Pre-Service Teachers’ Social Studies Content and Pedagogical Content Knowledge Based on a Variety of Characteristics

Abstract

This paper investigated the content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge of social studies student-teachers and how it differs based on sex, level of study and prequalification. Two research questions were raised and one hypothesis formulated and tested at 0.05 level of significance. The survey research design was adopted for the study. The population of this study comprises 866 pre-service Social Studies teachers in selected state and federal universities offering Social Studies Education in the South- South geopolitical zone of Nigeria. The sample size was 446 pre-service Social Studies teachers drawn from the population of the study. The study made use of an achievement test which was meant to determine the student-teachers’ content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions and research question 2 was also hypothesized and tested using the independent t-test. The finding of the study revealed that the level of content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge of pre-service Social Studies teachers in public universities in South-South, Nigeria is above average and there is a significant difference in the content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge of pre-service Social Studies teachers based on prequalification and level of study and no significant difference based on sex. Therefore the study recommends that although the level of content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge of pre-service Social Studies teachers was above the scale mean, there is need for it to be improved upon as the scores could be better and lecturers should ensure course content coverage as this study has revealed that student develop greater content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge as they progress in their studies.