Action Learning Strategy and Students’ Knowledge of Character Education Concepts in Social Studies

This study investigated the effect of action learning strategy on students’ knowledge of character education concepts in Social Studies. The moderating effects of level of academic ability and gender were also examined. A pretest-posttest control group, quasi-experimental design using the 2x3x2 factorial matrix was adopted for the study. A multi-stage sampling procedure was adopted. The sample size was 339 Junior Secondary School II students from four randomly selected schools in Ile-Ife, Nigeria. Instructional Guide for Action Learning Strategy and Character Knowledge Test were the main instruments used in the study. Data were analysed using Analysis of Covariance to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance while Scheffé post-hoc test was used to determine the source of significant difference. The result showed a significant main effect of treatment on students’ knowledge of character concepts. Participants in action learning strategy performed better than those in the control group. Academic ability had significant main effects on students’ knowledge. Students with the high academic ability performed better than students with moderate and low academic ability respectively. Gender had no significant main effect on students’ knowledge in character education. Based on these findings, teachers of Social Studies could, therefore, adopt action learning strategy for teaching secondary school students.