ABSTRACT
This study examined the Effects of Improvised instructional materials on the academic performance of junior secondary school students in Social studies in Kaduna state, Nigeria. This study was carried out with four research objectives, four research questions and four null-hypotheses were formulated. The study adopts the use of quasi-experimental research and out of the thirty nine thousand, two hundred and twenty seven (39,227) JSS II Social studies students, comprising of twenty two thousand, one hundred and fifty five (22,155) male and seventeen thousand and seventy two (17,072) female students, a total of 117 students were sampled out for the experimental group. This comprises of 71 males and 46 females while the control group was also made up of 70 males and 46 female students. Data for the study was collected through the pre-test, treatment and post-test using a researcher made instrument (Improvised Social Studies Performance Test- ISSPET), the ISSPET consists of 30 objective test items. Data collected were analyzed statistically through the use of both descriptive statistics of frequencies, mean and standard deviation and inferential statistics of independent t-test. Major findings drawn from the study among others revealed a positive significant difference in the performance of students taught Social studies with the use of improvised instructional materials when compared with those taught Social studies without the use of improvised instructional materials at 0.05 alpha level of significance. Also, finding shows a positive significant difference in the performance of boys and girls taught Social studies using improvised instructional materials. It was concluded among others that since the students taught Social studies with the use of improvised instructional materials had a better mean score than those taught without the use of improvised instructional materials, there is need for teachers to be trained to improvise as this will enable them acquire the appropriate techniques and skills necessary for improvisation. Hence, it was recommended that Teachers should be trained and re-trained through workshops, seminars and conferences for the purpose of skill acquisition necessary for the production and use of instructional materials by teachers