Concept Mapping as an Effective Instructional Strategy to Improve Upper Basic Students’ Performance in Social Studies

Abstract

This study was conducted to examine the impact of Concept mapping instructional strategy on the performance of secondary school students in social studies. The quasi- experimental research of equivalent pre-test and post-test, 2x2 non-randomized research was adopted. The population of the study was 43,271 Upper Basic level students of public schools in Delta State. The sample was 181 students consisting of (male 117 female 64) selected through a multi-stage sampling technique. Social Studies Performance Test (SSPT) was used for the collection of data. The reliability of SSPT was established using test-retest, and a value of 0.72 was obtained through Pearson Product Moment Correlational. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the two research questions, while the two hypotheses were tested with Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) at 0.05 level of significance. The research revealed that concept mapping has a substantial influence on students’ performance in social studies while gender have no substantial impact on students’ performance in Social Studies. Based on the findings of this study, it is recommended that teachers incorporate concept mapping in the teaching of Social Studies, to enable students to understand numerous interrelated concepts.