STUDENTS’ PERCEPTION OF THE CONTRIBUTORY ROLES OF SOCIAL STUDIES TO VALUES AND CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE IN NIGERIA
Keywords:
Character development, Social justice, Social Studies, Students’ perception, Moral valuesAbstract
All human activities including teaching and learning revolve around values. Hence, this study examined the perception of students on the roles of Social Studies to values and character development for social justice in Nigeria. A descriptive survey design was used in the study population. A sample of 388 students from 20 junior secondary schools in Ogun State, Nigeria was employed using the purposive and simple random sampling methods. The study was guided by one research question and two hypothesis tested at 0.05 level of significance. A self-designed four-point Likert structured questionnaire which had reliability co-efficient of 0.78 was the main instrument used in collecting data. Data collected for the study were analysed with frequency counts, simple percentages, mean, standard deviation, t-test and Pearson Product Moment Correlation Co-efficient. The findings showed that the students had a positive perception of the relevance of Social Studies to values and character development. It equally showed that students’ perception of the relevance of the subject to values and character development is neither a factor of gender nor type of institution but rather a matter of conviction. Based on these results, it was recommended that Social Studies should further be encouraged in schools to enhance effective teaching and learning of values and character education for social justice in Nigeria.
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