COMPARATIVE EFFECTS OF ROLE-PLAY AND SERVICE-LEARNING STRATEGIES ON STUDENTS’ ATTITUDE AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN SOCIAL STUDIES IN MAKURDI EDUCATION ZONE

Abstract

The study investigated the comparative effects of role-play and service-learning strategies on students’ attitude and academic performance in Social Studies in Makurdi Education Zone. Two research questions guided the study while two null hypotheses were formulated and tested. The study employed quasi-experimental randomized design. The population was 3714 Upper Basic 2 students. The sample consisted of 186 (97 male and 89 female) upper basic 2 students. The instruments for data collection were Social Studies Attitude Scale (SSAS) and Social Studies Performance Test (SSPT). The instruments were validated by three experts while the reliability was carried out for SSPT and SSAS using Kuder-Richardson-20 and Cronbach Alpha. The reliability co-efficient of the two instruments yielded 0.89 and 0.978 respectively. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions. Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was used to test the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. Findings revealed there was a significant difference in student attitude ratings between the role-play and service-learning groups (0.05 > p=0.000 ) as well as there was no statistically significant difference in academic performance between the two teaching methods (p= 0.215 > 0.05). The study recommended that teachers should incorporate the teaching method that showed a greater positive impact on attitudes, such as role-play or service-learning, depending on the Social Studies topic(s) and also teachers should consider integrating a combination of role-play and service-learning strategies to balance attitude development with academic performance, thereby maximizing overall student engagement and learning outcomes.