Abstract
<p>The study examined Social Studies teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge and its influence on their assessment practices in Junior High Schools in the West Akim Municipality in the Eastern Region of Ghana. The study was hinged on the Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) model by Shulman, (1986) and adopted the concurrent triangulation design with mixed methods approach. The census and convenience sampling techniques were used to select seventy-seven (77) and ten (10) respondents respectively for the study. Questionnaire, observation check list and document analysis were used by the researchers as instruments for data collection. These instruments were used to enable the researchers triangulate the information to test the consistency of the findings. A reliability analysis using Cronbach’s Alpha was performed to determine the internal consistency of each construct in the questionnaire and the observation checklist. The data obtained from the three instruments were analysed using descriptive statistics (frequency counts, percentages, mean and standard deviation). Inferential statistics (Pearson Product Moment Correlation) was used to test the stated hypothesis. The results indicated that generally, most of the JHS Social Studies teachers possessed some level of pedagogical content knowledge. Again, Social Studies teachers practice traditional assessment method (pen/pencil and paper). The results further pointed out that pedagogical content knowledge influence teachers’ assessment practices (r = .819**, sig. =.000** p &lt; 0.05, CI=95%, n=77, 2-tailed). It is recommended that Social Studies teachers within the West Akim Municipality should make use of alternative assessment techniques as these other techniques will help cater for affective and psychomotor assessments which will help develop pupils’ attitudes and values.</p><p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0788/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>
Highlights
Education for citizenship has become a major concern and the focus of primary, secondary and the early education curriculum across the globe (Akhtar, 2008)
They further cited Koehler and Mishra (2008) and Shulman (1986) who had earlier argued that every teacher is expected to possess teaching expertise that is derived from a combination of content knowledge and pedagogical knowledge
Social Studies teachers did not select facts, which will develop the civic competences of the learners. These findings suggest that many Social Studies teachers who teach the subject at the Senior High School lack the requisite knowledge to teach the subject
Summary
Education for citizenship has become a major concern and the focus of primary, secondary and the early education curriculum across the globe (Akhtar, 2008). National Council for Social Studies (NCSS) (2001), expatiated that if a nation is to completely grow its citizens' readiness to follow its democratic values, it must help progress towards achieving the dream of effective teaching and learning in Social Studies. This means, Social Studies as Citizenship Education is the study aimed at inculcating desirable skills, attitudes, values and relevant knowledge among learners to enable them to participate effectively in the civic life of their communities. Tantrarungroj & Suwannatthachote (2012) posit that teacher education is designed basically to equip student teachers with the pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), skills and attitudes that are required for classroom teaching. They further cited Koehler and Mishra (2008) and Shulman (1986) who had earlier argued that every teacher is expected to possess teaching expertise that is derived from a combination of content knowledge and pedagogical knowledge
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