Social studies teachers’ content knowledge impact on students in the senior high schools in Ghana

Abstract

The main objective of the study was to find out how Social Studies teachers at the Senior High Schools (SHSs) impact their content knowledge into students in the classroom. To achieve this objective, interview guide and questionnaire were used to elicit the views of respondents. In all, 54 Social Studies teachers were involved in the study. The simple random, cluster and convenient sampling techniques were used to select the respondents for the study. Frequency counts and percentages were used as statistical tools for analyzing the questionnaire data collected, and the data from the interview guide was transcribed, categorized, analyzed and discussed on themes and subthemes that emerged. The findings revealed that majority of the teachers used content knowledge of Social Studies they have acquired to impact in their teaching to develop attitude, skills, values and knowledge in students. Based upon the findings, it was recommended that, there should be courses on Social Studies content so as to develop teachers’ knowledge about the subject to enhance effective teaching.