Social Studies is concerned with the reciprocal relationship between man and his physical environment and how he in turn tries to exert his/her own influence on the environment. Social Studies is generally perceived as a discipline that deals with the interaction of man in his environment. Mansaray (1991), Akinlaye, Mansaray and Ajiboye (1996) view Social Studies as an attempt to foster in young students‘, a better understanding of man‘s interactions with his physical and social environment.
Mansaray (1991) affirmed that Social Studies is concerned with fostering certain knowledge, skills, attitudes and values in students‘. He further argued that the overall aim of teaching Social Studies is to prepare young students‘ for effective participation in the society. The main purpose of teaching Social Studies is to provide our young students‘ with the relevant knowledge to better understand their physical and social environment. It also develops in students, the skills and competences that they would need to tackle the problems and issues of their environments and thereby live as more functional members of the society.
Mansaray (1991) grouped the objectives of Social Studies under three broad categories
1. Knowledge: Understanding the evolving social and physical environment, acquiring basic fact and information about our environment etc.
2. Skills: Acquiring such basic skills as listening, speaking, reading and writing, skills of observation, data collection, analysis and inferences which are essential to the forming of sound judgment.
3. Attitude and values: Developing positive attitudes of togetherness, comradeship and cooperation, the inculcation of values of honesty, integrity, hard work, fairness and justice etc.
It is very important to recognise that teaching Social Studies is not only for the purpose of getting our students‘ to acquire certain aspects of knowledge, we are also interested in developing certain skills, attitudes and values in them.In Nigeria, Social
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Studies is conceptualised in educational circles as a subject suitable for fostering certain knowledge, skills, attitude and values which are consistent with national aspiration, development and general goals of education (Adeyemi, 1986 in Nwaubani, 1996).
It could be said that the type of education that should be given to students‘ especially the youth should be one that is capable of developing their skills, encompassing all the domains of learning, cognitive, affective and psychomotor.In other words, it should be the type of education that is capable of ushering all round development in the students‘. Climate change represents a significant environmental, social and economic threat and is now recognised by majority of the world‘s governments and scientists as an issue of extreme concern for the planet (Oreskes, 2004).
Climate change is a major threat to sustainable growth and development in Africa, and the achievement of the millennium development goals. Students‘ environmental knowledge, attitude and actions are particularly important and it appears that to assess their knowledge, attitude and reduction practices are crucial to take corrective measures (Adelekan,2009).There is need to incorporate adaptation and mitigation reduction practices to students‘ so as to inculcate in them the right attitudes that enhance a healthy climate and also to make them effective problem solvers in their environment.
Bamikole (2001) cited in Adenisoye (2006) opined that Social Studies has its particular mission, the tasks of helping young people develop competences that enable them deal with and to some extent, manage the physical and social forces of the world they live in. If appropriate knowledge, attitude and environmentally sound reduction practices are instilled in students‘, they can provide knowledge-based solutions for the prevailing environmental problems through mentoring and field study instructional strategies. Figure 2.2 indicates that a person‘s environmentally relevant behaviour at a given time is affected most directly by (a) his/her emotions (concern, anger, etc.) about the conditions of the environment(b) the expected benefits and/or cost of specific actions (c) his/her perceived ability to take specific types of actions and(d)his/her habits with respect to various actions. These variables are likely to be
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affected, in turn, by his/her appraisals of the situation (the seriousness of environmental problems, what others are doing, the effectiveness of alternative actions etc). For example, a person who believes climate change will bring flooding to his/her coastal city is likely to be fearful about this prospect. Appraisals of the situation may also affect behaviour directly. For example, a person who believes that reducing the use of oil is a good way to fight global warming is more likely to buy a hybrid car than someone who (mistakenly) thinks that equipping industry with more pollution controls is the best answer to this problem.
A person‘s appraisals of the situation are likely to be influenced by his/her personal characteristics and by the influences to which he/she is exposed. For example, his/her knowledge about the environment may affect his/her view of the seriousness of environmental problems and the norms of people with whom he/she associates may influence his/her appraisal of his/her own responsibility for helping to solve such problems. Personal and social influences also may affect the person‘s emotions, expected benefits and costs, and perceived ability to take specific actions, geographic location may affect the availability of social channels for action; age may affect one‘s ability to take actions (to bicycle rather ride to work); economic position may affect the tax benefits of getting a solar heating system.
A person‘s personal characteristics and the social influences to which he/she is exposed may have some direct effects onhis/herbehaviour. For example, a person whose city provides a convenient recyclesprocedure and whose neighbours‘ express their approval of thisprogramme, is more likely to recycle than someone for whom recycling is inconvenient and whose neighbours‘ ignore the matter. Figure 2.2 also shows that a person‘s relevance to climate change, like his/her other behaviour is affected directly by habit. For example, despite having heard that riding a bus to work is cheaper and less stressful than driving, a person who always drives his/her car to work may tend to repeat this behaviour, almost without thinking. Habits are formed by repetition of the same behaviour. Therefore, the same factors (emotions and appraisal) that affect behaviour will, in the long run, affect habits.
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Fig2.2:Kollmuss and Agyeman’s Model of Pro Environmental Behaviour (2002)