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Effective Teaching of Social Studies at Grade 8

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Julius Jay Wilson
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29 views18 pages

Effective Teaching of Social Studies at Grade 8

Uploaded by

Julius Jay Wilson
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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EFFECTIVE TEACHING OF SOCIAL STUDIES AT

GRADE 8 AND 9
BY
MUNTENGWA WILFRED

(UNZA DIPLOMA AND DEGREE IN CIVIC EDUCATION AND


GEOGRAPHY)

LUSAKA DISTRICT SOSTAZ SECRETARY

FROM LIBALA STAGE III PRIMARY SCHOOL


BACKGROUND OF SOCIAL STUDIES
• The term “Social Studies” is here used to
identify a new study area that has been
introduced at junior secondary school level
(Grades 8 and 9). It does not denote a political
school of thought, a philosophy, a doctrine or a
form of organisation.
CONTINUED……….
• It only refers to this new learning area on human
relationships and behaviour. It is an inter-
disciplinary programme with a contemporary
orientation incorporating some aspects of Civic
Education, Geography and History that were
previously taught as separate subjects in the
former curriculum.
NUMBER OF PERIODS AND
EXAMINATION FORMAT
• Social Studies is allocated six (6) periods on the
school main time table.
• Currently Social Studies has to two (2) papers.
Thus Paper One (1) 60 Multiple Choice and
Paper Two (2) 60 marks (Section A 30 marks and
Section B 30 marks)
• Beginning 2020 Social Studies will have only
one paper
FALSE REASONS POOR
PERFORMANCE IN SOCIAL STUDIES?
i. Learners cannot read and write
ii. Social studies is bulky
iii. Little time allocated to the subject
iv. Poor setting up of examination questions
v. Lack of teachers to teach social studies as one
subject
ANSWERS TO FALSE REASONS FOR
POOR PERFORMANCE
i. The same learners accused of not knowing how
to read and write do pass English and Integrated
Science far much better than in Social Studies

ii. English and integrated Science is bulky but still


pupils do better than in Social Studies
CONTINUED………

iii. Integrated Science has five (5) Periods as


compared to six (6) of Social Studies

iv. The number of poor questions does not add up


to more than 15 marks so what about the 85 marks
with good questions can’t pupils pass?
REAL REASON POOR PERFORMANCE IN
SOCIAL STUDIES?
1. LACK OF TEACHERS TO TEACH SOCIAL
STUDIES AS ONE
i. This is the prime problem that has greatly
contributed to high failing rate in Social Studies as
most teachers in schools teach Social Studies per
component and not as a subject. Yet the ministry is
training Social Studies teachers who are capable of
teaching it as one.
CONTINUED
ii. By teaching Social Studies per component we
are encouraging pupils to have three (3) books
namely Geography book, History book and Civic
Education book at a tender age in Grade 8 and 9.
iii. The teaching of social studies per component
is forcing the grade 9 pupils to study three (3)
books for a single examination.
iv. The studying of three (3) books by Grade 9 pupils
has greatly affected their performance during the final
examinations.
v. The teaching of Social Studies by two or three
teachers is confusing pupils greatly as it is difficult
for them to obtain 100%. Also it is very difficult to
trace which teacher contributed negatively in the
failing of pupils in Social Studies since results come
as one.
THE EFFECTIVE TEACHING OF SOCIAL
STUDIES
i. Social studies should be taught by one teacher
ii. All social studies teachers should plan together
in terms of Notes, Schemes of work and Lesson
Plans
iii.The pupils should only have one book for notes
iv. The Social Studies teachers should teach one
sub topic from each component of social studies.
For example
Topic 1: Relief of Zambia (Geography),
Topic 2: Learning about the past (History)
Topic 3: Zambia’s path to independence (Civic
Education)
This simply means the topics should always be
lined up one Geography, History and Civic
Education until the end of the syllabus. Bulk
topics such as Weather in Geography and Man the
Social being in History should be taught per sub
topic whereas short topics such as constitution in
Civic Education should be taught as one.
v. All teachers not trained in any component of
social studies should learn from their colleagues
through CPD meetings and Lesson Study Circle. If
the Untrained Teachers (UT) in olden days
produced Doctors, Lawyers and Teachers what
can stop a trained teacher not to adapt to simple
content under Social Studies and teach it as one
and produce Doctors, lawyers and Teachers.
After all a teacher is that one who is good in
methodology. This is the more reason why the
ministry recognises the professionals who have
trained in Computer, Agriculture and Sciences and
employ them as teachers provided they did the
teaching methodology.
WHERE DO WE START FROM?
• The SANELE TEACHERS have embarked on
Writing Notes and Lesson Plans sub topic after
sub topic from Grade 8 Social Studies.

• So far the team has written and typed 25 sub


topics and 25 lesson plans.
HOW SHOULD WE SET TESTS?
• The following are the documents required when
setting a test or examination paper.
1) School syllabus
2) Examination syllabus (Assessment schemes from ECZ)
3) Test specification table (from ECZ)
4) Test mapping table (from ECZ)
5) Sample of past papers
6) Blooms taxonomy table
THANK YOU

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