30 Management Of Indigenous Toys, Modern Toys And Animation For Early Childhood Education In Rivers State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study examined the management of indigenous toys, modern toys and animation for early childhood education.  Three research questions and three hypotheses guided the study.  The study adopted a description survey design with a population of 655 primary schools that house early childhood centers spread across the 23 Local Government Areas of Rivers State.  A sample size of 164 head teachers in early childhood education centers was drawn using stratified random sampling technique representing 25% of the population.  A self designed instrument titled Management of Indigenous Toys, Modern Toys and Animation for Early Childhood Education Questionnaire (MITMAFECEQ) was used for data collection.  Face and content validities of the instrument were done by experts in the related areas while reliability coefficient of 0.88 was computed through Cronbach internal consistency reliability technique.  Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions while z-test was used to test the null hypotheses at 0.05 alpha level of significance. It was found among others that the management of indigenous toys enhances spatial, numeric and logical development and reasoning while management of  modern toys increase the development of electronic skills among pupils. It was recommended among others that early childhood education can be achieved through proper use of indigenous toys in order to instill manual calculation ability in children.  The children should be allowed access to modern toys and animation in order to enhance their prowess and dexterity in handling life events and facing future life’s challenges in this digital world of 21st century.

Keywords: Management, Indigenous Toys, Modern Toys, Animation and Early Childhood Education

Introduction

Education may be seen as the growth and development in behaviour, attitude and way of life of a people. Education is the major foundation for the growth and development of a country and its citizenry. Early child education is the type of education that is received before the transition into primary education. Federal Republic of Nigeria (2014) saw early child education as the education received by children from age 0-4 years in a crèche or nursery. For early child education to be functional and regulated, there must be operational noble goals and objectives. The objectives of early child education according to FRN (2014:7) shall be to:

1. Effect a smooth transition from the home to the school;
2. Prepare the child for the primary level of education;
3. Provide adequate care, supervision and security for the children while their parents are at work;
4. Inculcate social, moral norms and values;
5. Inculcate in the child the spirit of enquiry and creativity through the exploration of nature, the environment, art, music and the use of toys, etc;
6. Develop a sense of co-operation and team-spirit;
7. Stimulate in the child good habits, inculcate good health habits; and
8. Teach the rudiments of numbers; letters, colours, shapes, forms, etc. through play.

Objective stipulates the use of toys in the administration of early child education. This necessitated management of indigenous toys, modern toys as well as animation as one of the cardinal measures in the achievement of early child education. Management has to do with directing, organizing, instructing and implementing rules and regulations with ultimate purpose of achieving goals and objectives.

Management of education is the directing, organizing, instructing and implementing of educational goals and activities in the school. It is very difficult to access and procure some of the toys for early child hood education. Therefore, the available ones should be prudentially and judiciously used. Indigenous education is that type of education that promotes the activities and practices of indigenous ways of teaching and learning. Madumere-Obike, Ukala and Nwabueze (2016) saw indigenous education as that type of education that buttresses on facilitating indigenous concept, knowledge, models, skills, methods and content within the four-walls of formal or non-formal educational system. This type of education permits the use of skills, concepts, knowledge, models, skills, methods and content that are indigenous in the development and growth of the people. It is worthy to note that indigenous knowledge is the native knowledge that is unique to a given culture and acquired by natives through the accumulation of experiences, informal experiences and intimate understanding of the environment in a given culture (Chikaire, Osuagwu, Iheanacho, Oguegbuchulam, Ejiogu-Okereke & Obi, 2012). The authors in furtherance on indigenous education state that it encompasses the technology, social, economic and philosophical, learning and governance systems of a community. Consequently, indigenous knowledge systems are better understood as practical, personal and contextual units which cannot be detached from an individual, their community, or the environment both physical and spiritual (Howden, 2001). Similarly, Abah, Mashebe and Denuga (2015) opined that indigenous knowledge forms the basis of indigenous interpretation of meteorological and climate phenomena, orientation and navigation on land and sea as well as in management of natural resources. The indigenous education is always implemented through gamification use of  toys animation among others.

Toys are representation of objects of different forms and natures that can be used to play or learning as the case may be. Toys can be used as animation materials in the teaching of students. Animation is a method through which pictures are manipulated to appear as real images for the purpose of teaching and learning. Toys can be modern or indigenous in nature. When toys are made of local materials they are said to be indigenous. The indigenous toys allow crude teaching and learning. It facilitates the promotion of cultural values, beliefs, customs and traditions of the people. Toys that are made of foreign materials are seen as modern toys because of the content of the materials used. They can be used in the teaching and learning processes if they are made for that purpose. Early child hood education requires a lot of fascinating objects that can promote teaching and learning. Therefore, the use of toys and animations are prominent in the achievement of the objectives and goals of this level of education. This is why the research investigated to find out how indigenous toys, modern toys and animation in the actualization are managed of early child hood education in Rivers State.

Statement of the Problem

Incompetent management of early childhood centres has created a lacuna between the indigenous education and western education. The paradigm shift from indigenous education to western education is conspicuously devastating the cultures, belief, value and African norms. There ought to be a balance in the management of indigenous and western education for better exposure to integrated indigenous and western ways of living. The better management of indigenous and western toys may go a long way in helping the pupils to fit into any environment. Most of our young adults find it difficult to strike a balance between western and indigenous way of life. The question is, how can indigenous toys, modern toys and animation be managed in early childhood education in Rivers State, Nigeria?

Aim and Objectives of the Study

The study was aimed at investigating how indigenous toys, modern toys and animation can be managed in early childhood education in Rivers State, Nigeria. Specifically, the study sought to:

• Find out how indigenous toys can be managed in early childhood education in Rivers State, Nigeria.
• Ascertain how modern toys can be managed in early childhood education in Rivers State, Nigeria.
• Examine how animation can be managed in early childhood education in Rivers State, Nigeria.

Research Questions

The following research question guided the study.

• What are the ways indigenous toys can be managed in early childhood education in Rivers State, Nigeria?
• In what ways can modern toys be managed in early childhood education in Rivers State, Nigeria?
• How can animation be managed in early childhood education in Rivers State, Nigeria?

Hypotheses

The following null hypotheses guided the study.

• There is no significant difference between the mean values of male and female head teachers on how indigenous toys can be managed in early childhood education in Rivers State, Nigeria.
• There is no significant difference between the mean values of male and female head teachers on how modern toys can be managed in early childhood education in Rivers State, Nigeria.
• There is no significant difference between the mean values of male and female head teachers on how animation can be managed in early childhood education in Rivers State, Nigeria.

Methodology

The study adopted a description survey design with a population of 655 primary schools that house early childhood centers spread across the 23 Local Government Areas of Rivers State.  A sample size of 164 head teachers in early childhood education centers was drawn using stratified random sampling technique representing 25% of the population.  A self designed instrument titled Management of Indigenous Toys, Modern Toys and Animation for Early Childhood Education Questionnaire (MITMAFECEQ) was used for data collection.  Face and content validities of the instrument were done by experts in the related areas while reliability coefficient of 0.88 was computed through Cronbach internal consistency reliability technique.  Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions while z-test was used to test the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance.

Results

Research question 1: what are the ways indigenous toys can be managed in early childhood education in Rivers State, Nigeria?

Table 1: Weighted mean and standard deviation on the ways indigenous toys can be managed in early childhood education in Rivers Sate

Table 1 showed that items with serial numbers 1 to 7 have mean values above the criterion mean value of 2.50 and were agreed by the head teachers on the ways indigenous toys can be managed in early childhood education in Rivers State.

Research question 2: In what ways can modern toys be managed in early childhood education in Rivers State, Nigeria?

Table 2: Weighted mean and standard deviation on the ways modern toys can be managed in early childhood education in Rivers Sate

Table 2 showed that items with serial numbers 9 to 17 have mean values above the criterion mean value of 2.50 and were agreed by the head teachers on the ways modern toys can be managed in early childhood education in Rivers State.

Research question 3: how can animation be managed in early childhood education in Rivers State, Nigeria?

Table 3: Weighted mean and standard deviation on the ways animation can be managed in early childhood education in Rivers Sate

Table 3 showed that items with serial numbers 18 to 27 have mean values above the criterion mean value of 2.50 and were agreed by the head teachers on the ways animation can be managed in early childhood education in Rivers State.

Hypothesis 1: There is no significant difference between the mean values of male and female head teachers on how indigenous toys can be managed in early childhood education in Rivers State, Nigeria.

Table 4: z-test on the mean values between male and female head teachers on the ways indigenous toys can be managed in early childhood education in Rivers Sate

Table 4 showed that male head teachers have mean and standard deviation scores of 15.61 and 2.27 while female teachers have mean and standard deviation scores of 16.86 and 2.37. With degree of freedom of 162, the calculated z-test value of 3.29 is greater than the critical z-value of 1.96. Therefore, the null hypothesis is rejected. By implication, there is a significant difference between the mean values of male and female head teachers on how indigenous toys can be managed in early childhood education in Rivers State, Nigeria.

Hypothesis 2: there is no significant difference between the mean values of male and female head teachers on how modern toys can be managed in early childhood education in Rivers State, Nigeria.

Table 5: z-test on the mean values between male and female head teachers on the ways modern toys can be managed in early childhood education in Rivers Sate

Table 4 showed that male head teachers have mean and standard deviation scores of 13.53 and 2.79 while female teachers have mean and standard deviation scores of 16.69 and 2.25. With degree of freedom of 162, the calculated z-test value of 7.52 is greater than the critical z-value of 1.96. Therefore, the null hypothesis is rejected. By implication, there is a significant difference between the mean values of male and female head teachers on how modern toys can be managed in early childhood education in Rivers State, Nigeria.

Hypothesis 3: there is no significant difference between the mean values of male and female head teachers on how animation can be managed in early childhood education in Rivers State, Nigeria.

Table 6: z-test on the mean values between male and female head teachers on the ways animation can be managed in early childhood education in Rivers Sate

Table 5 showed that male head teachers have mean and standard deviation scores of 18.12 and 2.09 while female teachers have mean and standard deviation scores of 17.60 and 2.23. With degree of freedom of 162, the calculated z-test value of 1.49 is less than the critical z-value of 1.96. Therefore, the null hypothesis is accepted. By implication, there is no significant difference between the mean values of male and female head teachers on how animation can be managed in early childhood education in Rivers State, Nigeria.

Summary of Findings

The findings of this study are summarized as follows:

1. It was found that indigenous toys can be managed using animals matching cards, through the use of counting stones, dream times folk/tales, learning through animal imitations, tug-of-war, Cultural artifacts, the use of food card games, use of artifacts.
2. It was found that modern toys can be managed using stimulating with fun match puzzles, stimulating with jigsaw puzzles, game play with nursery musical toys, stimulating with books with bright colourful pictures, the use of television, video games, musical instruments, technological devices of many kings and audio tape cassette.
3. It was found that animation can be managed using Interactive website, educational video sites, the use of YouTube, e-books, Images on transparent piece of paper, digital story telling, virtual timers, projection of animals on the screen, drawing of animal on the frame, and filmstrips/motion pictures.

Discussion of Findings

Management of Indigenous Toys in Early Childhood Education

It was found that indigenous toys can be managed using animals matching cards, through the use of counting stones, dream times folk/tales, learning through animal imitations, tug-of-war, Cultural artifacts, the use of food card games, use of artifacts. The role of management in the organization and administration or organizational activities mostly the schools cannot overemphasize. Indigenous toys play prominent roles in the promotion and advancement of our cultural heritage. Since our society is still having elements of indigenous activities, there is a great need to operationally conceptualize the various ways indigenous toys can be managed in order to strike a balance between western life and indigenous life. This agrees with the findings of Maxwell (2015) in Bruner (1964) which reveals that game goes a long way to getting children involved in understanding language, social organization, and the rest; they also introduce the idea of theory to these phenomena.

Management of Modern Toys in Early Childhood Education

It was found that modern toys can be managed using stimulating with fun match puzzles, stimulating with jigsaw puzzles, game play with nursery musical toys, stimulating with books with bright colourful pictures, the use of television, video games, musical instruments, technological devices of many kings and audio tape cassette. Modern teaching aids are very indispensable in the teaching of early child education. This study is supported by the findings of Nwafor (2016) who reported that modern teaching requires modern facilities for easy understanding. The study is in line with Osondu (2016) who found that western is better taught using modernized technological equipments.

Management of Animation in Early Childhood Education

It was found that animation can be managed using interactive website, educational video sites, the use of YouTube, e-books, Images on transparent piece of paper, digital storey telling, virtual timers, projection of animals on the screen, drawing of animal on the frame, and filmstrips/motion pictures. The use of picture animation is very crucial in promoting cordial and harmonious teaching and learning in the early child education centres. The findings of this study is supported by Osondu (2016) found that the use of still pictures is good for early schooling.

Conclusion

Based on the findings of this study, it was concluded that proper and appropriate management of indigenous toys, modern toys and associated animations can validly, reliably and indispensably enhance early child hood education in Rivers State, Nigeria.

Recommendations

Based on the findings of this study, the following recommendations were made:

1. It was recommended among others that early childhood education can be achieved through proper use of indigenous toys in order to instill manual calculation ability in children.
2. The children should be allowed access to modern toys and animation in order to enhance their prowess and dexterity in handling life events and facing future life’s challenges in this digital world of 21st century.
3. Government should equip early childhood centres with modern toys and animation resources with modern toys and animation resources to enhance teaching and learning in early childhood centres.
4. Teachers should be re-trained to ensure their competence in handling these instructional materials for the management of indigenous toys, modern toys and animation in early childhood education.
5. Parents and communities should be involved in sourcing the indigenous toys for teaching and learning in early childhood education.
6. There should be collaborative effort between the old retired teachers especially those who are knowledgeable in our indigenous education to participate in teaching early childhood centres with folktales indigenous nursery rhymes that convey moral, values and norms of the indigenous community.

References

Abah, J., Mashebe, P & Denuga, D.D. (2015). Prospect of integrating African indigous knowledge systems into the teaching of science in Africa. American Journal of Educational Research, 3(6), 668-673.

Chikaire, J., Osuagwu, C.O., Ihenacho, R.A. Oguegbuchulam, M.N. Ejogu-Okeke, N., & Obi, K.U. (2012). Indigenous knowledge system: The need for reform and the way forward. Global Advanced Research Journal of Agricultural Science, 1(8), 201-209.

Federal Republic of Nigeria (2004). National Policy on Education (4th ed.) Lagos: Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council.

Howden, K. (2001). Indigenous traditional knowledge and native title. University of New South Wales East Journal, 24(1), 60-84.

Kerry, S. (2011). History of education in East Africa. Retrieved May 20th from http://samwiterson.blogspot.com/2011/07/history-of-education-in-east-africa.html?m=1

Maxwell, W. (2015). The first public proclamation of the “genius principles” (Public Lecture) Port Harcourt: University of Port Harcourt and Ignatius Ajuru University of Education, Nigeria.

Mushi, P.A.K. (2009). History of education in Tanzania. Dar-es-Salam:Dar-es-Salam University Press.

Nwafor, F.O. (2016). Relevance of modern facilities in early child education. A monograph.

Osondu, U.J. (2016). Application of technological materials in the 21st century. A monograph.

Ukala, C.C. & Agabi, O.G. (2017). Linking early childhood education with indigenous education using gamifications: The case of maintaining cultural value and identity. Journal of Intellectual Education Review, 13(1), 1-10.

Correspondents can be directed to:

Ukala, Chinyere Catherine

kateukala@gmail.com

Department of Educational Management,

Faculty of Education, University of Port Harcourt.