ Academic Achievement in Social Studies in Ekiti State, Nigeria

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to highlight the contribution of instructional materials to the academic achievement ofsecondary school students in Social Studies in Ekiti State. The population for the study comprised of all JuniorSecondary School Class II students from among which 180 were sampled. The instrument for the study is a 30multiple-choice self- designed Social Studies Achievement Test (SSAT).The instrument was validated by specialistsin Social Studies Test and Measurement and Educational Management. Test-re-test method and estimation ofinternal consistency was used to ascertain the reliability. The reliability co-efficients of 0.73 and 0.75 were obtainedrespectively. The study generated four hypotheses that were tested at the significance level of 0.05. ANOVA andANCOVA statistical tools were used to analyse the data collected. The study found that there was a significantdifference in the pre-test and post-test of students in the experimental group. The study also found that gender effectwas not statistically significant in social studies. The study concluded that students who were taught withinstructional materials performed better than those taught without. The study therefore recommended that teachers ofSocial Studies should employ the use of essential instructional materials for their teaching and also improvise whereand when the materials are not available. It therefore becomes imperative to have concerted efforts among parents,school and the government to make available important and necessary instructional materials to teachers of SocialStudies for enhanced teaching and consequents improved achievement of students in the subject.