Role of local environment in the teaching-learning of social studies in primary education: a case study of selected primary schools in Nakalama Subcounty in Iganga District

Abstract

This study examined the role of local environment in the teaching-learning of social studies in primary education. The study was guided by fourfold objectives namely; to find out how important local environment is in the teaching-learning of social studies, to establish the way teachers use the different local environmental components during the teaching-learning of SST, to find out how teachers conduct local environmental field studies during the teaching-learning of SST and examine the extent to which the use of local environment impacts on the performance of the learners and their understanding of social studies as a subject. The study employed the case study research design in which ten (10) primary schools were selected using the stratified sampling technique. Respondents were selected using the purposive and simple random sampling techniques. Quantitative data was analyzed using the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) and the qualitative data was presented and analyzed using tables, frequency counts and percentages under specific themes and sub-themes. The study found that primary teachers in Iganga District used the local environment in the teaching of SST. The study also revealed that the different components of local environment mainly the social (human resource) biological (animals & plants) and physical (non-living things in the locality) are used in the teaching and learning of SST. However, the study also revealed that some schools failed to use the local environment during the teaching - learning of social studies due to inadequate time, inadequate facilitation, lack of co-operation among the teachers and lack of interest from school administrators and parents. The study recommended that teachers need to cause interest in the learners in order to understand the importance of local environment in learning. In addition, teachers need to have ample time to prepare themselves and identify the appropriate components in the local environment that are suitable and relevant during the teaching-learning of SST.