IMPROVING SKILLS OF SOCIAL STUDIES TEACHERS THROUGH ICT TRAINING FOR ITS FACILITIES UTILIZATION IN CLASSROOM PEDAGOGY IN BENUE STATE, NIGERIA

ABSTRACT: This study examines skills of Social Studies teachers through ICT training for its facilitiesutilization in classroom pedagogy in Benue State. The study also investigated skills of Social Studies teachersacross gender. The study was guided by two research questions while two hypotheses were formulated andtested at 0.05 level of significance. The design of the study was one group pre-test post-test quasi-experimentaldesign. The population of the study consisted of 508 Social Studies teachers from the 303 Upper Basic Schoolsin the three Education Zones of Benue State. The sample of the study comprised 244 Social Studies teachers of130 males and 94 females drawn through multistage sampling techniques. Data were collected using researchermade instruments entitled “Teachers ICT Skills Observation Scale” (TISOS). TISOS was subjected to reliabilityanalysis using Cronbach Alpha which yielded a reliability coefficient of 0.82.Data collected were analyzedusing mean and standard deviation to answer the research questions while the t-test was used to test thehypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The result indicated that there was a significant difference in the meanskills scores of Social Studies teachers before and after exposure to ICT training for its facilities utilisation inclassroom pedagogy (P=0.000<0.05). It was equally indicated that there was no significant difference in themean skills scores of male and female Social Studies teachers before (p = 0.615 > 0.05) and after (p = 0.269 >0.05) exposure to ICT training for its facilities utilisation in classroom pedagogy. Based on the findings, it wasrecommended among others, that Social Studies teachers be encouraged to avail themselves of the opportunitiesof any ICT training provided as this could help them improve on their skills and enhance their teaching towardsthe use of ICT facilities in classroom pedagogy. It was suggested that this study be replicated in other subjectareas to allow room for more generalization and applicability.

Keywords: ICT, Training, Skills, Utilisation and Social Studies