Teaching Social Studies in High Schools, Knowledge Construction versus Knowledge Transmission Methods

Teaching to transform lives requires both high-quality content and effective instructional strategies. This study examines the instructional designs that Social Studies teachers use to meet the subject’s requirements. It illustrates how both teacher-centred and learner-centred approaches align with the constructivist teaching model. Various teaching strategies were tested to determine how students engage in constructing knowledge. Using a descriptive mixed-method design, the study explored the instructional methods utilized in teaching Social Studies. It recruited 84 Social Studies instructors from 14 government senior high schools in the Central Region of Ghana, and 1,400 students. The key finding is that relying solely on one instructional technique – whether teacher-centred or learner-centred – limits students’ ability to actively create knowledge. However, when teacher-centred and learner-centred strategies are combined, starting with a teacher-centred approach and concluding with a learner-centred approach, it is more likely to promote active participation and effective learning.