SOCIAL STUDIES TEACHERS’ PEDAGOGICAL CONTENT KNOWLEDGE AND ITS INFLUENCE ON THEIR ASSESSMENT PRACTICES IN JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOLS IN THE WEST AKIM MUNICIPALITY, GHANA

Abstract

The study examined Social Studies teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge and its influence on their assessment practices in Junior High Schools in the West Akim Municipality in the Eastern Region of Ghana. The study was hinged on the Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) model by Shulman, (1986) and adopted the concurrent triangulation design with mixed methods approach. The census and convenience sampling techniques were used to select seventy-seven (77) and ten (10) respondents respectively for the study. Questionnaire, observation check list and document analysis were used by the researchers as instruments for data collection. These instruments were used to enable the researchers triangulate the information to test the consistency of the findings. A reliability analysis using Cronbach’s Alpha was performed to determine the internal consistency of each construct in the questionnaire and the observation checklist. The data obtained from the three instruments were analysed using descriptive statistics (frequency counts, percentages, mean and standard deviation). Inferential statistics (Pearson Product Moment Correlation) was used to test the stated hypothesis. The results indicated that generally, most of the JHS Social Studies teachers possessed some level of pedagogical content knowledge. Again, Social Studies teachers practice traditional assessment method (pen/pencil and paper). The results further pointed out that pedagogical content knowledge influence teachers’ assessment practices (r = .819**, sig. =.000** p < 0.05, CI=95%, n=77, 2-tailed). It is recommended that Social Studies teachers within the West Akim Municipality should make use of alternative assessment techniques as these other techniques will help cater for affective and psychomotor assessments which will help develop pupils’ attitudes and values. Article visualizations: