Effect of Guided Discovery Instructional Approach on Junior Secondary School Two Students' Interest in Social Studies in Umuahia Education Zone, Abia State

Introduction: Education is critical for both individual and national development, representing the most vital investment for sustainable progress. In Nigeria, social studies at the basic education level aims to foster national consciousness, instill essential values and develop skills for societal contribution. Despite these well-defined objectives, the National Teachers’ Institute has noted that the implementation of social studies has not fully achieved its goals. Therefore, the Guided Discovery Method, one of the powerful instructional approaches designed to achieve these objectives, guides and motivates learners to explore information, build new ideas, and create new models of thinking and behaviour. Aim: The study investigated the effect of Guided Discovery Instructional Approach on the Interest level of Junior Secondary School Students in Social Studies in Umuahia Education Zone of Abia State. Materials and Methods: The design adopted for the study was quasi-experimental design. Three research questions and three hypotheses were formulated respectively. The population of the study was 6,160 and 308 junior secondary students was sampled from the population respectively. The instrument for data collection was Social Studies Interest Scale (SOSIS). The research questions were answered using descriptive statistics of mean and standard deviation. The null hypotheses formulated were tested at 0.05 level of significance using Analysis of Co-variance (ANCOVA). Results: Students taught using the Guided Discovery Instructional Approach (Experimental Group) have higher post-test mean interest scores and greater mean gain in interest compared to those taught using the Expository Method (Control Group). This indicates that the guided discovery instructional approach is more effective in increasing students' interest in social studies. Female students have a higher post-test mean interest score and a greater mean gain in interest compared to male students. This indicates that the guided discovery instructional approach has a more significant impact on the interest levels of female students in social studies. Finally, the result on interaction effects of method of instruction and gender on students’ interest indicated that the guided discovery instructional approach appears to be more effective in increasing interest in social studies for both male and female students, with a particularly strong effect on female students. Conclusion: The study concluded that the guided discovery instructional approach showed to be a better teaching method for increasing students’ interest in social studies, especially among female students, thus sustaining its adoption and implementation in educational settings to achieve the desired educational results.