Teachers’ Perception of The Influence of Play on Preprimary School Children’s Development In Otukpo Education Zone Benue State.
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.
INTRODUCTION
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.
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StudentsandScholarship Team.
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