Enhancing Civic Awareness and Environmental Responsibility through Social Studies Education for Sustainable Development in Nigeria

Abstract

The research adopted the descriptive survey design. The population of the study comprises all teachers, students, and policymakers in the three senatorial district of Ogun State. The sample of the study comprised of 78 teachers, 203 students, and 30 policymakers which was randomly selected. The instruments used for the study was researchers developed Questionnaire named Civic Awareness and Environmental Responsibility Questionnaire (CAERQ). The questionnaire consists of three sections (Sections A, B & C). The questionnaire was validated by three experts and the reliability of the research instrument was determined after a trial testing using a simple random sample of 20 respondents (teachers, students, and policymakers) from Ogun State, and a reliability coefficient of 0.72 and 0.85 were respectively obtained for civic awareness and environmental responsibility using Cronbach Alpha formula, which implies the instrument is reliable. The Results revealed that Civic awareness is negative and environmental responsibility through Social Studies Education for Sustainable Development in Ogun State is positive. Also, there was significant difference between mean of civic awareness and environmental responsibility through Social Studies Education for Sustainable Development in Nigeria. This study concludes that Social studies education plays a significant role in promoting civic awareness and environmental responsibility for sustainable development. It was recommended that integrating environmental education and civic education concepts such as citizenship, human right, democracy, rule of law, leadership, and responsibilities should fully be incorporated into social studies education at all levels of education.