IMPACT OF INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS IN TEACHING AND LEARNING ON ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF SOCIAL STUDIES STUDENTS IN OJU LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF BENUE STATE

ABSTRACT This study investigated impact of instructional materials on the teaching and learning of social studies on the academic performance of secondary students in Oju Local Government Area of Benue State. Four research questions and four hypotheses guided the study. The study adopted descriptive survey research design. The sample size of 250 secondary school students selected out of the 5,060 students from government approved secondary schools formed the sample of the study. Stratified samplings and purposive sampling technique was used for this study. A-20-item structured questionnaire constructed by the researcher titled “Instructional Materials on the Teaching and Learning of Social Studies (IMTLSSQ)” was used to collect data for the study. The data collected was analysed using the statistical tools of mean and standard deviation to answer the research questions the chi-square of awareness of fit was used to test the research hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The findings revealed that there is a significant impact on instructional materials in teaching and learning on academic performance of social studies students in Oju Local Government Area of Benue State, there is a significant impact on teachers’ utilization of instructional materials in the teaching and learning on academic performance of social studies students in Oju Local Government Area of Benue State, there is a significant impact on availability of instructional materials in the teaching and learning on academic performance of social studies students in Oju Local Government Area of Benue State and there is a possible way of improving the instructional materials to facilitate the teaching and learning of social studies students in Oju Local Government Area of Benue State. Based on these findings, the study recommended among others that, Teachers should source for instructional materials for effective lesson delivery, school administrators should boost the morale of teachers by providing necessary instructional materials needed to achieve instructional objectives, the stakeholders should intensify efforts in providing adequate instructional materials such as computers and other ICT gargets in Business Laboratory in order to provide desired learning outcome and government should make funds available and sponsor the teachers’ attendance at conferences