Effects of Two Modes of Active Learning Strategies on School Age Childrens’ Civic Competence in Leadership Value Concepts in Social Studies and Civic Education

Abstract

The civic competence of school age children has become questionable as a result of inappropriate leadership value manifestations. Active learning strategies have been suggested to serve as a panacea to this problem. However, the use of these strategies in the social studies and civic education classrooms are very rare in Nigerian secondary schools. This study, therefore, determined the effects of two modes of active learning strategies (case study and puzzle-based games) on school age children civic competence in leadership value concepts in social studies and civic education in Delta State, Nigeria. The study adopted the pre-test-post-test, control group quasi-experimental design. Junior secondary students in Delta state made up the population of the study. Multi-stage and simple random sampling techniques were employed in arriving at the sample. A total of two hundred and sixty -five students made up the study sample. Civic Competence Scale (r=0.68), Conventional Lecture Method Guide (r=0.78), Case Study Strategy Guide (r=0.60) and were used as instruments for data collection. Data were analysed using Analysis of Covariance, Estimated Marginal Mean and Scheffé Pair-wise Comparism at 0.05 level of significance. The findings of the study showed that though there is a significant main effect of treatment on school age childrens' civic competence, the puzzle-based games strategy enhanced their civic competence better than the case study strategy. Consistent exploration of these strategies in the social studies and civic education classrooms in Nigerian schools was recommended.