Assessing the level of awareness and utilization of instructional materials in teaching and learning of social studies in selected senior high schools in the Northern Region.

Abstract

The purpose of the Study was to assess teachers’ level of awareness and utilization of instructional materials in teaching and learning of Social Studies in selected Senior High Schools (SHSs) in the Northern Region. The Study adopted the quantitative approach and descriptive survey design. The Study sampled 156 teachers using the cluster sampling technique. Results of the Study were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Within the frame of Ausubel’s Theory of Meaningful Learning, the findings show that Social Studies teachers were better aware of the use of instructional materials in terms of instructional materials that offer content specific to Social Studies, reading materials such as textbooks, community resources and using a variety of instructional materials that fosters inclusivity and caters to diverse learning styles among students in Social Studies lessons. The findings also show that the use of instructional materials improved students' understanding of Social Studies concepts, made Social Studies lessons more engaging and helped students retain information better in Social Studies instructions. In addition, incorporating instructional materials fosters a deeper interest in Social Studies topics among students and the overall academic performance of students is positively influenced. Moreover, the findings show limited financial resources hindering the acquisition of materials, lack of access to technology affecting the use of digital materials in Social Studies instruction, and lack of support or resources from school administration in acquiring instructional materials for Social Studies were the major challenges that confront the Social Studies teaching and learning. The concludes that teachers in Senior High Schools in the Northern Region possess a high level of awareness and competence in utilizing diverse instructional materials specific to Social Studies. Again, there is a strong inclination among teachers to utilize various instructional materials and resources extensively. The Study recommends that the Ministry of Education and the Ghana education service should help finance schools to acquire the necessary instructional materials to ensure the effective teaching and learning of Social Studies in senior high schools. Also, teacher training institutions should train teachers on how to improvise local materials to ensure effective delivery of their lessons when the original ones are not available and also to save cost of acquiring original instructional materials.