EFFECT OF BLENDED INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGY ON ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF UPPER BASIC SOCIAL STUDIES STUDENTS IN DELTA STATE

BY

ETANEKI, Akpesiri Faith

omosorfaith@gmail.com

Department of Social Science Education (Social Studies, Unit), Faculty of Education, Delta State University, Abraka Delta State Nigeria

ABSTRACT

This study investigated the effects of blended instructional strategies on academic performance of Upper Basic Social Studies students. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of blended instructional strategy instructional strategy on the academic performance of Upper Basic Social Studies student in Delta State. Three research questions and three hypotheses were formulated and tested. A quasi-experimental, equivalent pre-test, post-test, control group design using a 2×2 factorial design was adopted for the study. The subjects included all the Upper Basic II Social Studies students from three purposively selected secondary schools in Delta State. The two (2) different schools selected were randomly assigned to the various groups: Blended instructional strategy and conventional lectures method as control. Each group consisted of 128 (blended instructional strategy) and 124 (conventional lecture method) students making a total of 252 sampled students. Treatments were given to the two groups for four weeks. A Social Studies Achievement Test (SSAT) with reliability coefficient of 0.83 was used to measure students’ performance before and after treatments. The student’s pre-test and post test scores were analysed using Mean, Standard deviation, t-test and Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). The findings showed that: there is a significant difference in the academic performance of Social Studies students taught with blended instructional strategy and those taught with conventional lecturing method, there is no  significant  difference in the performance  of  male  and  female  students taught using blended instructional strategy, and there is no significant interaction effect of instructional strategies and gender on students’ academic performance in Social Studies. Based on these findings, conclusion was drawn and recommendation were made among others that Social Studies teachers should endeavour to expose students to blended instructional strategy so as to promote and encourage social interaction, active engagement in learning, self-motivation, learning by doing and learning by experience in the classroom.

Keywords: Social Studies, Blended Instructional Strategy, Academic Performance, Gender