APPRAISING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF SOCIAL STUDIES CURRICULUM IN REDUCING SOCIAL VICES AMONG COLLEGE OF EDUCATION STUDENTS IN NORTH-CENTRAL NIGERIA

Abstract

The study assessed the effectiveness of Social Studies curriculum in reducing social vices among Colleges of Education students in North-Central Nigeria. Three research questions and hypotheses guided the study. The research design employed was descriptive survey research design. The population of the study comprised 6,836 Social Studies students. The Modified Research Advisors (2010) was used to determine the sample size of 400 used for this study. The instrument used for data collection was Social Studies Curriculum in Reducing Social Vices Questionnaire (SSCRSVQ). The instrument was validated and subjected to reliability test using Cronbach Alpha and internal consistency of 0.85 was found. Data collected were analysed using mean and standard deviation to answer research questions while one sample t-test was used to test hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The findings revealed that Social Studies curriculum content has positive impact in reducing social vices, Social Studies evaluation strategies have positive effect in mitigating the problem of lack of empathy among students and Social Studies lecturers’ competency has positive impact on students’ conflict resolution skills in Colleges of Education, North-Central Nigeria. Based on the findings, it was recommended among others that Social Studies curriculum should be enriched with topics and activities that promote emotional intelligence and anti-social vices; assessment methods should include reflective and interactive approaches that foster empathy and emotional understanding and continuous professional development should be provided to enhance lecturers’ skills in teaching and modeling conflict resolution.