EXAMINATION OF INTEGRATED GROUP BASED MASTERY LEARNING MODEL AND ITS EFFECT ON SOCIAL STUDIES STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT

EXAMINATION OF INTEGRATED GROUP BASED MASTERY LEARNING MODEL AND ITS EFFECT ON SOCIAL STUDIES STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT

Background of the study

Recent socio-political and economic developments in the world and within nations have resulted in shifts in educational objectives and increased obstacles for social studies. Schools are expected to provide students with not just fundamental understanding of social studies subject, but also higher cognitive abilities such as problem solving and critical thinking, which allow for self-development and continual learning. To address these issues, there is a shift away from the behaviorist technique of direct instruction, such as the lecture method, note copying, and dictations, in which the learner is given material to memorize and regurgitate (Ekoko 2017) .

Changes in educational objectives continue to affect Social Studies as a field. History, Economics, Government, and Geography were taught as independent disciplines in the twentieth century, with a list of information to memorize. Students' learning had to be examined and taught as an integrated subject as educational results changed. The emphasis has shifted from learning as acquisition of facts to learning as utilization of facts; from learning as memorization (from Geography and History texts) to learning as a process of discovering important relationships and principles inductively; and from learning for the sake of learning to learning as a way of inquiring and thinking according to Social Science processes. This can only be accomplished through the mastery learning technique (Onibokun, 1999).

Social studies as a discipline is a relatively new addition to the global curriculum. The notion of social studies was initially conceived in the United States in 1916 by the committee on social studies of the National Education Association's commission on the restructuring of secondary education (Dada 2018). Later in the 1930s, social studies was brought into Europe, particularly in the United Kingdom, as a result of exceptional excitement to modify the traditional curriculum to satisfy the demands of society. Between 1950 and 1956, the topic had spread to numerous African countries. The new independent African states had to reorganize their national policies in order to fulfill their expected duties as independent nations within the international community of nations. The adoption of the National Policy on Education, generally known as the 6-3-3-4 system, in 1977 accelerated the growth of social studies in secondary schools in Nigeria. Two important causes contributed to this remarkable improvement. The first was that, beginning in 1976, the Universal Elementary Education (UPE) program made social studies the sole social science topic taught in primary schools. The second aspect was the inclusion of social studies as a basic subject in junior high school. This has raised students' and instructors' understanding of the importance of social studies, particularly as it relates to the implementation of the 6-3-3-4 educational system. In order to implement the national policy on education, government at all levels became more interested in the schooling process in terms of educational outcomes, learning activities, instructional resources, instructional strategies and evaluation procedures. In view of this, emphasis has been on the need to:

1. make educational activities centre on the learner for maximum self-development and self-fulfillment.
2. structure the educational system to develop the practice of self -learning (FRN, 2004). The implication of these for classroom teachers is that, they should develop a teaching approach which encourages the learners to participate in the learning processes.

Notwithstanding the government's efforts to reform the educational system in order to promote self-learning, the expository style to instruction has been the dominant strategy in schools from the introduction of western education in Nigeria in 1843. Other instructional strategies were eventually added into the learning processes. For example, since 1960, curriculum developers have stressed the inquiry approach, believing that conducting inquiries is the most promising strategy for students to learn inquiry abilities and become social studies literate (Iimi, A. 2017). Even yet, schools cannot be regarded to have done well in cultivating such talents in their students.

Many studies have been conducted to investigate the causes of students' underachievement in Junior Secondary Social Studies and the most common factor in all of them is the ineffective teaching method used by Social Studies teachers (Iimi, 2017) . As a result, most tactics used in the conventional, expository manner of teaching cannot meet learners' specific requirements, preferences, and interests. This is one of the reasons the researcher wants to test out different methods, such as the mastery learning technique. If the objectives of Social Studies education are to be realized, an alternative teaching paradigm in the form of a better and effective result-oriented teaching technique is required.

The Federal Government adopted Social Studies as a school topic to assist students gain fundamental social information, good attitudes, values, and social skills required to make them functional and responsible citizens and contributing members of society. It offers learners with the information, skills, and attitudes necessary to comprehend their physical and social environments and act or behave as responsible citizens. It trains students to live in a worldwide and culturally varied society, as well as to keep up with rapid technical and electrical growth (Martorella, 1996). It combines a person working with a group and a group working with another group. It is the study of man's interaction with his environment, including how the environment affects man and how man impacts his environment.

Social studies education is thus an activity that includes both the instructor and the student.

The goal of teaching is to guarantee that learning occurs. While learning entails a change in the learner's behavior, social studies teaching involves the transfer of the appropriate body of information, attitudes, manner, dispositions, skills, and values that enable the individual to live in a growing and dynamic society.

Adeyemi (2017) defines social studies teaching as a process of facilitating student learning through the teacher's proper management of the inter-relationships between the students' interests, the content for learning, and the methods and materials he or she intends to use in the teaching and learning of the content materials. It may entail instructing someone on knowledge, abilities, and attitudes with the goal of the individual knowing the information or doing something or acting in a specific way that is compatible with the instruction. We know that the individual receiving the instruction may be a learner, a pupil, a student, or a trainee. The method used by the instructor to convey knowledge to the student will eventually determine whether or not he or she is instructing. Mastery Learning, as defined by Lynn, Douglas, and Gerald (2009), is an educational approach that provides students with many chances to show material mastery. To engage all learners, the first teaching is delivered at a rapid tempo. Students who do not demonstrate mastery are given further education targeted precisely to remedy their misconceptions. Re-teaching tactics should be distinct from the original educational approaches. If the original information was taught in a lecture format with graphics, for example, the re-teaching process might include hands-on activities and cooperative learning tactics. These pupils are later offered a retest in order to demonstrate mastery. The instructor must be a good communicator who completely analyses his social studies subject and organizes and comprehensively conveys it. There must be a feedback system in place to allow for the repair of flaws in instructional approaches, which can lead to improvements in the teaching and learning of Social Studies.         

Summarily, to instruct for mastery the following guideline are to be followed:

1. Clearly state the objectives representing the purpose of the subject
2. The curriculum is divided into relatively small learning units, each with modelling, practice, formative evaluation; re-teaching, reinforcement, and summative evaluation included.
3. Each unit is preceded by brief diagnostic tests, formative assessments.
4. The results of formative tests are used to provide supplementary instruction, or corrective activities to help the learner overcome problems.

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