Abstract:
This project was undertaken because of a need to analyse
concepts in social science more specifically and sequence them
more carefully in a social science program. Concepts have been
identified vaguely on many curriculum documents or left in
isolation from each other when they are specifically identified.
The project's aim was to identify a method for analysing
concepts and sequencing their teaching on some rational basis.
Once the method for analysing concepts was identified a
questionnaire was designed and administered to a random sample
of students at the grade three, five and eight levels. The
questionnaire attempted to measure their comprehension of
specific social science concepts at several levels which
became progressively more complex. The major hypothesis was
that there would be a direct correlation between age and achievement
on the questionnaire. The raw scores were seriated and
correlated with the ages of the students using the rankdifference-
squared method.
For the majority of areas tested it was found that there
was a significant correlation between age and achievement on
the questionnaire. Variation in the correlation coefficients
generated suggests that comprehension of social science concepts
is not simply a function of age but is probably a function of
several inter-related factors such as reading ability, skill
in Basic Thinking Skills and age.
Thirty students completed each test. There were three tests
in the questionnaire.
