ABSTRACT
The fluctuation in the academic performance of Junior Secondary School students in Social Studies in Osun State has been adduced to teachers’ over reliance on the conventional method of teaching. This study therefore examined the effects of Jigsaw and Individualistic Instructional strategies on Junior Secondary School Social Studies students’ performance in Osun State, Nigeria with gender as a moderating variable.
This study employed a quasi-experimental design. The population was all Junior Secondary School students offering Social Studies in Osun Central Senatorial District, Osun State, Nigeria. The target population was all Junior secondary school students (JSS II)offering Social Studies in Osun State. 128 Social Studies students were sampled using the intact classes. The instrument used for data collection was a validated test from junior secondary school 11 Curriculum with a reliability coefficient of 0.72. The research questions were answered using mean, while the hypotheses were tested using Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) at 0.05 alpha level.
The findings revealed that Jigsaw Instructional Strategy had a significant effect on Junior secondary School Social Studies students’ academic performance while Individualistic Instructional Strategy was the group that brought about the significant effect on Junior secondary school Social Studies students’ academic performance mean while Jigsaw and Individualistic Instructional strategies had significant effect on Junior secondary School Social Studies students’ academic performance and there was no significant interactional effect of gender and treatments (Jigsaw and Individualistic instructional strategies) on Junior secondary School Social Studies students’ academic performance.
This study concluded that Jigsaw and Individualistic Instructional Strategies were effective but Individualistic Instructional Strategy was the most effective method for teaching Social Studies in Osun Central Senatorial District Junior secondary School, more so, both male and female students performed at the same rate in Social Studies. It was recommended that Jigsaw and individualistic instructional strategies should be adopted by the classroom teachers because they aid learning and make students perform better in their academic performance. Classroom must be spacious enough to accommodate Jigsaw group and Book Editors/Authors etc. should perform their responsibilities in incorporating Jigsaw and individualistic instructional strategies as an instructional media in Social Sciences Education among others.
Keywords: Jigsaw Instructional strategy, Individualistic Instructional strategy, Academic performance, Junior School and Gender