The purpose of the study was to evaluate of Social Studies Teachers Knowledge in Nature, Goals, and Objectives in the Lesson Presentations The study adopted qualitative research approach. Data were collected through the use of individual interviews, observation and focus group discussions for triangulation purposes. Purposive, convenient and simple random sampling techniques were used to select the schools, teachers for the study. In all, seventeen (17) Social Studies teachers were selected from six (6) Senior High Schools. The study revealed that teachers were grossly deficient about the goals of Social Studies. To improve this system, it is recommended that the researchers suggests that the highest priority should be given to the training and development of a new breed of educator who are vocationally competent and academically sound. This can be done by heads of institutions to allow teachers who specialise in their respective areas to teach those subject areas at the various levels of education particularly Social Studies at the High school level.

Education in any part of the world is seen as the bedrock for national development and the key factor in human resource development. It is increasingly obvious that the world is becoming more complex. In response to this situation, governments all over the world are committed to providing education to meet the changing challenges of the complex economic and political system confronting them. In all developing countries such as Ghana, there is a widespread desire to change the structure and system of education to meet the new needs. In these countries, the tendency for high rate of school drop-outs, indiscipline and unemployment of school leavers have also posed new treats to education [1].

School is an institution set up by society for the purpose of addressing the needs, aspirations and challenges of the society, and for that matter, the country. These are captured in the national goals of education in every country. The school seeks to achieve these great ideals through the study of the various subjects. This implies that any subject that merits inclusion in the school curriculum can contribute in addressing the needs, aspirations and the challenges of the society. Every discipline (subject) is expected to contribute positively towards the realisation of the national goals of education and the national agenda. The report of the President’s Committee on Review of Education Reforms in Ghana stated that the philosophy of education in Ghana should be creating well-balanced intellectual, spiritual, emotional and physical beings with the requisite knowledge, skills, values and attitude for self-actualisation and for socio-economic and political transformation of the nation [2]. Social Studies education as a major contributory factor to the attainment of social goals [3].

The educational reforms of 1987 in Ghana brought in its wake-up calls the introduction of Social Studies as a core subject at the then Junior Secondary School (JSS) and Teacher Training Colleges. Social Studies in Ghana went through a radical change in 1995, and it was introduced at the Senior Secondary level in Ghana. It evolved from a collection of mainly History, Government, Economics and Geography topics, which were used to represent the early Social Studies curriculum, instead of an issue-centred (trans-disciplinary) subject [4]. This evolution or change succeeded in transforming Social Studies from the amalgam of discrete traditional Social Science disciplines to one that is issue-centred and problem solving in nature [4, 5].

In the Ghanaian context, Social Studies is a citizenship education which aims at producing reflective, competent, responsible and participatory citizen [6]. Social Studies is the study that equips the youth with tools necessary in solving personal and community related problems. The subject will not just aim at giving out knowledge but will emphasise inculcating into humans a certain distillate knowledge which will help them in acquiring the tools necessary for life. What he termed as tools are knowledge, values, attitude, and skills. These tools should help the child in solving both personal and societal related problems [7]. This supports the view of the National Council of Social Studies in United States of America that “the primary purpose of Social Studies is to help the young people develop the ability to make informed and reasoned decisions for the public good as citizens of a culturally diverse nation in an interdependent world” [8].

In order to maintain our values and system of governance, citizens need to care about their common good and participate in public life. To achieve this, the Social Studies curriculum must prepare students to identify, understand and work to solve the problems facing them in their various communities, as well as in our increasingly diverse nation and interdependent world. All these cannot be possible without well-trained and well- equipped teachers to implement them in the school system. Every teacher of Social Studies needs adequate knowledge of the philosophy of the subject for effective teaching and learning [7]. The philosophy provides guidance and direction in choosing objectives, statement of content, choice of teaching techniques and nature of assessment. The development and survival of a state or nation depends upon the capacity building which Social Studies and other subjects in the curriculum equip the learners through the use of complementary instructional processes.

Many efforts have been made to improve the teaching of the subject through curriculum innovations and upgrading of institutions of learning like the Colleges of Education in Ghana, from the Post-Secondary Certificate to Diploma and University of Education, Winneba, from the diploma levels to the first and second-degree levels as well as terminal degree to produce Social Studies scholars. It is still suspected that the goals of Social Studies are not being achieved. A researcher wrote that the then head of state of Nigeria, Lt. General Olusegun Obsanjo, in his speech at the commissioning of the National Advisory Council on Education for citizenship in Nigeria that many Nigerians in all walks of life have expressed concern at the indiscipline, excessive materialism, laxity and lack of compassion that are so rampant at all levels of our society. Indiscipline manifests itself in different forms of dishonesty, lack of respect and consideration for elders and those in position of authority, rudeness, absenteeism, and lateness to work, selfishness and disregard for life on our roads, to name but a few [7].

The above statement made by the former head of state of Nigeria, Lt. General Olusegun Obasanjo, about indiscipline of the people of Nigeria is not different from what pertains in Ghana. In recent times, Ghana has been bedevilled with many problems which threaten the very fabric of our society. Cherished attitudinal standards are falling drastically. Greed, desire to cheat others through dubious practices, and general distrust for everybody are some of the problems [7]. In addition to the above are examination leakages, careless driving on our roads, increase in divorce rate, street children, indecent dressing, bribery and corruption, absenteeism and lateness to work, laziness, prostitution, adultery, armed robbery, pilfering at work place, cyber fraud, to mention but few are all rampant in Ghana today. These create a doubt about whether the goals of our educational system are being met.

Social Studies instructional activities should foster individual and cultural identity which examine the forces that hold society together or pull it apart; provide opportunity for participation in the school and communities; address critical issues in the world; prepare students to make decisions based on democratic principles, and teach the skill needed for citizenship participation in public affairs [9]. The varying conceptions through time and space indicated that Social Studies is seen as a subject introduced solely to right the wrong in society, and its teaching and learning must be centred on issues and how problems are solved to unearth youth with positive attitudinal building skills and behavioural change” [10].

To inculcate the right skills, values, attitude and knowledge in students, there is the need for effective teaching based on the goals of the subject. Teaching is a complex and difficult task that demands extraordinary and dynamic activities [11, 12]. This means, the teaching strategies and activities also keep on changing. Therefore, teachers are expected to teach to suit the changing needs of the society which are also the goals and objectives of Social Studies. This can be achieved through effective teaching.

Effective teaching is essentially concerned with how best to bring about the desired learning through some education activities. Effective teaching is also derived from a psychological perspective on thinking about teaching, where the implicit emphasis is on identifying observable behaviour in the classroom which can be linked with an influence on observable and measurable product variable [13, 14]. This is in line with the general psychological perspective regarding how to best explore human behaviour. This implies that, effective teachers use a repertoire of teaching models and assessment strategies, depending upon their situations and the goals and objectives they wish to attain. It is deduced from this that the effective teacher plans his or her lessons with some objectives to be achieved at the end of the lesson in order to instil in the learners the desirable knowledge, attitudes, values and skills for the attainment of the goals of the subject [13, 15]. This purport that teachers’ conceptions and theoretical knowledge on assessment broaden their scope on the teaching and learning in the classroom. [16].

Goals are about setting realistic and easy steps in place towards fulfilling something that one wants. Goals are derived from standards to more specifically what must be accomplished and who must do what in order to meet the standards. Goals express standards from the teacher’s, learner’s or school point of view and identifies what teachers must teach, students must learn, and school must do [11]. “When we play soccer, we try as much as possible to put the ball into the net behind the opposing team’s goal post”. Looking at this scenario, all the efforts of the players of the game are geared towards arriving at the goal. In the same way, when we teach or educate people, we must have a purpose or a goal towards which we must direct all our efforts to achieve the goals of the subject [6]. Goals energise and motivate teachers, students and schools to become actively engaged and committed to meeting standards. In identifying a country’s goals of education, we must be concerned about the extent to which these goals can help us to solve our social problems.

1.1. Relevance of Lesson Plan

The success of any lesson depends upon the quality and relevance of its profile dimension and the expertise with which it is implemented in classroom situation. The implications for teaching and learning is that since the profile dimensions describe the underlying behaviours for teaching, learning and assessment, Social Studies teachers not having an in-depth knowledge base about the profile dimensions will find it difficult to teach and assess their learners’ learning outcomes in the teaching and learning process to achieve the desired goal (s) and objectives of the subject which is to help prepare learners to be well informed, concerned, decision makers and participatory citizens who are willing to help in solving personal and societal problems. With this, much is needed to assist Social Studies teachers at the Senior High School level to be abreast with the profile dimensions in Social Studies to enhance quality teaching and learning of the subject that will result righting the wrongs in societies [17].

A lesson is a structured period of time where learning is intended to occur which involves one or more student’s being taught by a teacher or instructor. Planning is important in every activity in one’s life if he or she is aiming at success. Therefore, there is the need for teachers to plan their lesson before entering the classroom to ensure effective instructional activities. Effective planning enjoins the teacher to use experience already gained by his students as a starting point for his lessons. Planning in the classroom setting is the systematic process of deciding what and how your students should learn. Teachers do make many decisions about the form and content of their instructions, such as how much presenting, questioning, and discussing to do, how much an area to cover in the allotted time, how in depth to make their instruction, and how to achieve the instructional goals and objectives of the lesson [11]. These planning decisions are crucial for developing effective lesson plans, because they give structure to lesson planning and source of societal values and professional standards [11, 17]. However able and experienced the teacher, he/she could never without his preliminary preparation achieve his or her objectives set for the lesson. He continued to say that to be effective, every intelligent worker plans out his/her work; so, must a teacher plan and prepare his or her work [18]. It is in this light that a researcher observed that for success, teachers must develop effective lesson plans and instructional strategy in their classrooms [19]. This brings to bear the importance of lesson in classroom situations. Lesson plan shows how the teacher intends to share a stated content in a given period [7].

The effective teacher needs to develop a plan to provide direction for the attainment of the selected objectives. A lesson plan is a teacher’s detailed description of the course of instruction for an individual lesson [20]. The preparation of lesson notes leads to systematic organisation and presentation of materials eschewing all advances all irrelevancies, and enable the teacher to determine the practical approach to the lesson through judicious selection and use of teaching aids [7]. In support of Quartey’s view of the importance of lesson plan, other researchers asserted that a well-developed lesson plan reflects the interests and needs of students and it incorporates best practices for the educational field. They continued to say that the lesson plan should correlate with the teacher’s philosophy of education, which is what the teacher feels, is the purpose of educating the students. This means that a teacher creates an idea or question when he or she wants the students to explore or answer and how to achieve that. It would be much easier to accomplish the objectives of a lesson if a teacher plans his or her lesson before entering the classroom to teach. A lesson plan indicates the aim to be realised by teaching a lesson, the methods to be employed and the activities to be undertaken in the class so that it is kept on course for the realisation of the aim. Also, lesson plans are highly organised outlines that specify the subject matter to be covered, the order in which the information will be presented and the timeline for delivering each section or component for the subject matter. Again, a lesson plan is to ensure that teachers are following the correct curriculum and that each class will be exposed to the data in a timely and efficient manner. It also provides the teacher with the opportunity to plan learning modules and strategies in advance, so that the material in question will be covered effectively formative assessor [7, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21]. Effective formative assessor requires someone who has the necessary depth of content knowledge of the subject s/he is teaching. Effective use of rewards in formative classroom motivates students to take part in classroom activities. Students get on board in lesson delivery when they are motivated with good remarks [13].

Also, a study stated that the most important components to consider in lesson planning are: the topic; objective(s); previous knowledge; presentation; introduction; learners’ activities; teacher’s activities; teaching and learning materials; closure and evaluation. Three other factors to consider in the planning process are; knowledge of the learner, knowledge of your subject matter, and knowledge of teaching methods [22]. A review of a research on planning found that teachers reported spending more of their time (an average of 43%), planning instruction around the characteristics of their learners than around any other consideration (for example, assessment, classroom management and the curriculum). The lesson plan shows how the teacher intends to impart a state knowledge in a given period. Some of the major characteristics of learners a teacher can expect to influence his or her instruction will be their specific abilities, task relevant prior achievement, learning styles, and home and family life. These are the windows through which teachers see the special needs of their learners and begin to plan their instruction [11, 23].

Planning with respect to learners begins by consciously noting their characteristics in the area [11]. Their unique abilities and experience will provide the teacher the opportunity to select content, materials, objectives, and methods that match their current level of understanding and meet their special learning needs. This knowledge will be instructional in helping the teacher to organise, select, sequence, and allocate time to topics of instruction. A second aspect of planning is knowledge of the teacher`s academic discipline and grade level. As a student, the teacher has spent much time and effort becoming knowledgeable in the subjects he or she will teach. The teacher has observed and absorbed, perhaps without ever realising it, valuable information about textbook authors, his or instructors, and subject-matter specialist organize concepts in his teaching area [11]. This information includes how part of the subject relates to be whole, how content is prioritized, how transitions are made between topics, and which themes are major and which minor. Consciously reflecting on this content organisation, as presented by subject-matter specialist in their instructional materials, text, and curriculum guides. Preparing his or her lesson will make learning for his or her students easier, more orderly, and more conducive to retention and later use. Deriving his or her content organisation from these sources also can be instructional in helping him or her select, sequence, and allocate time for what he or she teaches [11].

The more organised a teacher is, the more effective the teaching, and the learning is. Writing lesson plan is a large part of being organised hence teacher`s effectiveness. A study opined that lesson plan helps classroom teachers to organise their objective and methodologies in an easy-to-read format. Teachers cannot do effective work if they decide not to write lesson notes. This then brings to the fore that a lesson plan is a teacher’s detailed description of the course of instruction for the individual lesson and daily lesson plan is developed by teacher to guide a class instruction. The preparation of lesson notes leads to systematic organisation and presentation of materials eschewing all irrelevancies, and enables the teacher to determine the practical approach to the lesson through judicious selection and use of teaching aids [24]. Lesson planning is the title given to statement of the achievements to be realised and the specific means by which these are to be attained as a result of the activities engaged day-by-day under the guidance of the teacher. A well-developed lesson plan reflects interests and needs of students and it incorporates best practices for the educational field [18].

A researcher opined that before a teacher plans his or her lesson, the teacher must possess the following four qualities in order to plan a lesson effectively:

• a broad understanding of the subject matter, materials and activities that will provide the nucleus for the classroom experience.
• an intimate knowledge of the environment forces that have played upon the life of the class collectively and individually.
• a thorough comprehension of the psychology of the mental process with an understanding of the realization of the laws of learning leading to anticipated classroom situation.
• teaching technique to meet the general and specific needs of learning situation [18].

Planning is essential not only in teaching but in all spheres of human activity. With the four qualities identified above by Aggarwal, the teacher will have a focus on what to do since he or she is on top of the subject matter, no deviation would occur. Proper planning helps to maximise teaching and learning as well as the full development of students’ potentials to make them useful to society [11].

The lesson plan correlates with the teacher`s philosophy of education, which is what the teacher feels is the purpose of educating the students. Effective teachers reflect on their day-to-day experience in the classroom and use them as input to the planning process [11]. Borich argued that when a teacher includes his or her day-to-day experiences, it will give him or her teaching variety, flexibility, and creativity. A study identified the following: lesson title, subject areas, gaining attention, informing the learner of the lesson’s objective, stimulating recall of prerequisite learning, presenting the stimulus material eliciting the desired behaviour, providing feedback, and assessing the behaviour [11]. This implies that a good lesson note prepared will ensure effective assessment in the classroom.

Again, research suggested the following elements for a classroom in the lesson plan format. These include: title of the lesson, time required to complete the lesson, list of required materials, list of objectives, which must be behavioural objectives, the set that focuses students on the lesson’s skills or concepts, an instructional competence that describes the sequence of events that make up the lesson, independent practice that allows students to extend skills or knowledge on their own, a summary, where the teacher wraps up the discussion and answers questions and , an evaluation component, a test for mastery of the instructed skills or concepts [25]. Considering the two different lesson plan formats above, all are of the view of helping the teacher to plan his or her work. All of them first talk of the title of the lesson and finally ended on the evaluation of the lesson. But to include the sources of the information, (that is references) without which one may not be able to trace the source of the information. Researchers lay emphasis on behavioural objectives and not any objective in the lesson you have to be consistent in citation. Comparing the two lesson plan formats above, [11, 25].

A study identified two different formats of preparing Social Studies lesson plan that is vertical and horizontal [7]. He reiterated that the arrangements of the horizontal format are in a table form and the demands of the presentation are identified and specified, whereas the arrangements of the vertical format is not in a table form. Quartey identified the following headings for a Social Studies lesson plan: subject, date, class, number of pupils, duration, topic objectives, previous knowledge, reference(s), teaching and learning materials, introduction, development, revision or recapitulation, application or testing or expression of work, formulation of generalisation or concepts, homework and remarks [7].

With the above format, it will be easy for a newly recruited teacher to apply without much difficulty when compared with [11, 25]. This is because every detail has been identified in the format except the problem which is missing in the format but Social Studies deals with the problem of here and now. A previous study identified the following headings for a Social Studies unit plan: unit topic, key concepts, key generalisations, sub-ideas, objectives, initiation activities, developmental activities, evaluation activities, culmination activities, and a resource bibliography [26]. Like Bank who failed to provide a column for the problem in his lesson plan format, Aggarwal, in his Social Studies lesson format could not provide a column for the problem [18, 26]. The researchers are of the view that column on the problem is important to ensure that the lesson plan is explicit. In this current study therefore, one of the objectives is to determine the extent to which teachers’ knowledge of Social Studies reflect in their lesson plans.

The background to the study provided an outline of the place of teaching of Social Studies to foster acceptable attitudes and values in the youth for nation building. Any newly developed programme of study (discipline) has its plans for teaching. Although studies have shown great emphasis made on teaching method, very little attention has been paid to the classroom practices of the teacher that can help achieve effective skills in students. The purpose of the study was to evaluate of Social Studies Teachers Knowledge in Nature, Goals, and Objectives in the Lesson Presentations. The study sought to answer these research questions – (1) To what extent do Social Studies teachers of the Senior High School have knowledge about the nature, goals and objectives of Social Studies? (2) Does teachers’ knowledge of Social Studies goals and objectives reflect in their Social studies lesson plans?

The study adopted qualitative method. The population for the study consisted of all Social Studies teachers in the Senior High Schools (Agogo State S.H.S, Agogo Collins Comm. S.H.S, Konongo Wesley S.H.S, Konongo-Odumasi S.H.S, Owereman S.H.S, Domeabra, and Patrensa S. D. A S. H.S) in the Asante Akim North Municipality of the Ashanti Region. Purposive and convenient sampling techniques were used to select Social Studies teachers and schools for the study. Purposive sampling technique was adopted to select seventeen (17) Social Studies teachers and convenient sampling technique was also used to select the schools six (6) Senior High Schools in the Asante Akim North Municipality for the study. The schools were conveniently selected for this study because of the accessibility to the researchers. The main instruments used for data collection were observation and interview. The researcher observed the lessons of seventeen teachers during classroom instructional periods. This was done to allow the researchers to find out how the respondents (teachers) teach Social Studies and respond to the responses from their students. An observation checklist made up nine (9) items was used to collect data on the respondents during instructional periods. Data was collected on teachers’ instructional practice and students learning activities. In all, 17 respondents’ lessons were observed. The researchers observed the lessons of each of the respondent thrice on different days. This enabled the researchers to find out if what was observed earlier has been repeated or was changed during the subsequent observations. No topic was assigned to any of the respondents (teachers) to teach. They were to teach the very topics each respondent was supposed to teach at that particular period within the day. The researchers were only interested in how they went about their teaching and students’ practical responses. As the researchers were observing the lessons, a cameraman also assisted and videotaped the lessons. Since the aim was to determine the effectiveness of the teachers with the knowledge of Social Studies goals and objectives, care had to be taken to ensure that it was the teacher’s own authentic classroom teacher - student interaction that was recorded in the checklist and to provide opportunity for playback when required. Each respondent (teacher) and the class (S.H.S.2 students) were observed and videotaped for a 45 minutes’ lesson. The lessons were videotaped so that it could be played back during the researchers’ analysis of the data.

With the help of the Social Studies Heads of department, 17 respondents (teachers) were interviewed. Each of the respondents was interviewed twice on different days to cross check with the first information collected. The researcher conducted an open-ended interview by using the necessary accessories like a video tape recorder, notebook and a pen. The interview was videotaped and transcribed by the researcher. This enabled the researcher to collect in-depth information on the problem from the respondents. It also allowed for non-verbal clues and postures of each respondent to be noted and recorded. Each of the interview lasted for 15minutes. The interviews were conducted by using a semi-structured interviews approach where the interview themes and questions were prepared beforehand based on the lessons observed during the instrumental periods. The semi-structured approach was selected in order to have an adequate focus for the discussions. To ensure accuracy, the interview was recorded, transcribed, and field notes were also written down. The interview was conducted with relevance and patience to create a congenial and relaxed atmosphere devoid of fear, suspicion, threat or unnatural compulsion. In addition, interviewees were assured of confidentiality and anonymity of their information. The researchers employed both descriptive and interpretative techniques to analyse the data based on the themes arrived at in the data collection.

3.1. Knowledge of Goals and Objectives of Social Studies

This research theme sought to determine how Social Studies teachers used the goals and objectives of Social Studies in their way of lessons delivery. The researchers adopted observation and interview as the tools for collection of the data on this theme. Teachers’ lessons were observed in the classrooms as they were teaching on three (3) different occasions to ensure that what was observed for the first time was repeated for the subsequent times or was changed. Interviews were also granted to the teachers after their lessons were observed for two (2) times in different occasions. This was done to make sure that the latter data collected were compared with the first data collected. All the 17 respondents’ lessons were observed. With this, an observation checklist rated “Very Good”, “Good”, “Average”, “Below Average” and “Not Available” were used. These items under this research question included the extent to which the topic treated is problem oriented, quality of specific objectives for the lesson and relevance for the lesson. Frequencies and percentages were used to compute items 1-3 in the observation guide.

Item 1 which is the extent to which the topic treated is problem-oriented reveals that the topics chosen by all the 17 respondents were problem oriented. This shows that all the 17 respondents selected topics which were problem oriented. The data also revealed that with item 2 which is quality of specific objective for the lesson, 1 out of total number of 17 was rated Very Good, 4 were rated Good, 1 was rated Average while were rated Below Average. Also, on item 3 which talks of the relevance of specific objectives for the lesson, the table reveals that 1 out of total number of 17 was rated Very Good, 4 were rated Good, 1 rated Average and the remaining 11 rated Below Average. This indicates that only 6 set objectives that were relevant for the lessons taught.

Furthermore, after the observation of the respondents’ lessons, they were interviewed on the topics that they taught during the observation. In discussing this under the above theme, the emphasis or what to find out was on the level of importance that Social Studies teachers attached to the goals and general objectives of the subject and how familiar they were with the goals and general objectives of the subject in their lesson presentations. Interpretative technique was used to analyse the findings. Items for interview guide was considered in analysing this research theme. This theme was investigated through one-to-one interview. Item 1 on interview guide reads - Why do you consider this topic relevant to Social Studies? The result from this item indicates that out of the 17 respondents interviewed, 5 responded that they considered the topics relevant to Social Studies because the topics are problem oriented and Social Studies deals with issues in the society which are relevant to the individual. Also, 6 out of the total number of 17 responded that the topic taught was relevant because the topic will help the students to have broad knowledge about the other Social Sciences (Economic, History Government, and Geography) while 6 said the topic was taught because it is found in the textbooks given them to teach the students. This shows that most of the Social Studies teachers interviewed maybe did not understand the relevance of what they taught to the goals and objectives of the subject that they were teaching.

Item 2 on the interview guide: What is the essence of teaching Social Studies in the Senior High School? The response from 5 out of the 17 respondents was that to inculcate the right knowledge, skills, values and attitude into the students and to enable them solve their personal and societal problems. Eight said Social Studies was introduced at the Senior High School to replace the general paper during the Advanced Level (A’ Level – G.C.E) and the last 4 responded that it was meant to enable the students to get good grades to enter the tertiary institutions. This indicates that majority of the respondents were not aware why Social Studies was introduced at the Senior High School level. Only 5 were able to explain the reasons why Social Studies was introduced in the Senior High Schools.

Item 3 of the interview guide reads: state the general aim of Social Studies you considered relevant to this lesson. The result from this item indicates that out of the 17 respondents interviewed, 12 indicated that they were not familiar with the general aims of Social Studies while 5 mentioned the following:

• To help the child develop positive attitudes and values towards individual and social issues.
• To enable students become responsible citizens, capable and willing to contribute to social advancement.
• To help students develop national consciousness and unity.

Results from items 3 show that a greater proportion of the respondents that is, 12 out of the 17 respondents did not know the importance of the topic selected for the lessons during the observation to Social Studies and its goals and objectives. Only 5 responded that the topics are relevant to Social Studies because they were problems oriented and they constitute problems of man’s survival. Also, responses from item 2 on the interview guide revealed that 5 believed that Social Studies which is taught at the Senor high school will equip the students with the right knowledge, values, skills and attitude to enable them solve both their personal and community related problems while 12 could not give the exact reasons of teaching social studies at the Senior High school level. This, as indicated in the literature review, that Social Studies equips the individual with tools necessary in solving both personal and community related problems [7]. Furthermore, item 5 which focuses on the general aims of Social Studies reveal that as many as 12 respondents indicated that they were not familiar with the general aims of Social Studies while only 5 were able to mention some of the general aims of Social Studies that were considered relevant to their lessons.

Results from research question one showed that most of the respondents were not familiar with the goals and general aims of Social Studies. But the purpose of the research question was to find out how familiar the respondents were with the goals and general aims of Social Studies and the importance they attached to them. As it is indicated in the literature review, an effective teacher should be familiar with the goals of the subjects he or she teaches which serve as direction and a guide in his or her instrumental teaching. As previous study indicated that Social Studies will perform a useful role in reforming the society only if teachers will bear its nature in mind and teach in consonance with its goals [3]. The implication here is that much is needed to assist Social Studies teachers to acquire the knowledge of Social Studies goals and general aims to improve the quality of teaching and learning of Social Studies at the Senior High School level. It is the objective of every lesson that form the basis for the selection of content, teaching and learning activities and resources that would help bring about effective teaching and learning. This therefore means that effective teaching of Social Studies requires teachers to exhibit certain behaviours and practices which are relevant for the attainment of the goals and objectives of Social Studies Education [13, 27, 28]. Responses gathered from the respondents during the interviews confirmed the goals and objective of Social Studies on how their lessons were taught.

3.2. Relevance of Lesson Plan to the Goals and Objectives of Social Studies

The intent of this theme was to find out the importance Social Studies teachers attach to the planning and preparing of their lesson and how relevant the lesson plans are for the attainment of the goals and objectives of Social Studies. Observation and interview were adopted as the tools to help in collecting the data. The respondents’ (teachers) lessons taught and lesson plans were observed for three different times when they were teaching in the classrooms. Also, interviews were granted to the teachers based on their lessons taught during the observation on two different occasions. As indicated in the literature review, the best teacher’s tool to have in the classroom is a strong, thorough, yet flexible lesson plan. A lesson plan shows how the teacher intends to impart a stated knowledge in a given period into the students and it determines the practical approach to the lesson through judicious selection and use of teaching and learning materials. In answering research question two (2), the item analysed as indicated in the literature review, the components of lesson plan (topic, problem of the topic, class, age duration, objectives, previous knowledge teaching and learning materials references, content concept, methods and activities of students and teachers, evaluation and remarks) were considered in analysing the data.

Item 4 reads, quality of lesson plan shows when the researchers observed the respondents in the actual classroom situation 8 out of the 17 respondents (teachers) prepared lesson plans and 9 did not prepare lesson plan during the observation. Out of the 8 respondents who prepared lesson plans, 1was rated Very Good, 3 were rate Good, 2 rated Below Average. Lesson notes are very important in teaching. This is because lesson notes show how the teacher intends to impart a stated knowledge in a given period [7]. Preparation of lesson plan leads to systematic organization and presentation of materials eschewing all irrelevances and enabling the teacher to determine the practical approach to the lesson through judicious selection and use of teaching aids. It is during the preparation of lesson plan that a teacher determines what kind of resources and method to use during teaching. An earlier study supported the findings this research that a lesson plan should preferably be written and not remain at the oral or mental stage [18]. This means that a teacher should always prepare a lesson plan to serve as a guide in teaching in order not to deviate from what he intends doing and it should be written down. Also, a daily lesson plan is developed by a teacher to guide class instruction.

Also, during the interview, some key data were collected on research question 2. Interview guide was considered in collecting the data reads: Why did you prepare lesson plan for the lessons you teach? The information gathered proved that out of the 17 respondents, 9 said they did not prepare lesson plan for their lessons. Two said that they only prepared a scheme of work for the term but not lesson plans. Out of the 17 planned and prepared their lessons before they entered the classroom. When the 6 were asked why they prepared lesson notes? the response was that it directs and guides them on what they should teach, how they should teach and when they should teach it. The 9 who did not prepare lesson plans were asked why they did not prepare lesson plans? Their simple answers were that they were teaching at the second cycle institution, therefore did not need lesson plans in their teaching. This implies that most of the respondents do not prepare written lesson plans before they entered the classroom to teach. A lesson plan describes what the teacher should do in order to achieve the objectives of the lesson. Therefore, it is easier if a teacher plans his or her lessons before entering the classroom to present the lesson. As in the literature review, a lesson plan is a teacher’s detailed description of the course of instruction for an individual lesson [20].

From Research Question 2, the results indicate that a greater number of the respondents took the preparation of lesson plans for granted. It is noted that a lesson plan shows how the teacher intends to impart a stated knowledge in a given period. However, teachers who do not prepare lesson plans would not be able to achieve the goals and objectives of the subject therefore, affects teacher effectiveness. As also found in the literature review, the success of any lesson depends largely upon the quality of its plan and its relevance to the lesson. The literature review indicates that a good lesson cannot be taught without preparation [22]. This therefore means that effective planning enjoins the teacher to use experience already gained to help his or her students. Also, it is much easier to achieve the objectives when you are teaching a class, if you have planned out well how you will accomplish them.

The study revealed that respondents were grossly deficient as far as the goals of Social Studies are concerned. To improve this system, it is recommended that the researchers suggests that the highest priority should be given to the training and development of a new breed of educator who are vocationally competent and academically sound. This can be done by heads of institutions to allow teachers who specialise in their respective areas to teach those subject areas at the various levels of education particularly Social Studies at the High school level.

Author Contributions: Conceptualization NAB and TKB; methodology, NAB, FTO, CA, and TKB; validation, NAB, FTO, CA, and TKB; formal analysis, NAB and TKB investigation, NAB, FTO, CA and TKB.; resources, NAB, FTO, CA, and TKB.; data curation, NAB, FTO, CA, and TKB; writing—original draft preparation, NAB and TKB; writing—review and editing, TKB.; visualization, NAB, FTO, CA, and TKB; supervision, NAB, FTO and TKB.; project administration, NAB, FTO, CA and TKB; All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Funding: “This research received no external funding”

Data Availability Statement: Data is available on request from the corresponding author.

Acknowledgments: we acknowledge the participants in this study.

Conflicts of Interest: “The authors declare no conflict of interest.” “No funders had any role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results”.