Social Studies Student-Teachers’ Preparation for Effective Use of Teaching and Learning Materials: The Case of Northern Colleges of Education in Ghana

Abstract

Teaching and learning material (TLMs) enhance lesson delivery leading to good academic performance of students. The purpose of this study was to establish the extent to which social studies student-teachers in two northern colleges of education in Ghana are exposed to the use of TLMs in their preparation to teach social studies. Descriptive survey design was adopted for this study. Ten social studies tutors and 140 second year student-teachers in 2 colleges of education were selected for the study. Simple random sampling and purposive sampling techniques were respectively used to select the student-teachers and the tutors. The instrument used for the study was questionnaire for both categories of respondents. The quantitative data obtained was analyzed using frequencies and percentages. The study concluded that student-teachers were not well exposed and adequately prepared for the use of TLMs to teach social studies. Even though the Colleges of Education (CoEs) had quite a number of TLMs that could be adequately used, most of these TLMs were not readily accessible for use. The study therefore recommends that tutors should be innovative to identify the natural environment/resources and use them, and also encourage the student-teachers to use them for effective teaching and learning process.