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INTRODUCTION
The Social Studies curriculum over the past one decade has changed drastically both
groups has directly influenced the content and approaches to Social Studies. The
nature of Social Studies is that it is a study where the nature of man is its major
central focus of attention. Social Studies therefore organizes its content around
relevant knowledge, values and skills that constitute the wide sphere of man. The
subject has also been seen as a prime discipline adopted to socialize our young and
function as a means of promoting progress towards the major social education goals
that have been identified for emphasis - civic duties or development of citizen
participation skills, acquisition of desirable attitudes and values, disciplined life etc.
The scope of Social Studies therefore varies depending on the level one wants to
cover. Its scope involves the" determination of what aspects of the various constituent
contents would be most valuable for the realization of the objectives of Social
Studies. It is therefore obvious that Social Studies is by its very nature a dynamic
discipline which is wide and cannot be expected to have distinct boundaries. The
scope certainly covers both immediate and distant environment in content and
strategies. The Social Studies teacher needs to acquire competence in his approaches
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competence in transmitting the content to the learner and competence in the use of
teaching and learning processes involve some methods and means of enhancing
The significance of the family in our lives cannot be overemphasized. It is in this light
that society continues to survive by means of procreation. It is through the family that
According to Ayitey (2002), the following are the importance of the family:
b. Physical care: the older generation of the family has the responsibility to provide
Just as the family is useful in our lives so is the extended family system. The
extended family according to Ayitey (2002) refers to the collection of several nuclear
families put together. According to Foli and Asante (2005), with the extended family
system, grand parents can help in the upbringing of children. Children can have
several relations from which they can learn good moral behaviours from; they feel
Also, due to the large family sizes children learn to, live happily together and
cooperate with each other as family, notwithstanding the importance of the family
and for that matter the extended family system. Pupils of Binjai Presby Junior High
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Binjai Presby Junior High School is situated at Binjai, a community in the west Gonja
District of the northern region in Ghana.. The inhabitants are basically traders and
other government workers from different region of the country. People from the
community are predominantly Gonjas and almost all the religions practiced in Ghana
are practiced over here but it must be put to record that most people are Muslims.
Members of the community are so busy to the extent that hardly do parents and
sibling visit other relatives such as grandparents, uncles, aunts, nieces and nephews
among other. Pupils are unable to stay with their relatives to understand the
Perceived Problem
During one of my social studies lessons in Binjai Presby Junior High School form
one; I observed that pupils could not state the composition of the extended family
system.
This problem came to light when the pupils were not able to mention or describe the
composition of the extended family system in one of my social studies lessons. These
pupils could not even make up or identify the people who constitute the extended
and discussions in class, I noticed that the students were finding it difficult to
understand the concept of the extended family. This therefore prompted me to carry
out the study and in order to come out with strategies that will enable us address the
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Problem diagnosis
The researcher identified that students found it difficult to understand the concept of
the extended family system. The study is therefore designed to disclose some of the
The researcher seeks to use the observation, interview and the tests instrument to able
The researcher conducted on simple test after delivery a lesson on the concept of
extended family system and the results obtained by the pupils were very
dissatisfactory. About 87% of the students were not able to answer any of the
questions. This prompted the researcher to take a critical review of the methods used
The main cause of the students’ inability to understand the concept of the extended
family system was attributed to the use of the wrong method of lesson delivery.
Also the researcher observed that pupils do not use books to help them study at home
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Objectives of the study
The main objective of the study is to improve understanding of pupils in the concept
of the composition of the extended family system. The findings of the study would be
considered as being success if in the end the suggestions if well implemented would
promote the understanding of pupils in the topic and other related concepts in the
The purpose of the study includes is to identify the reasons why pupils of Binjai
Presby Junior High School One cannot outline the composition of the extended
Research Questions
The question below will help unveil why pupils in Binjai Presby Junior High School
One do not understand the structure and composition of the extended family system.
1. What are the causes of pupils in Binjai Presby Junior High School One inability to
2. What concrete and practical teaching methods can be adopted to help pupils
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Relevance of the Study
The study will be very significant to the pupils of Binjai Presby Junior High School
One as it will help them understand the concept and composition of the extended
family system.
Furthermore, social studies teachers will find the study useful in handling similar
The causes of the inability of pupils to understand this area of concern will also be ear
marked so that solutions can be identified and systems put in place to help these
pupils.
Delimitation
The study was delimited to Binjai Presby Junior High School Form One only due to
the large enrolment in the school and time available could not permit the researcher
complete then entire study on time for the pupils were more than one class.
The research work is organized in to five chapters. Chapter One contains the
following: background to the study, problem statement, purpose of the study, research
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questions, benefits of the study, limitations and delimitations and organization of the
study.
Chapter two looks at the review of relevant and related literature. Chapter three deals
with the description of the methodology used in the study captured under the
following headings the research design population and sample size, research tools,
Chapter four entails the analysis of all data collected whilst chapter five summaries
the entire research work and makes suitable recommendations for future improvement
of the study.
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CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
Introduction
This chapter deals with relevant literature of the study. This review is organized under
the following topics: composition of the extended family, causes of pupils’ inability
to understand the extended family system and the strategies to be used to curb the
problem.
According to Foli and Asante (2005) an extended family consists of father, mother,
Gyekye K (1996) also stated that the extended family composes of a large number of
blood relations who trace their descent from a common ancestor and who are held
Stanton (1995) defined an extended family as “an ongoing body with geographical
Bernard (2000), Maria and Susan Spreecher (2004) noted that an extended family to
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Colleen (1998), observed that extended family occurs in various voluntary and
Riley (1993) stated that the family of procreation is a group created when adults
Judith (1990) stated that the extended families played a big part in helping new
parents. Grandparents were often present to help with the new baby and Extended
family members often lived under one roof or just down the road. Children saw their
Judith (1990) observed that while it is true that today’s extended family members
may be walking even driving before they meet some of the extended family members
Awuni (2006) in his research came out that, most pupils do not comprehend the
their biological parents thus children do not benefit from the rich experiences of some
Foli and Asante (2005), children may not even know their kinsmen well because of
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Colleen (1998), identified that people do not understand the composition of the
extended family system because most families now live separately and privately than
they once did hence pupils do not understand the constitution or composition of the
extended family.
Students often consider social studies to be dull and boring (Chiodo & Byford, 2006).
Not only do students perceive social studies to be dull, but they also fail to see the
relevance of social studies to their everyday lives (Schug, Todd & Beery, 1982;
Shaughnessy & Haladyna (1985) concluded that “It is the teacher who is key to what
social studies will be for the student. Instruction tends to be dominated by the lecture,
textbook or worksheets and social studies does not inspire students to learn”
Siler (1998) explained that teachers tend to use only one teaching style day after day,
Fouts, and Glenn (1992), stated that teachers often rely solely on text, lecturing,
that students have more interest in a topic when a variety of teaching methods are
implemented (Bonwell & Eisen, 1991; Chiodo & Byford, 2006; Byford & Russell,
commit one fact after another to memory based on history textbook recitations and
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In addition, Hoagland (2000) observed that teachers need to connect the content to the
individual interests of the students, thus increasing student interest in the content and
The methods of teaching social studies in junior high schools are as follows: role-
act the part of another character, thereby gaining an appreciation for others’ points of
the real world. In the context of social studies, this strategy may be used to learn
about issues and decisions of the past (and how things might have been different) or
about current issues in the local community or in a broader setting. Aside from
students’ knowledge acquisition skills, their creativity, their value clarification skills,
show a specific issues or situation for study and discussion. In role-playing, there is
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According to Tanwam (2005), demonstration is the presentation of the pre-arranged
contemporary society and exhibits or shows the behaviour in the form of improvised
action.
playing, and technology (Driscoll, 2005). Stahl (1994) explains that using cooperative
practice, and live the attitudes and behaviors that reflect the goals of social studies
numerous studies conclude positive results with regard to the use of various
instructional methods.
Dow (1979) concluded that direct observation, data gathering, reading, role-playing,
constructing projects, and watching films are all excellent ways to provide students
with new information. Using film to enhance social studies instruction has been found
According to Harwood & Hahn, (1990), the Laboratory Method in Social Studies
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devices, audiovisual aids and many other life-like activities to supplement textbook
mode of teaching does not refer to a special place or a special class period, but to an
activity. The activity can occur in a regular classroom, outside the classroom or in a
In conclusion, there is the need to select appropriate methods that will help the
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CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Introduction
This part of the study captures the methodology of the research design. It deals with
the population and sample selection. It further highlights the research tools and the
motives for using them. It further talks about the data collection and concludes with
Research Design
information that is designed to bring about immediate solution to local problems such
The action research design has been chosen because it brings immediate solutions to
classroom teaching and learning problems. It will therefore help pupils of Binjai
Presby Junior High School Form One to overcome the problem of their inability to
understand the composition of the extended family system. The action research also
uses scientific methods in solving problems because finding from scientific methods
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Strength of the Research Design
Action research helps the researcher to work collaboratively with other people to
Also action research encourages teachers to be aware of their own practice and to be
critical of the practice for change. Also, through action research teachers can
evaluation their teaching effectiveness. The design may encourage parents to provide
educational needs for their wards it may also help the educational policy makers in
decision making.
The researcher observed that the use of the design was time consuming. Also after the
distribution of the questions to some of the pupils, teachers and parents were not
willing to give some facts needed for the study. Also finding information for the
Population
Population for a study refers to the total numbers of constituents on whom the study
is being conducted. For this research work the population comprises the students of
Binjai Presby Junior High School. The population of the research was made up of
three hundred and twenty pupils. The population comprises one hundred and ninety-
four boys and one hundred and twenty-six girls. The school has nine teachers made
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Research Instruments
Observation
understand the concept of extended family system. The researcher opted for a
participation observation. The researcher observed throughout the class to identify the
pupils of the school who performed poorly in the class test on the concept of the
extended family system. The researcher observed their daily activities in the class
room to be able to identify the possible causes of their inability to understand the
concept of extended family system. The guide used for the observation can be seen in
appendix A.
Questionnaires
The questionnaires given to the parents contain ten questions to collect data on
parents’ occupation and general attitudes of parents towards their wards education.
Also the questionnaires which were given to the pupils contain ten questions to
collect data on pupils personally and their observation on their inability to understand
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The questionnaires given to the teachers were made up ten questions to elicit
topics.
Tests
The researcher also conducted a test during the pre-intervention sate. Another test
was conducted at the post intervention stage to find the pupils performance after the
A sample size of sixty (60) respondents was chosen. This consists of twenty-five girls
and thirty-five boys. Also ten selected parents and two teachers were also involved in
the research.
The simple purposive sampling technique was used. This technique was used because
the researcher noticed that all most all the pupils were having problems in
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Pre - Intervention
The researcher realised that during the delivery of the lesson on the extended family
system. Pupils found it difficult to respond to the teacher’s questions. She also
observed the attendance of the pupils’ performance in exercises given at the end of
the lesson.
The researcher finally conducted a test on the composition of the extended family
system. Out of these measures the researcher found out that most of the pupils’
performance in the test was below average. Some of the pupils had intermittent
Intervention
The researcher haven identified these problems put in place the following measures to
Role Play
The researcher used the role play method of presenting the topic “the composition of
the extended family system”. The researcher chose a boy and a girl from, the class to
represent the father and mother respectively. The researcher guided the boy to
perform the roles of a father such as taking care of the family and providing the
family’s needs whilst the girl performed the role of the mother such as performing of
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The researcher also chose five children from then class to act as children of the
parents whose responsibilities were to keep the house clean and assist in household
chores.
He then chose six children to represent the siblings of the children and two other boys
to represent the uncles (i.e. brothers of their parents) who should provide support and
comfort to the children in the absence of their parents and two other girls were
Other children were also chosen to act as nephews, nieces, cousins, grandparents and
great grandparents and pupils were taught on the roles of all the individuals in the
extended family. After that pupils who did not fall in any of the groups were
Finally, it was described to pupils that when all these group of individuals come to
During the week of intervention, as pupils absented themselves from school, the
teacher told pupils that those who attended school throughout the week were going to
be given special awards. This activity motivated and excited pupils so much that their
attendance to class improved greatly. The headmaster was also contacted and
textbooks which had topics or passages related to the composition of the extended
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Post Intervention
After all, the interventions undertaken by the researcher, she observed that there was
thing of the past and most of the pupils were provided with their educational needs.
A questionnaire was administered to find out whether the pupils understood the
composition of the extended family and their responses were very positive. The
researcher finally conducted another test on the extended family system and the
performances of pupils were great. About 90% of pupils scored marks above average
in the test.
Limitations
Handful of students had intermittent attendance during the period of study and as a
result might not fully comprehend the composition of the extended family system as
taught during the lessons. However, these absentees form a minute percentage of the
total class and so will not negatively influence the validity and reliability of the study
The researcher used frequency and simple percentage to analyse the data gathered.
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CHAPTER FOUR
Introduction
This chapter deals with the analysis of findings from the data collected. It contains the
recons why pupils cannot understand the composition of the extended family system
Reasons why pupils could not understand the composition of the extended family
The study revealed that the reasons why pupils could not outline the composition of
the extender family were: the use of inappropriate teaching and learning techniques;
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Table 1: causes of pupils’ inability to understand the concept of extended family system
Absenteeism 8 13.3
Total 60 100.0
Table 1 shows that 5 students representing 8.3% of the responses identified the short
duration of teachers in the school as the cause, 7 students representing (11.7%) also
cited the fact that most of the teachers do not attend in service works in order to
upgrade their skills. Whiles 15 (25%) said the use of inappropriate teaching
techniques was the cause. Majority of the responses identified the lack of appropriate
textbooks as the main reason why pupils could not understand the composition of the
extended family. The implication of the analysis is that for one to address the
appropriate textbooks and other reference materials. It is also essential for teacher to
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adopt not only the right pedagogical strategies of variables but to use the correct
Table two: strategies used to teach the concept of extended family system
Dramatization 18 30.00
Total 60 100.00
From table 2, thirty two pupils representing fifty three point three-three percent
agreed that the use of role play would help improve the understanding of the concept
of extended family system. Eighteen pupils representing thirty percent agreed that the
use of dramatization would help improve the pupils understanding on the concept of
extended family system whiles ten pupils representing sixteen point six-seven percent
agreed that the use of field trips would promote the understanding of pupils in the
It can be concluded that the use of the role play is the best way to improve the
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Diagrammatically the responses from the pupils is presented in pie chart
strategies
role play
dramatisation
field trips
The pie chart clearly shows that the commonly accepted way of improving the
understanding of the concept of the extended family system. This is shown by the
large portion of the chart which occupies about one hundred and ninety two degrees
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Table 4 pre intervention test results
0–5 10 17
6 – 10 15 25
11 – 15 12 20
16 – 20 8 13
21 – 25 5 8
26 – 30 5 8
31 – 35 4 7
36 – 40 1 2
Total 60 100
Table 4 shows results of pupils in Binjai Presby Junior High School One during a pre
intervention test on the composition of the extended family system. It shows that
majority of the pupils 45 (75%) scored below 20 marks which was very poor indeed.
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Table 5 post intervention test
(%)
0–5 1 2
6 – 10 2 3
11 – 15 3 5
16 – 20 4 7
21 – 25 6 10
26 – 30 14 23
31 – 35 10 17
36 – 40 20 33
Total 60 100
After the pre intervention test the researcher realized that pupil’s performance was
very poor in the test. She therefore designs practical activities, teaching techniques
understand the topic. The research designed a detailed lessons plan which included
the teaching techniques and methodologies. This can be seen in appendix three (3).
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He began by brainstorming for the composition of the extended family and later
moved on by asking pupils to mention the people they stay with at home.
He then used the role play method of presenting the topic. A boy and girl were chosen
from the class to perform the roles of the father and mother respectively. Five
children from the class were selected to act as children of the parents and were
assigned roles as children play. Uncles and aunts were represented by two boys and
The researcher continued to use the students to represent all members of the extended
family system and they were all given roles to play. After the practical activities,
pupils became interested in the lesson and the lesson’s objectives were duly achieved.
Pupils performed very well in the post intervention test conducted by the researcher
as clearly depicted by table three which shows then post intervention test results from
pupils of Binjai Presby Junior High School One. The table shows that most of the
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25
20
15
10
0
between 0 between 6 between between between between between between
to 5 to 10 11-15 16 to 20 21 to 25 26 to 30 31 to 35 36 to 40
Discussion
The study was conducted to found out why pupils did not comprehend the
composition of the extended family system and how to use concrete activities to
handle the lesson which will enable them to acquire the concept of the extended
family system. The problem was identified when the researcher handled a lesson on
the extended family system and later conducted a class test for them. The test was
poorly performed by the pupils. There researcher also discovered that pupils had no
interest in the lesson. As a result most of them absented themselves during the lesson
The researcher adopted role play and dramatization in order to make the lesson
interesting and practical students performed various roles as family members and
acted practically the concept of extended family system. After the practical activities,
pupils develop interest in the lesson and the attendance to class increased. Pupils also
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performed very well in the post test conducted by the researcher. From their
performance and active participation in the lesson, it was a clear indication that pupils
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CHAPTER FIVE
Discussion of Results
The definition and composition of the extended family is viewed by different scholars
in different words. In the words of Foli and Asante (2005) an extended family
The major cause of pupils’ inability to understand the concept of extended family
system was identified as the unavailability of the right teaching and learning materials
for teachers to teach basic social studies topics like the extended family system. In the
words of Siler (1998) explained that teachers tend to use only one teaching style day
after day, which denies students the opportunity of a variety of teaching techniques.
From the study, the researcher identified the use of the role play as a strategy to
memorized, it does not involve elaborate preparation and there may be no rehearsals
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Conclusion
One outstanding findings of the research was pupils’ background. The pupils hardly
visited other distant relations of their families. It has come to light that teachers’
lessons were always theoretical rather than practical. The core concept of the problem
was lack of test books. Another finding from the study was that most of the pupils
absented themselves from the social studies lessons as they found lessons boring.
It was also detected that social studies teachers did not benefit from in-service
training since they always leave to various educational institutions for further
development. Finally, most of the teachers have long overstayed in the school and as
result, rather behaves in a way that shows his/ she is independent which in many ways
Recommendations
Recommendations identified and suggested by the researcher are under the following
subtopics: actions to be taken by the parents, actions to be taken by the head master
Parents should provide for their wards with the requisite educational materials to
During holidays, parents should take children to their respective traditional homes for
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Parents should show interest in their wards schooling by visiting schools to have
The head teacher should try to frequently organize in service training for teachers in
the school to help them upgrade their skills and improve upon their knowledge.
education.
The District Director of Education should ensure that all teachers who have served for
upgrade their knowledge. Text books on social studies should be supplied to schools
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Suggestion for Further Studies
Much has been said by way of suggestions to rectify the situation under study. The
researcher will like to suggest to whoever wishes to take up the challenge of carrying
out a similar study this time from a public school and a private school that the
research work be made to begin alongside with the academic calendar in order to
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Russell, W. (2008). Civil War films for teachers and historians. Lanham, MD:
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Appendix A
1. What is a family?
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Appendix B
3. What do you think are the causes of your inability to understand the extended family
system?
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Appendix C
1. What is a family?
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