ABSTRACT
The
study was designed generally to determine teachers’ perception of the influence
of play on the development of pre-primary school children; the study was
carried out in Otukpo Education Zone Benue State. The study was guided by four
(4) research questions and four (4) hypotheses. The study adopted a
descriptive survey research design. The population for the study comprised of
all the public pre-primary schools teachers in Otukpo Education zone Benue
state numbering 1,500 teachers. The sample for the study was 315 pre-primary
school teachers drawn from a total number of fifty (50) pre-primary schools in
Otukpo Education Zone Benue State. The procedure adopted in selecting the
sample of the research was through multi-stage sampling technique. Purposive
sampling technique was used to select three (3) local government areas from
five (5) local government areas that made up of Otukpo Education Zone; these
include Apa, Obi and Otukpo L.G.A. Random Sampling technique was used to select
thirty (30) schools from urban and twenty (20) schools from rural area of
Otukpo Education Zone giving total number of 50 pre-primary schools. The
instrument for data collection was structured questionnaire titled teachers’
perception of influence of play on pre-primary school children’s development.
The instrument was developed by the researcher along line with the research
purposes. The instrument was divided into two (2) sections, section A contained
personal data of the respondents while section B contained the main instrument
of forty (40) items grouped into four (4) clusters, and the instrument was
structured in a 4 point rating scate of strongly Agree SA-4 point, Agree (A) 3
points disagree (D) 2 points and Strongly Disagree (SD) 1 point. The instrument
was subjected to face validation by two (2) expert in childhood Education and
one (1) experts in Measurement and Evaluation all in the faculty of Education,
University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Twenty (20) copies of the instrument were
administered on twenty (20) teachers selected outside the study area. The
responses of the twenty (20) teachers were subjected to crombach alpha
statistic for internal reliability. The internal consistency showed the
reliability coefficient of 0.73 for cluster A, cluster B had 0.67, cluster C
had 0.78 and cluster D had 0.76 respectively. The overall reliability
coefficient is 0.88. Direct delivery method was adopted in the administration
and collection of the instrument, 315 copies of the structured questionnaire.
Mean and standard deviation (SD) was used to answer the research questions
while the hypotheses was tested using t-test at 0.05 level of significance. The
benchmark for the data analysis was 2.55 and above was accepted while the mean
score below 2.55 was not accepted. The study had implication for teachers,
caregivers, proprietors’ counselors, social workers curriculum planners, policy
makers and ministry of education. Recommendations were made, suggestions for
further studies were made and the study had some limitations.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
Play is linked to many aspects of a child’s life, learning to manipulate
objects, learning to play social roles. Learning to solve problems, creating
and helping to resolve emotional tensions. Play is universal and it is found in
all cultures. This suggests that play has a functional significance. Play is a
way of exploring the environment by children as they try to find out about the
nature, characteristics, behavior of materials and what the situation offers
them. According to Brain and Martin in Ahupa and Ushie (2008) play is a child’s
work and indeed the business of childhood. In the same vein, Anderson and Mc
Namee (2010) refer to play as children’s work. Henniger, (2005) and Fox (2008)
maintained that, play is more easily described in terms of its characteristics
because there is no one specific way to define play.
Play is an activity oriented exercise that the child is involved in and
values so much. The exercise helps a child in his early childhood development
to explore the environment. In the same vein, Grossbeg (2013) observed that
play will accord the child the opportunity to explore, inquire and discover the
world around him and it is a means through which children learn, understand
themselves and make sense of the world around them. According to Ibiam (2013), play
is a range of voluntary intrinsically motivated activities that are usually
associated with enjoyment. The researcher has come to understand from the
definition and explanations of play that it is an essential part of every
child’s life. The children’s potentials are developed through play and it also
gives children self-satisfaction and enjoyment, relieves feelings of stress and
boredom, connects children together in a positive way. It stimulates creative
thinking, exploration, regulates emotions and boosts their ego. In this study,
play means what children do when they follow their own ideas and interests in
their own way and for their own reasons for amusement and enjoyment often with
other children or with toys.
Realizing the importance of play to a child’s development the Federal
Republic of Nigeria (2004) stated in the National Policy on Education that the
main method of teaching at this level should be through play. Play method of
teaching, according to Onwurah, Uzodinma &
Njoku
(2013), involves allowing the pupils to learn and explore at their own pace.
The teacher is therefore to guide the pupils in their activities as abilities
of the pupils vary. It therefore becomes apparent that selection of
instructional or play materials for the children is very important. The
classroom should be sufficiently equipped with learning materials (toys) such
as cars, buses, aeroplane, building blocks, balls, counting materials, dressing
materials, painted pictures, chats pen, pencils. As the children play with the
materials, this does not only contribute to their development but also gives
them satisfaction, enjoyment, as well as help in developing their potentials in
full. Ibiam (2013) maintains that different play activities may require various
play materials, so there is need to provide ample, pleasant and safe space for
free movement and exploration of children. Asim (2000) maintained that,
learning through play is meant to impact the cognitive, affective, and
psycho-motor behavior of the childhood stage.
Childhood is that period in a child’s life when he/she is free from
responsibilities and depends on adults for protection and care. It is also the
period a child learns mostly through play and imitation (Ofoha, 2013). The childhood
stage starts from birth and extend till puberty, usually between 10-12years.
The childhood stage can be subdivided into two phases, early childhood (birth-
8years) and late childhood (8-12yeas). It is a time of life during which
significant transformations take place. Obinaju (2004) observed that they are
totally dependent on some other people for survival and the satificatison of
their needs to a time when they can survive on their own. The newborn infant
that is equipped with basic reflexes develops into an active, curious child,
capable of walking, talking and pretending. Children’s vocabulary increases
rapidly and they acquire the ability to remember experiences, sustain
attention, count and recognize letters. Thomas (2009) observed that the early
years of a child are
important because they are the period during which children acquire the basic
skills that serve as the foundation for later learning. Ofoha (2013),
maintained that early childhood is a time of bridge building, that it is a time
in a child’s life when bridges are built between play with few neighborhood
friends, and relationship with many children, and between shelter of home and
demands of the school (education).
Early childhood education, as contained in the National Policy on
Education (FRN, 2004) is the education given in an educational institution to
children prior to their entering the primary school, it includes the crèche,
the nursery and the kindergarten. Moduewesi (2005), defines pre-primary education
as semi-formal education arrangement usually outside the home whereby young
children from about the age of three (3) years are exposed through play like
activities in a group setting. Pre-primary school education, according to
Maduewes is the rock on which basic tools of learning such as literacy,
numeracy, citizenship, reflective thinking, character and moral training,
manipulative skills and love for fellow man are founded. Pre-primary education
is the beginning, the A.B.C. of formal education. The child in his formative
years in pre-primary education is quick to learn and retain whatever he/she is
taught and is very active. Research has shown that what they learn at this
period is sustained and boost later learning because their brains are active,
they learn faster and easily at this age. Pre-primary school children,
according to Maduewesi (2005) are within the age limit of 3-5years. This is
when the young child needs to spend time at home to understand how things
function and pick up ideas and experiences which would be used later in life.
The normal pre-primary school children ought to be toilet trained and able to
communicate their needs to a familiar person. She/he has to be ready to learn
to share equipment such as toys with others.
Early childhood education, being the bedrock of the entire structure of
learning and life generally, should be provided with a wide variety of planned
educational experiences for the promotion of the child’s development. The early
childhood centre could either be in the rural or urban environment. These two
environments are quite distinct in socio-economic terms.
According to Brewer (2007) there is no universally accepted way to classify the
urban –rural environment; However, DEFRA reported that the following criteria,
population density, agriculture, economic specialization, human resources,
skills, land cover and spatial dimensions of social life could be used for the
classification. Agriculture is an important determinant factor for defining the
rural area. The people in rural localities are predominantly subsistent farmers
with low skilled and educated labour force, while the urban environment is
cosmopolitan in nature, characterized by rapid socio-economic and cultural
flux.
For the purpose of this study, a rural area is an environment with low
population, few pre-primary schools with poor infrastructure, poor facilities
and few qualified personnel or teachers. An urban area is a city or town with a
large population, standard pre-primary schools and good facilities for teaching
and learning and play materials that will influence the children’s development.
Development is increase in
size and function. It refers to the qualitative increase in individual
potentialities as a result of maturation and experience. Morrison (2004) said
that a child’s development is a gradual process that progresses somewhat
differently for different aspects of the individual. According to the author,
the aspects or the components of a child’s development include the physical
development, cognitive/intellectual development....
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