Journal of Education, Society and Behavioural Science

Background: The thrust behind this study was the poor academic achievement of students recorded in Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) in social studies.

Aim: This study examined the Effects of Concept Mapping and Brainstorming Instructional Strategies on Junior Secondary School Students’ Achievement in Social Studies in Mubi Educational Zone, Nigeria. Six null hypotheses were formulated and tested in the study.

Study Design: The quasi-experimental non-randomized pre-test, post test control group design was used. The study also employed the multi-stage sampling technique at four levels.

Methods: The study comprised 397 junior secondary (JS II) students offering Social Studies from six intact classes in public junior secondary schools in three Local Government Areas of Mubi Educational Zone. A 45-item Social Studies Achievement Test (SSAT) constructed by the researcher and structured in line with BECE standardized test items in Social Studies was used to obtain data. The instrument was validated by three experts in Social Studies and Test and Measurement in the Department of Science Education, Adamawa State University, Mubi. After pilot testing the instrument using 80 students from two intact classes, the data obtained was analyzed using Kendall tau b statistic. A reliability index of 0.81 was obtained. Hypotheses one and six were tested using Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA). One Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used to test hypotheses two and three; and the Hochberg’s GT2 Post Hoc Mean Comparisons Test was used to establish the effect sizes. The independent samples t-Test statistic was used to test hypotheses four and five.

Results: The findings from this study revealed that there was a statistically significant difference in the mean scores of students taught social studies using concept mapping strategy, brainstorming strategy and conventional teaching method. There was a significant difference in the retention scores of students taught social studies using concept mapping strategy, brainstorming strategy and conventional teaching method. The study also revealed no significant effect of gender on students’ achievement in social studies.

Conclusion: Based on the findings of this study, it was recommended that social studies teachers teaching in schools should be encouraged to incorporate these instructional techniques with other teaching methods in their daily instructions in order to improve the learning outcomes of students in social studies.