Remember me on this computer. Enter the email address you signed up with and we'll email you a reset link. Need an account? Click here to sign up. Download Free PDF. Bordoh PhD. A short summary of this paper. Download Download PDF. Translate PDF. Box Accra Ghana. The subject is multi-disciplinary and takes its sources from geography, history, sociology, psychology, economics and civic education.
Essential elements of the knowledge and principles from these disciplines are integrated into a subject that stands on its own. As a subject, Social Studies helps pupils to understand their society better; helps them to investigate how their society functions and hence assists them to develop that critical and at the same time developmental kind of mind that transforms societies. Our society has been a slow moving society. The integration is achieved in the three sections of the syllabus each of which focuses respectively on.
The Environment 2. Governance, Politics and Stability 3. The structure and organization of the syllabus is presented on the next page. It is suggested the periods should be organized into one double period and a single period.
Resource persons could be obtained from the drivers union, the Police, various government Ministries, politicians, business persons, and persons from a variety of professions. Using experienced resource persons will expose pupils to persons who have real-life experiences to share with pupils. This will create the excitement that will lead to very valuable learning. The syllabus has been structured to cover each of the three years in the JHS programme.
Teaching and learning should be participatory. The general objectives flow from the general aims for teaching English listed on page ii of this syllabus. The general objectives form the basis for the selection and organization of the unit topics.
Read the general objectives very carefully before you start teaching. After teaching all the units, go back and read the general aims and general objectives again to be sure you have covered both of them adequately in the course of your teaching. A section consists of a fairly homogeneous body of knowledge within the subject. Within each section are units. A unit consists of a more related homogeneous body of knowledge and skills. Each unit presents one coherent topic within the broader section.
You are expected to follow the unit topics according to the learner order in which they have been presented. However, if you find at some point that teaching and learning in your class will be more effective if you branched to another unit before coming back to the unit in the sequence, you are encouraged to do so. Each unit has an accompanying problem that highlights the critical issue in the unit and which should be addressed in the course of teaching the unit.
The problem is not exhaustive. Teachers are encouraged to identify other related problems for teaching the unit. The specific objectives begin with numbers such as 1. The first digit in the syllabus reference number refers to the section; the second digit refers to the unit, while the third digit refers to the rank order of the specific objective. For instance, a reference number such as 1.
Similarly, the syllabus reference number 2. Using syllabus reference numbers provides an easy way for communication among teachers and other educators. It further provides an easy way for selecting objectives for test construction.
In this way, a teacher would sample the objectives within units and within sections to be able to develop a test that accurately reflects the importance of the various skills taught in class. You will note that specific objectives have been stated in terms of the pupil i. In some cases, the content presented is quite exhaustive. In some other cases, you could add more information to the Content presented.
Nonetheless, try to find more information through reading and personal investigations, to add to the content provided. Try to avoid rote learning and drill-oriented methods and rather emphasize participatory teaching and learning, as already stated, and also emphasize the cognitive, affective and psychomotor domains of knowledge in your instructional system wherever appropriate.
You are encouraged to re-order the suggested teaching and learning activities and also add to them where necessary, in order to achieve optimum pupil learning. As implied already, the major purpose of teaching and learning is to make pupils able to apply their knowledge in dealing with issues both in and out of school. Pupils must be taught valuable skills and attitudes as a result of having gone through this programme, and must above all be taught to be problem solvers.
Evaluation exercise can be in the form of oral questions, quizzes, class exercises, essays, structured questions, project work and investigations. Try to ask questions and set task and assignments that will challenge your pupils to apply their knowledge to issues and problems as we have already said above, and that will engage them in developing solutions, and developing positive attitudes as a result of having undergone instruction in this subject.
The suggested evaluation tasks are not exhaustive. You are encouraged to develop or create other evaluation exercises to ensure that pupils have mastered the instruction and behaviours implied in the specific objectives of each unit. Lastly, bear in mind the syllabus cannot be taken as a substitute for lesson plans. It is therefore, necessary that you develop a scheme of work and lesson plans for teaching the units of this syllabus.
A 'dimension' is a psychological unit for describing a particular learning behaviour. More than one dimension constitutes a profile of dimensions. A specific objective may be stated with an action verb as follows: The pupil will be able to describe….. Being able to "describe" something after the instruction has been completed means that the pupil has acquired "knowledge". Being able to explain, summarize, give examples, etc. Similarly, being able to develop, plan, solve problems, construct, etc.
Each of the specific objectives in this syllabus contains an "action verb" that describes the behaviour the pupil will be able to demonstrate after the instruction.
It has been realized unfortunately that schools still teach the low ability thinking skills of knowledge and understanding and ignore the higher ability thinking skills.
Instruction in most cases has tended to stress knowledge acquisition to the detriment of the higher ability behaviours such as application, analysis, etc. For there to be any change in the quality of people who go through the school system, pupils should be encouraged to apply their knowledge, develop analytical thinking skills, develop plans, generate new and creative ideas and solutions, and use their knowledge in a variety of ways to solve mathematical problems while still in school.
Each action verb indicates the underlying profile dimension of each particular specific objective. Read each objective carefully to know the profile dimension toward which you have to teach.
Profile dimensions describe the underlying behaviours for teaching, learning and assessment. The weights indicated on the right of the dimensions show the relative emphasis that the teacher should give in the teaching, learning and testing processes in the subject.
Combining the three dimensions in the teaching and learning process will ensure that Social Studies is taught and studied not only at the cognitive level, but will also lead to the acquisition of positive attitudes and values on the part of pupils.
Knowledge is simply the ability to remember or recall material already learned and constitutes the lowest level of learning. Understand The ability to explain, summarize, translate, rewrite, paraphrase, give examples, generalize, estimate or predict consequences based upon a trend. These levels include application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. These may be considered and taught separately, paying attention to reflect each of them equally in your teaching.
Details of each of the four sub-levels are as follows: Application The ability to apply rules, methods principles, theories, etc. It also involves the ability to produce solve, operate, plan, demonstrate, discover etc. Analysis The ability to break down a piece of material into its component parts, to differentiate, compare distinguish, outline, separate, identify significant points etc.
Synthesis The ability to put parts together to form a new whole; It involves the ability to combine, compile, compose, device, plan, revise, design, organize, create and generate new ideas and solutions.
Evaluation refers to the ability to judge the worth or value of some material based on specified criteria. The dimension consists of a number of learning and behavioural levels such as receiving, responding, valuing and organizing. The specific behaviours in each of the four levels are as follows: receiving The ability to follow directions, listen, show awareness and sensitivity, accept, ask questions, and reply to questions etc.
It refers to the ability to accept, defend, arrange, formulate, generalize, modify, and defend a belief or good cause.
Select from the action verbs provided for your teaching, in evaluating learning before, during and after the instruction. Use the action verbs also in writing your test questions. This will ensure that you give your pupils the chance to develop and demonstrate good thinking skills and the capacity for excellent performance in examinations and in practical life. Check the weights of the profile dimensions to ensure that you have given the required emphasis to each of the dimensions in your teaching and assessment.
In developing assessment procedures, try to select specific objectives in such a way that you will be able to assess a representative samples of the syllabus objectives. Each specific objective in the syllabus is considered a criterion to be achieved by the pupil.
In many cases, a teacher cannot test all the objectives taught in a term, in a year etc. Paper 1 will usually be an objective-type paper. Paper 2 will consist of structured questions, essentially testing. The SBA will be based on all the three dimensions. The distribution of marks for the objective test items, structured questions and the continuous assessment should be in line with the weights of the profile dimensions already indicated, and as shown in the last column of the table.
In the examination structure below, Paper 1 is marked out of 40; Paper 2 is marked out of , and SBA is marked out of 60, giving a total of marks. The last row shows the weight of marks allocated to each of the three test components. The two test papers are weighted differently to reflect their individual importance in the total examination. The last but one row, shows the raw total marks allocated to each of the dimensions.
The weight of each of the three dimensions is indicated in the last column. SBA is a very effective system for teaching and learning if carried out properly. The 12 assessments are labeled as Task 1, Task 2, Task 3 and Task 4.
Task will be administered in Term 1; Tasks will be administered in Term 2, and Tasks administered in Term 3. Task 1 will be administered as an individual test coming at the end of the first month of the term. The equivalent of Task 1 will be Task 5 and Task 9 to the administered in Term 2 and Term 3 respectively.
Task 2 will be administered as a Group Exercise and will consist of two or three instructional objectives that the teacher considers difficult to teach and learn. The selected objectives could also be those objectives considered very important and which therefore need pupils to put in more practice. Task 2 will be administered at the end of the second month in the term. Task 3 will also be administered as individual test under the supervision of the class teacher at the end of the 11th or 12 week of the term.
Task 4 and also Task 8 and Task 12 will be a project to be undertaken throughout the term and submitted at the end of the term. Schools will be supplied with 9 project topics divided into three topics for each term. A pupil is expected to select one project topic for each term. Projects for the second term will be undertaken by teams of pupils as Group Projects.
Projects are intended to encourage pupils to apply knowledge and skills acquired in the term to write an analytic or investigative paper, write a poem 9 as may be required in English and Ghanaian Languages , use science and mathematics to solve a problem or produce a physical three-dimensional product as may be required in Creative Arts and in Natural Science. The following guidelines are provided for marking assignments of such nature.
Main Text -Descriptions, use of charts etc. They have to be taught to start with an introduction and conclude their writing appropriately. The marks derived from projects, the end of month tests and home work specifically designed for the SBA should together constitute the School Based Assessment component marked out of 60 per cent.
For this reason, the 60 marks for the SBA will be scaled to The SBA and the end-of-term test marks will hence be combined in equal proportions of The equal proportions will affect only assessment in the school system.
A marking scheme, as you may be aware, consists of the points for the best answer you expect for each essay question or structured question, and the mark s allocated for each point raised by the pupil as well as the total marks for the question. For objective test papers, you may develop an answer key to speed up the marking.
The descriptors Excellent, Very Good etc indicate the meaning of each grade. You therefore have to write the meaning of the grade alongside the score you write. Apart from the score and the grade descriptor, it will be important also to write a short diagnosis of the points the pupil should consider in order to do better in future tests etc. Comments such as the following may also be added to the grades: Keep it up Has improved Could do better Hardworking Not serious in class More room for improvement, etc.
Note that the grade boundaries above are also referred to as grade cut-off scores. When you adopt a fixed cut-off score grading system as in this example, you are using the criterion-referenced grading system. By this system a pupil must make a specified score to earn the appropriate grade. This system of grading challenges pupils to study harder to earn better grades.
It is hence very useful for achievement testing and grading. Knowledge of the value State types of of the environment and Types of environment are the physical Discuss the physical and social environment how to sustain it is vital and the social environments and show how each for the continued affects the other. Physical — Air, water, land, living Environment degradation organisms etc. There is therefore the urgent need for Ghanaians to become aware of this problem so as to adopt the necessary measures to solve the problem.
Skin diseases environmental degradation secondly provide effective Destruction of vegetation etc. The period lasts Guide pupils to discuss the The Problem between years. Adolescents have little knowledge about their 1.
This leads them 1. Little information or Explain chastity wrong information leads 1. A number of routes of the five major ethnic groups to arrows and labels, the originally settled and their the ethnic groups migrated from old present day Ghana routes of the major ethnic Almost all the ethnic present location Ghana empire which covered the groups to present day groups in Ghana area presently occupied by parts of Ghana.
The different places at one Mole Dagbon group came from the time or the other, to their area around Lake Chad, while present place. We have others like the Ewe and the Ga- lived together in this Adangbes came from Benin and Pupils in groups, to select nation in the past as Nigeria respectively. Each we can move together group to present a report into the future in unity. Pupils discuss ways of sustaining peace, stability, unity and development in Ghana. Education, infrastructure Ghana.
Mensah Sarbah to education, Christianity and education other infrastructural development. However 2.
Taste for foreign goods negative effects of colonization in and suggest solutions. Slave Trade and later Loss of true identity Ghana colonization. These Distortion of cultures etc. It is therefore retards progress in expense of made in Ghana goods, Ghana. Nov 23rd, Not a member of Pastebin yet?
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