X-RAYING SOCIAL STUDIES EDUCATION AS AN INSTRUMENT FOR PROMOTION OF DEMOCRATIC VALUES IN THE SOCIETY

Abstract

The National Council for Social Studies (2009) defined Social Studies as an “integrated study of social sciences and humanities to promote civic competencies” within the school program. It provides coordinated systematic study, drawing upon such disciplines as anthropology, archaeology, economics, geography, history, law as well as appropriate contents from humanities and natural sciences. While democratic values refers to those values that reflects a society’s democratic way of life. They include respect, equality, fairness, honesty, freedom, tolerance, truthfulness and patriotism. The paper thus  x-rayed the concepts of democracy, Social Studies and democratic values. Expo facto research design was adopted by the researchers. The population consisted of five hundred (500) Social Studies students while a sample of fifty (50) representing 10% of the population were used using multi stage but simple random sampling technique. The instrument for data collection was Social Studies and Democratic values Questionnaire (QSSDV).  Cronbach Alpha reliability coefficient of 0.83 was obtained. Findings revealed among others that Social Studies promotes democratic values such as respect, equality, fairness, honest. Conclusions were made with useful recommendations that enhance promotion of democratic values in the society.