The study was carried out to determine the effects of discovery and discussion methods on students' performance in Social studies in junior secondary schools in Nasarawa State, Nigeria. The study sought to; determine the difference between the performance of students taught social studies using discovery method and those taught using conventional lecture method in junior secondary schools in Nasarawa State; examine the difference between the performance of students taught social studies using discussion method and those taught using conventional lecture method in junior secondary schools in Nasarawa State; and compare the performance of students taught social studies using discovery and discussion methods in junior secondary schools in Nasarawa State, among others. It adopted quasi-experimental, pre-test, post-test, control group design. The population of the study consisted of 17,310 JSII students from 174 public junior secondary schools (JSS) in Nasarawa State. A sample size of 280, Social studies students were used in the study. This sample size was arrived at using purposive sampling technique. A teacher made test tagged â€-Social Studies Performance Test (SSPT)â€- was used for data collection. The instrument was validated by experts. The reliability index is 0.91. Data were collected through the administration of pre-test and post-test. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions. Independent sample t-test statistics was used to test hypotheses 1, 2 and 3 while hypotheses 4 and 5, was tested using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). Findings of the study among others revealed that the performance of students taught social studies using discovery method was better than those taught using conventional lecture method in junior secondary schools in Nasarawa State (.000 <0.005). Students taught social studies using discussion method performed significantly better than those taught using conventional lecture method in junior secondary schools in Nasarawa State (.002 <0.005). And that the performance of students taught social studies using discovery method was better than those taught using discussion method in junior secondary schools in Nasarawa State (.001 <0.005). Based on the findings, it was recommended that discovery and discussion methods should be used as alternative methods to improve the teaching and learning of Social Studies in Junior Secondary Schools. Teachers should be encouraged and motivated to use discovery and discussion methods through supervision and provision of enabling environment to teach Social Studies in Junior Secondary Schools.