COGNITIVE LEARNING SKILLS AS CORRELATE OF STUDENT’S ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT IN SOCIAL STUDIES EDUCATION IN EBONYI STATE

Abstract

This study was carried out to examine cognitive learning skills as correlates of students’ academic achievement in social studies education in ebonyi state. Two research questions were developed in line with the purpose of the study. Two null hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05 level of significance. The study adopted descriptive survey design. The population of the study is twenty five thousand, two hundred and ninety eight (25,298) SSI students in three education zones of Ebonyi State and the sample for the study comprised
395 respondents made up of 194 and 201 male and female SS I students respectively. The subjects were selected using Cluster Sampling technique with replacement; this sample was drawn using Yaro Yamane formulae for sample size. Researcher-developed rating scale titled “Cognitive Learning Skills rating scale (CLSRS) and Social Studies Achievement Test (SSAT) were the instruments for data collection. The instrument was face validated by three
experts and reliability was determined using Cronbach Alpha statistics and the reliability got was 0.82.the administration and retrieval of instrument were through direct contact and use of research assistants. Data collected were analyzed using SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) version 18. Answers to research questions were sought using means and Spearman’s rho correlation coefficient; while the hypotheses were tested with the help of
Regression Analysis at 0.05 level of significance. The decision rule for this analysis says thus: if the P-value is less than 0.05 which is the level of confidence reject the hypothesis. Whereas if the P-value is greater than 0.05, Accept the hypothesis. The findings of the study revealed that; There is a positive relationship existing between student’s cognitive learning skills and their academic mean achievement in Social Studies. There is a positive corelationship existing between male students’ cognitive learning skills and their academic achievement in social studies. The result shows that there is no relationship existing between female students’ cognitive learning skills and their academic achievement in social studies. The result revealed that there is a significant relationship existing between cognitive learning skills and students’ academic achievement score in Social Studies. The null hypothesis H0
was rejected since P-value is less than confidence interval (p<0.05). the researcher
recommended as follows: The Ministry of Education should sponsor public lectures,
workshops and symposia for secondary school teachers where different forms of learning
skills will be identified, discussed by experts in the field of social studies; Learning of
specific cognitive skills should be incorporated as an aspect of the school curriculum. If this
task is done, students will appreciate the importance of cognitive skills in their daily studies;
It is also recommended that students should be made to undergo an educational training in
the area of Cognitive Learning skills.