Effects of Mastery Learning on Students’ Achievement and Retention in Social Studies

Abstract

The researchers investigated the effects of mastering learning on students' achievement and retention in Social Studies in junior secondary schools (JSS) in Ikere Local Government Area, Ekiti State, Nigeria. The problem of student’s poor performance and under achievement in Social Studies has been a major issue and there is an interest in Nigerian schools especially in terms of student's achievement and retention level. Two research questions were raised with two corresponding hypotheses to guide the study. A quasi- experimental design of non-equivalent control group was adopted. Two mixed secondary schools were purposely selected from Secondary Schools in Ikere Ekiti, Ekiti State out of which two in-tact classes were selected. One of the two classes was used as the experimental group, taught with an integrate group-based mastery learning model. There were 100 students in the two groups combined. The instrument used for data collection was two Social Studies Achievement Test (SSA1). The data collected were analyzed using ANOVA. The result of the study showed that there was a significant effect of treatment on Social Studies students’ achievement based on gender and retention level. It was concluded that student's achievement level and retention will greatly increase if teachers apply the mastery learning model.