Indoor Classroom Activities and Preschoolers' Acquisition of Numeracy Skills in Public Childcare Centres in Rivers South-East Senatorial District, Rivers State, Nigeria
Keywords:
Indoor Classroom Activities, Preschoolers, Numeracy Skills, Storytelling, Early Childhood EducationAbstract
The study examined the association between indoor classroom activities and the development of numeracy skills among preschool children in public childcare centres in the Rivers South East Senatorial District of Rivers State. The work was guided by two research topics, and two null hypotheses were investigated at the 0.05 alpha level. The study was reviewed to determine the relevance of the theory of cognitive development (1936) by Jean Piaget. The present article employed a correlational research design. The population is 2,028 subjects, comprising 1,820 nursery three children and 208 carers identified in 147 public early childcare centres among the seven local government areas in the Rivers South East Senatorial District. The multi-stage selection procedure was used to choose a sample of 608 participants. The sample included 546 children in nursery three and 62 carers from 44 public childcare centres for preschoolers. Data collection was done through two instruments developed by the researcher. The instruments used were a 4-point scaled Likert-type questionnaire entitled "Indoor Classroom Activities Questionnaire (ICAQ)” and an observation inventory entitled “Preschoolers’ Acquisition of Numeracy Skills Observation Inventory (PANSOI)". The statistical method employed in the investigation was Pearson Product Moment Correlation (PPMC). From the investigation carried out, the researcher observed that there is a substantial association between storytelling and preschoolers’ counting skills in public childcare centres in the Rivers South East Senatorial District of Rivers State. The researcher primarily proposed that, based on the findings, carers should incorporate storytelling and roleplay into their daily educational routines to enhance counting and pattern recognition skills among toddlers.
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