COVID-19 PANDEMIC LOCKDOWN AND THE CURRENT TRENDS OF ONLINE LEARNING: ISSUES AND PROSPECTS OF SOCIAL STUDIES EDUCATION IN NIGERIA

Abstract

Social Studies is a contemporary subject by nature, this requires its teachers to use special delivering strategies and features. With the current trends of online learning due to covid-19 lockdown introduced globally, it has become imperative for Social Studies teaching to be focused towards online teaching and learning, thus the worry for this study. This study was conducted in Akwa Ibom State, using three local government areas, Essien Udim, Ikot Ekpene and Abak all in Akwa Ibom, Nigeria. The population of the study was two hundred and fifty five (255) participants that were made up of One Hundred and eighty (1 80) JSS3 students and seventy five (75) Social Studies teachers that participated in the study. Three research questions were formulated to guide the study. The instrument used in generating data was online questionnaire. The instrument used in collecting data was validated by Social Studies expert and the reliability index of the instrument was established by 0.82 before administered online to the participants. Simple percentage was used for data analysis. The findings of the result revealed that online learning has prospects and suitable for social studies. Based on the result of the findings, recommendation was made that the prospects should be harnessed for the improvement of Social Studies teaching and learning in Nigeria.