THE EFFECTS OF PHYSICAL AND VIRTUAL FIELD TRIP METHODS OF INSTRUCTION ON STUDENTS’ SOCIAL STUDIES PERFORMANCE

Abstract

This study examined the effects of lecture, virtual and physical field trip methods of instruction on the academic achievement of secondary school students in social studies. The design of the study was a 4x3 pre-test, post-test, quasi-experimental study. A sample of onç hundred and thirty six JSS3 students participated in the study. Four research questions were answered and four hypotheses tested at 0.05 level of significance. The instruments for pre-treatment data collection were Social Studies Aptitude Test and Social Studies Achievement Test which were validated through the assistance of three experts in social studies. The reliability coefficients of Social Studies Aptitude Test and Social Studies Achievement Test obtained through Kuder Richardson 20 technique are 0.74 and 0.82 respectively. Each instrument was a 30-item multiple choice objective test. The data collected were analyzed using the mean and standard deviation for the research questions. Hypotheses one, two and three were tested using Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) while hypothesis four was tested using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) at 0.05 level of significance. The results of this study showed that virtual field trip as well as physical field trip had significant effects on the academic achievement of the students in social studies. There was a significant difference in the post-test mean scores of students taught with lecture method and those taught with virtual field trip in favour of those taught using virtual field trip. A significant difference also existed in the post-test mean scores of students taught with lecture and those taught with physical field trip in favour of those taught using physical field trip. A significant difference was also found in post-test mean scores of students taught with virtual field trip and those taught using physical field trip in favour of those taught using physical field trip. Based on these findings, it was recommended that, when appropriate, social studies teachers should intersperse traditional methods of instruction with physical field trip to improve the students’ learning. Where it not possible to adopt physical field trip to teach a group of students because of cost and safety concerns, more cost effective and safer virtual field trip can be used as a substitute to the physical field trip.