Nigerian Journal of Sociology of Education, 3(2), Dec., 1995
URBAN/RURAL DIFFERENCES IN LEARNERS’ PERCEIVED DIFFICULT
TOPICS IN SECONDARY SCHOOL SOCIAL STUDIES
By
Dr. (Mrs.) A. A. Jekayinfa
ABSTRACT
This is a report of an investigation on perceived difficult topics in JS II social
studies curriculum and the extent to which environmental differences have influenced the
learning of such topics. A total of 1,500 junior secondary school students randomly
drawn from 25 secondary schools in 5 states (Kwara, Kogi, Niger, Oyo and Ogun) of the
Federation took part in the study. A cheklist consisting items from literature was used to
collect information on the perceived difficult topics from the secondary school students in
the study areas. The responses were subjected to descriptive and inferential statistics.
The result of the investigation showed that out of the eight (8) broad topics three (3) were
perceived difficult by more than half of the respondents. The levels of difficulty,
however, vary from one topic to the other and from one environmental location to the
other. The result indicated that there was a significant difference in the level of
difficulties perceived by students in the rural and urban locations. Also, different reasons
were given by respondents as being responsible for the learning of those identified
difficult topics. Recommendations and suggestions were made on how to improve the
teaching of the identified difficult topics.
Nigerian Journal of Sociology of Education, 3(2), Dec., 1995
Introduction
Teachers have tried with little success, on many occasions, to help students learn
certain concepts in many disciplines. The case of social studies is a bit more complex
because it is a multi-disciplinary subject whose contents are selected from various areas
to be able to achieve the purpose of solving man’ social, economic and political problems
with respect to the present and future of our environment. Many schools have produced
failing students in social studies and most of these schools have on their staff list,
teachers, who cannot help students to learn social studies meaningfully. The teacher is a
great facilitator in the teaching-learning process. Most educationists, are in agreement
that the teacher is the key factor who has inescapable significance in the life of the his/her
students both at school and in the wider environment outside the school. This is in
agreement with the writings of Coleman (1966); Kiesling (1969); Benson (1966);
Fafunwa (1969); Coombs (1970) ad Adaralegbe (1980). They all agree that teachers
make a difference in the attitudes and achievements of students. These and some other
authors have produced convincing evidence to show that the teacher is the primary
determinant of what students learn. Of all the factors that constitute a school, the single
and most influential factor in terms of students’ learning and performance is the impact of
the teacher.
One should also not loose sight of some other variables, like the learner’s level of
intelligence, his/her readiness and interest which can be facilitators or constraints to
learning. The learning environments also have major roles to play in learning not only of
social studies but of other disciplines in the school curriculum.
These have been
documented in literature by many people amongst whom were Majoribanks (1978),
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Nigerian Journal of Sociology of Education, 3(2), Dec., 1995
Aganga (1996), Alapo (1997), Ojo (1997) and Odekunbi (1997). Family environment
also has significant influence in the development of a child’s cognitive abilities and
affective characteristics.
Negative learning environments like inadequate learning
materials, lack of library facilities as well as time-table constraints also hinder students’
learning in social studies.
From the foregoing statements, it can be summarised that students may have
problems in learning some social studies concepts and these problems may be traceable
to the students themselves, their learning environment or the curriculum but most
importantly, what students learn or fail to learn is largely dependent on their teacher(s).
The Problem and Purpose of the Study
In Nigeria, factors which are believed to influence performance in many
disciplines in the Arts, Sciences and Social Sciences have been extensively studied. As a
result of the newness of social studies in the secondary school curriculum, little or
nothing has been done in this area.
This study was therefore, concerned with the
influence of teacher and environmental factors in the learning of some topics in social
studies. This study is of educational importance because it is believed that if teachers
know the areas where they are lagging behind to make their students learn properly, such
understanding may provide basis for making amendments. The outcome of this study
may also allow the various levels of government to produce some enabling learning
environments for the learners in the various schools.
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Nigerian Journal of Sociology of Education, 3(2), Dec., 1995
The main purpose of this study was to determine the area of the JS II social
studies syllabus which the students find difficult to learn and to identify the reasons for
the students’ difficulties. The study sought to find answers to the following questions:
1.
Do students have difficulty learning any of the contents of Junior Secondary
School II social studies syllabus?
2.
Why do students have difficulty learning the contents of Junior Secondary II
social studies syllabus?
3.
Can there be any difference in the area of difficulties perceived by students in
the rural, and the areas of difficulties perceived by the students in the urban
environments in JS II social studies syllabus?
The Sample
The sample for this study comprised of one thousand five hundred Junior
Secondary School Students (704 from rural and 796 from urban schools) randomly drawn
from 25 schools in 5 states of Nigeria. The sample was stratified for location of schools.
The selection of the schools was based on the population size, location of the settlements
and the level of development of the areas in terms of the availability of infrastructures
such as electricity, portable water, and motorable roads. Thus, the 25 secondary schools
which were randomly selected represented 13 from urban areas and 12 from rural areas.
The Instrument
The checklist that was used for this study was developed by the researcher. The
18-item checklist was based on a careful synthesis of the Junior Secondary School II
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Nigerian Journal of Sociology of Education, 3(2), Dec., 1995
social studies syllabus being used in the study areas. The sub-topics that constituted the
18 items can be grouped into eight major social studies topics for JS II class. The
checklist has two parts: the first part requires the respondents to indicate the level of
difficulty they experienced when learning each of the 18 topics on a three point scale
ranging from ‘Not Difficult’ to ‘Difficult’ and to ‘Very Difficult’. The second part
requires the respondents to select the reasons for any difficulty they may have
experienced from five predetermined alternatives.
Analysis of Data
Analysis of responses to the checklist on the level of difficulty experienced by
students in learning each of the topics involved the use of non-parametric techniques of
statistical treatment because the data were purely ordinal.
Frequency counts and
percentages of urban and rural students selecting each topic and their difficulty level were
worked out.
The t-test statistical method was employed to determine whether the
differences between the students in the rural and urban areas in the difficult topics they
perceived are significant or not.
Results
One thousand, seven hundred and fifty (1,750) copies of the checklist were given
out, seventy copies to each of the 25 schools. Out of these, one thousand five hundred
(1,500) copies were properly completed and used for analysis.
The three research questions raised at the beginning of the study were answered in
the analysis. The first research question deals with whether Junior Secondary II students
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Nigerian Journal of Sociology of Education, 3(2), Dec., 1995
have problems learning any of the contents of the social studies content for their level.
To answer the question, descriptive analysis was used in treating the data. Difficulty
proportions were computed for the 8 broad topics to determine areas and extent of
difficulty perceived by the students. The results are presented in table 1.
Table 1
Extent of Difficulty Perceived by Students in each of the topics
The Topics
1
Extent of Difficulty Perceived
Aspects of Culture and Identity
Not Difficult
Difficult
Very Difficult
(ND)
(D)
(VD)
955.(63.7)
401 (26.7)
144 (9.6)
1.326 (88.4)
170 (11.3)
4 (0.3)
3. Educational Institution
780 (52.0)
600 (40.4)
120 (8.0)
4. Development and Growth
458 (30.5)
757 (50.5)
285 (19)
5. Changes in the Society (1861) – 1960)
708 (47.2)
633 (42.2)
159 (10.6)
6. Science and Technology in the Society
840 (56.0)
507 (33.8)
153 (10.2)
7. National Economic Life
626 (41.7)
772 (51.5)
102 (6.8)
8. Physical Environment
919 (61.3)
180 (12.0)
401 (26.7)
2. Leadership and Followership
The data presented in table 1 indicate that students used for this study had
difficulty learning three out of the eight broad social studies topics examined (i.e 4, 5, &
7). The difficulty areas are thus development and growth. Changes in the society (1861 1960) and National Economic Life. The other four areas (i.e 1, 2, 3, 6 & 8) constitute
those that are relatively not difficulty to the students.
The second research question investigated on the reasons why students have
problems learning the social studies topics perceived to be difficult. The data obtained
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Nigerian Journal of Sociology of Education, 3(2), Dec., 1995
with the responses on the second part of the checklist were treated with descriptive
analysis. The results are reported in table 2.
Table 2
Reasons for Students’ Perceived Difficulties
Reasons for Students’ Perceived Difficulties
The Topics
4. Development
The
Teacher
does not
explain the
topic well
The teacher
shows little
interest in
the topic
The teacher
does not
understand
the topic
The topic is
not easy to
learn
The students
are not
interested in
the topic
453 (30.2)
425 (28.3)
507 (33.8)
67 (4.5)
48 (3.8)
551 (36.7)
246 (16.4)
639 (42.6)
51 (3.3)
13 (0.9)
374 (24.9)
269 (17.9)
402 (26.8)
250 (16.7)
215 (14.3)
and Growth
5. Changes in
the society
6. National
Economic Life
Ratings
2nd
3rd
1st
4th
5th
Analysis of data on table 2 revealed that teachers’ lack of understanding was rated
as the first among the reasons given for the students learning difficulties. Teachers’
inability to explain the topic well was the second while teachers’ lack of interest was the
third. The reason which says that the topic is not easy to learn’ was rated fourth. A
negligible proportion of the students felt that they have no interest in learning of all the
identified difficult topics.
The third research question addressed the issue of whether there was difference in
the level of difficulty perceived by students in the rural and urban areas. In order to give
answer to the question, the mean difficulty for each of the two groups was computed for
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Nigerian Journal of Sociology of Education, 3(2), Dec., 1995
each of the topics selected for study. The t-test statistical procedure was applied to
compare the two groups on each of the eight topics using the mean scores as units of
analysis. The level of significance used was .05.
Table 3
Comparison Between Students in Urban and Rural Environment Students on
Perceived Areas and Magnitude of Difficulty
The Topic
Urban
S/
Rural Development
N
N
1
Aspects of culture and identity
2
Leadership and fellowship
3
Mean
SD
N
Mean
SD
df
t-ratio
203
1.26
0.44
342
1.49
0.5
1,498
9.366*
70
1.09
0.28
104
1.15
0.36
1,498
3.569*
Educational Institution
337
1.42
0.49
389
1.55
0.49
1,498
5.084*
4.
Development and Growth
433
1.54
0.489
609
1.87
0.34
1,498
15.129*
5.
Changes in the society (1861 –
430
1.54
0.498
362
2.54
1.54
1,498
16.481*
247
1.31
0.46
413
1.59
0.49
1,498
11.366*
1960)
6.
Science and Technology in the
Society
7.
National Economic Life
464
1.58
0.49
410
1.58
0.49
1,498
0.208
8.
Physical Environment
218
1.27
0.45
363
1.52
0.5
1,498
1.013
NB: - Significant at 0.05 level.
The results in table 3 revealed that the perception of students from rural and urban
schools on the areas of difficulties differ significantly on the aspects of culture and
identity, leadership and followership, educational institutions, development and growth,
changes in the society and science and technology in the society. Since the calculated tvalues of 9.366, 3.569, 5.084, 15.129, 16.481 and 11.366 respectively are greater than the
table value of 1.96, it is concluded that there were significant differences in the areas and
magnitude of difficulties experienced by students in the different locations.
However, there was no significant differences in the responses of rural and urban
students on the difficulty they encountered on two topics namely National Economics
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Nigerian Journal of Sociology of Education, 3(2), Dec., 1995
Life and Physical Environment. The Calculated t-value of 0.208 and 1.013 are less than
the table value of 1.96.
Discussion
Many reasons have been given by the sampled students as being responsible for
the difficulties they encountered in the learning of those identified difficult topics. The
reasons ranged from teachers inability to explain the topic well, to teachers’ lack of
understanding of the topics. These are in agreement with the writings of author such as
Coleman (1966), Kiesling (1969), Benson (1966), Fafunwa (1969) and Fagbamigbe
(1977) who wrote that the teacher is the primary determinant of what the students learn
and that of all the factors that constitute a school, the single and most influential factor in
terms of students’ learning and performance is the impact of the teacher.
On the location of schools, there seems to be significant differences in some of
the topics the students found difficult to learn. This finding is in agreement with the
findings of Aganga (1966), Odekunbi (1997) and Alapo (1997) who found significant
differences in the performance of social studies students drawn from rural and urban
locations.
Conclusion
The study sought to determine the areas of the JSS II social studies curriculum
which students find difficult to learn and to identify the reasons for the perceived
difficulties. Three main areas were found to be particularly difficult for the students.
The study also found that there were significant differences in the learning of six of the
topics between rural – based and urban-based students.
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Nigerian Journal of Sociology of Education, 3(2), Dec., 1995
Since it has been well documented that the overall problem of preparing the future
citizens who will be fully oriented to their environment cannot be fully accomplished
without the aid of competent teachers, and that among school variables, quality of
teachers seem to out-distance others, it is recommended that adequate, qualified
competent and dedicated teachers should be provided for the teaching of secondary
school social studies. Teachers are advised to be committed and dedicated to their work
if they seek to promote excellence in schools.
Teachers are also implored to show interest in their subject. They should use
variety of teaching methods and instructional resources to disseminate ideas to the
students. Students, on their own part, should become more serious and take interest in
the learning of social studies. Teachers posted to rural areas should be specially
remunerated for it and a conducive learning atmosphere should be provided both in the
rural and urban schools.
The JSS social studies curriculum should be looked into and restructured such that
topics that seem difficult or ambiguous should either be removed or replaced.
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Nigerian Journal of Sociology of Education, 3(2), Dec., 1995
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