Probing the Effect of Digital Storytelling Instructional Strategy on Basic Education students' Achievement in Social Studies

The use of new technologies in educational systems has seen a significant increase in recent years on a global scale. The accessibility of digital cameras, personal computers, scanners, and user-friendly software has empowered teachers to leverage the digital landscape. The impact of these new technologies in teaching and learning has generally been positive. Thus, this study sought to find out the effect of digital storytelling instructional strategy on student's achievement in Social Studies. Three research questions, and three null hypotheses tested at 0.05 alpha levels guided the study. The study adopted pre-test post-test control group design. The research sample was drawn from four out of the 100 junior secondary schools in Ankpa Education zone of Kogi State, Nigeria. A total of 187 students in four intact classes were used. The instrument for data collection was a 50 item multiple Social Studies Achievement Test (SOSAT) based on the basic education curriculum and textbooks. The instrument was face and content validated and used for the collection of data which was analyzed using mean and standard deviation to answer the research questions while ANOVA was used to test the hypothesis. The findings of the study revealed that digital storytelling instructional strategy enhanced students’ achievement in Social Studies more than conventional lecture strategy. The study also showed that gender had no significant influence on students’ achievement in Social Studies. Also, there was no interaction effect of instructional strategy and gender on students’ achievement in Social Studies. As a result, the study concluded that digital storytelling is a gender-inclusive strategy that improves students' achievement.