This study investigated the effect of providing students with the behavioural objectives of a lesson before the actual lesson delivery on their achievement and retention in social studies in Obudu, of Cross River State, Nigeria. The quasi-experiment pre-test, post-test control groups design was used for the study. The sample consisted of 600 JSS 3 students and 40 teachers, these were divided into two groups, experimental and control groups. The instrument for data collection was lesson plan on social studies achievement test (SSAT) which was used as pre-test and post-test. All conditions in the two groups were the same except that the behavioural objectives of each of the lessons were provided to the experimental group prior to commencement. A pre-test was given at the beginning of the lessons. Two weeks after the post-test, the same test was administered to measure the students’ retention ability. Data so collected was analyzed using the t-test and analysis for variance (ANOVA) at 0.05 alpha levels. The result indicated that the experimental group performed significantly better and had a longer retention level than the control group. Conclusions were drawn and recommendations made for improving the teaching of social studies.
