TEACHERS PERCEPTION OF THE USE OF DRAMA FOR TEACHING SOCIAL STUDIES IN PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN OWERRI MUNICIPAL COUNCIL AREA OF IMO STATE

ABSTRACT

The study examined teachers’ perception of the use of drama for teaching of Social Studies in primary schools in Owerri Municipal Council Area of Imo State. To achieve the purpose of the study, seven research questions were posed and two null hypotheses were formulated. Descriptive survey research design was used for the study. The population for the study comprised two hundred and eight four (465) primary school teachers in twenty-five primary schools in Owerri municipal area council of Imo State. Stratified random sampling technique was used to sample 327 primary school teachers. The instrument for data collection was a questionnaire titled “Teachers’ Perception Questionnaire” (TPQ). The instrument was trial tested to determine the reliability using primary school teachers in Nsukka education zone of Enugu State, and reliability coefficient of 0.93was obtained. The data collected for the study were analyzed using means and standard deviations to answer the research questions while t-test and analysis of variance were used to test the formulated hypotheses 0.05 level of significance. The findings of the study were: drama as a method of teaching was perceived by teachers as an advantage in teaching Social Studies in primary schools; the extent to which Social Studies teachers perceived drama as effective in teaching Social Studies is to a high extent; drama teaching method is applied to 26 Social Studies topics to achieve the stated goals out of 30 topics; drama as a method of teaching are often used by teachers in 21 Social Studies topics while 9 topics are rarely used by teachers; there are numerous challenges hindering the effective use rof drama in teaching Social Studies; qualification has no significant influence on teachers’ perception of the use of drama for the teaching of Social Studies in primary schools; gender has no significant influence on teachers’ perception of the use of drama for the teaching of Social Studies. The findings have some implication for students, teachers, parents, ministry of education.  Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended among others that drama method should be frequently used in teaching pupils at primary school level and physical conditions in classrooms should be improved in order to accommodate drama activities. However, implications of the study, limitations as well as suggestion for further studies were also highlighted.