Enhancing 6th Grade Students’ Learning in Social Studies through Technology Based Teaching Approach

Abstract

This quasi experimental study examined the effect of technology based teaching approaches on the 6th grade students’ learning in social studies subject. The participants of the study included two classes of 6th grade students: control group (n=25) and experimental group (n=24) in one of the middle schools in Bhutan. The research instruments consisted of experimental group treatment, survey questionnaire and semi-structured interview questions. The result suggested that there is an affirmative effect of technology based teaching approaches on the 6th grade students’ social studies learning achievement test. It was found that mean test scores of the experimental group were higher than the control group on pretest and post test analysis. Further, the findings from the study established that students had a positive perception of learning through technology based instructions, as learners enjoyed, and were better able to understand, what has been taught. The findings from the study concluded that teaching through technology based approaches enhanced students’ learning in the classroom, so, it is recommended that teachers apply technology based instructions as a tool to maximize student learning. In addition, building of smart classrooms through digitalization could support students with learning difficulties in different subjects.

The Application of Place-Based Education in Social Studies of Grade 5 Bhutanese Students

“…Thus, the teaching and learning of the twentyfirst century demand innovative approaches that could strengthen three learning domains: cognitive, affective, and psychomotor. The main objective of classroom teaching and learning should be the application of multiple classroom pedagogies that best suit individual learners in order to strengthen learning competency ( Gyeltshen & English, 2021) . Bhutanese classroom teaching and learning are mostly dominated by traditional teaching approaches.…”

“…Furthermore, the Royal Education Council (2018) stated that a paradigm shift in teaching and learning has occurred due to the country' s adoption of the New Normal Curriculum ( NNC) after the pandemic. The new transformation to the teaching and learning system is based on the concept of competency-based learning, however, they are rarely realised because of the pedagogical approaches used in the classroom (Gyeltshen & English, 2021).…”