The Role of Social Studies Course in the 21st Century Society: Perspective from Educators and Learners

Abstract

The objective of study is to determine the role of Social Studies (Araling Panlipunan)     to the present and modern society from the perceptions of the Social Studies teachers and senior high students of Zone 4, Division of Zambales, Philippines. The present study utilized a descriptive research and used a survey questionnaire for data collection. The study utilized also descriptive statistics (percentage, frequency counts, and mean) and inferential statistics (ANOVA) using SPSS version 16. The majority of the teachers in the present study are females, in their middle adulthood, specialize in Social Studies and are holders of bachelor’s degree with master’s units. The students are males, in their middle adolescence stage and were grade 11. The findings from the teachers and students’ perception show that the Social Studies teachers always execute lessons and provide classroom settings in which the roles of Social Studies Program to help the students acquire knowledge and enhance understanding on Contemporary Global Education, Civic and Citizenship Education, Contents and Knowledge, and develop Collaboration and Socio-Cultural Sensitivity skills are assured. On the other hand, the senior high school students believed that the role on developing Collaboration skill was always guaranteed at Social Studies classroom. The Analysis of variance computation resulted from a no significant difference in the perceptions of teachers on the Contents and Knowledge, Socio-Cultural Sensitivity, Collaboration, and Contemporary Global Education roles of Social Studies Program when attributed to teachers’ sex and highest educational attainment. There is highly significant difference in the perceptions on the Contents and Knowledge, Socio-Cultural Sensitivity, Collaboration, Civic & Citizenship Education, and Contemporary Global Education roles which can be acquired from learning Social Studies when attributed to students’ sex and grade level.