Cultural Games and Social Skills Development Amongst Pupils in Public Primary School in Alimosho Local Government Area of Lagos State
CHAPTER ONE
Purpose of the Study
The primary objective of this research was to find out whether there is any correlation between cultural games and social skills development amongst pupils in public primary school in Alimosho local government area of Lagos state.
Specially, the study sought:
- To determine the relationship between cultural games and pupils communication skills development in primary schools in Alimosho local government area of Lagos state.
- To examine the relationship between cultural games and pupils obeying rules in primary schools in Alimosho local government area of Lagos state.
- To ascertain the relationship between cultural games and pupils sharing ability development in primary schools in Alimosho local government area of Lagos state
- To examine the relationship between cultural games and interactive skills of primary school pupils in Alimosho local government area of Lagos state
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
This chapter is devoted to the review of related literature on cultural games and pupils development of social skills in primary schools. The literature is reviewed under the following headings.
The theoretical framework
Conceptual review and
Empirical review
Cultural games and pupils observation of rules
Cultural games and sharing ability of pupils
Cultural games and interactive skills development
Summary of review
The Theoretical Frame Work
Here two relatively relevant theories are appraised. Play materials theory by Friedrich Froebel and Social Development theory by Lev Vygotsky.
Cultural games Theory by Friedrich Froebel, Froebel designed playthings to be given to children known as Froebel gifts. These include balls, blocks, tiles, rings and stick which encouraged creative play. Froebel Gifts were made up of a range of educational materials first used in the original kindergarten a t Bad Blankenburg Germany in 1837. He advocated the importance of free play in childhood. Each gift was designed to be given to a child to provide material for the child’s self directed activity. In 1840, he renamed his play and activity to a kindergarten, two years later. The Bad Blankenburg infant schools used play, games, songs, studies and crafts to encourage children’s imagination and widen their physical and motor talents. The materials in the room were divided into two categories, “gifts” and occupation”. Gifts were objects that were fixed in the form of blocks the purpose was that in playing with the objects, the child would learn the underlying concept presented by the object. Occupations allowed more freedom and consisted of things that children could shape and manipulate with such as clay, sand, beads, string and others.
Hersey (200) revealed that Frank was given a set of Froebel block at about age nine, and in his autobiography cited them indirectly in explaining that he learned the geometry of architecture in kindergarten play writing for several years I sat at the little kindergarten table top and played with the cube, the sphere and the triangle, …these smooth wooden maple blocks all are in my fingers to this day”. Friedrich Froebel as cited by Saracho and Spodek (1995) developed the word “kindergarten” and designed what is called Froebel’s’ gifts (geometric blocks, balls tiles, sticks and rings) to demonstrate that children learn by playing. The Froebel gifts (play materials) today have been widely used and adapted by educators and toys makers. Froebel’s contribution to the education world was his ideas in recognizing that children had unique needs and capabilities through play. Friedrich Froebel’s ideas provided the major direction for kindergarten and primary curriculum during the last half of the nineteenth century. Many of his ideas can still be observed in primary school today; learning through play, group games, his theories on “spiritual mechanism” as well as others have been forgotten or discredited, but his role as the developer of kindergarten is remembered (Shapiro, 2000).
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODS
The chapter describes the research design, area of the study, population of the study, sample and sampling technique, instrument for data collection, validity and reliability of the instrument, method of data collection and method of data analysis.
Research Design
This study adopted a correlation research design. This design is ideal and relevant because it will involve the investigation of cultural games and social skills development amongst pupils in primary school
Area of the Study
This research was carried out in Alimosho is a Local Government Area in Lagos State, Nigeria with the largest population of about 3,082,900 which is according to Population [2019] – Projection The 2006 Census says the population was 1,288,714 (but the Lagos State Government argued that the population as at 2006 within the LGA was more than 2 million residents)
It has now been subdividedbetween several Local Community Development Areas (LCDA). The LCDA restructuring kicked off after the administration of Bola Ilori, who was the last chairman of the old single Alimosho Local Government. The six sub-divisions created out of the old Alimosho are: Agbado/Oke-odo LCDA, Ayobo/Ipaja LCDA, Alimosho LG, Egbe/Idimu LCDA, Ikotun/Igando LCDA and Mosan Okunola LCDA. The LGA contains the urban area of Egbeda/Akowonjo.
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS, INTERPRETATION AND DISCUSSION
Introduction
In this chapter data was presented, analyzed, interpreted and discussed. The purpose of this study was to investigate cultural games and social skills development amongst pupils in public primary school in Alimosho local government area of Lagos state. The study sought to; determine how availability of cultural games influence children’s social and emotional development, to what extent do different types of play and cultural games affect children’s social and emotional development, the relationship between cultural games and sharing ability of pupils in primary schools, and if the presence of the teacher in the children’s play affect children’s social and emotional development. The sample size for the study was 10 primary school teachers and 100 children. Data for this study was collected using the questionnaires for teachers and observation list for children. The collected data was analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY OF THE FINDINGS, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Introduction
This chapter presents the summary of the findings, conclusions, recommendations and suggestions for further research.
Summary of the Findings
The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of cultural games and social skills development amongst pupils in primary school in Alimosho local government. Three research questions were formulated to guide the study. These were; how does availability of play materials influence children’s social and emotional development? What is the relationship between Sharing ability, Team work in Play in Children’s Social and Emotional Development in primary schools? How does the presence of the teacher in the children’s play affect children’s social and emotional development? The study employed a descriptive survey design which is used in preliminary and exploratory studies to allow researchers to gather information from 10 primary-school teachers using the questionnaires as the main research instruments The collected data was analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics which included frequency distribution tables, Pearson correlation coefficients and Chi-square. The study established that all pre-schools 100% had balls and tyres while all the schools lacked slides and beanbags. It was also observed that dolls and toys were not many in most pre- schools. The study established that, all respondents agreed that teachers’ presence has impact on the way children play. This is because they guide the children during play and also provide security for the children as well as helping the children to learn some skills beyond their knowledge. Also all the respondents indicated that the skills learned by children playing in the presence of teachers include; turn taking sharing, sharing, solving disputes, cooperation and group work.
Conclusion of the Study
Based on the findings of this study the researcher made the following conclusions; the availability of cultural games significantly influenced the social skills and emotional development of children in pre-schools. This is because children need cultural games to be motivated to take part in play which consequently improves social skills and emotional development. The researcher also concluded that there is a strong relationship between Sharing ability, Team work in Play in Children’s Social and Emotional Development in primary schools. The more children played the better for their social and emotional development.
Finally the researcher concluded that the teachers’ presence during children’s’ play was very important as it influenced the children social skills and emotional development by providing guidance on difficulty pays as well as providing security.
Recommendations from the Study
After interpreting the data for this study and making conclusions, the research made the following recommendations:-
- The schools should provide more varieties of cultural games to pre-school children as this is likely to improve their social skills and emotional development.
- The Ministry of Education should allow more time for outdoor and play activities in the primary school timetable so as to develop the children’s’ social abilities.
- The primary school teachers should always be near the children during play so as to motivate the children and also protect them from dangerous play.
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