Using Activities and Short Stories to Sustain the Attention Span of KG2 Pupils at 6 Garrison Basic School in Kamina Barracks
Objective of the study
The objectives of the study are;
- To ascertain whether stories improve attention span among primary school pupils at Anglican primary school.
- To examine the effect of gender on the listening skills of primary school pupils at Anglican primary school.
- To ascertain the impact of stories on pupil and their academic performance
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Attention among Pupils
Nicholson, Kehle, et,al. (1997) conducted a study by examining the effects of physical activity on the 1) attention span and 2) health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) children in Singapore. Male participants (N = 12) aged 2-6 years, diagnosed with ASD were randomly assigned to either a physical activity (experimental) or non-physical activity group (control). In the physical activity group, participants were administered 8 tri-cycling sessions; together, both groups of participants were measured for their attention span, and their parents completed the HRQoL questionnaires. The results revealed that as the exercise session increases, participants in the physical activity group demonstrated increasingly longer duration of attention span compared to the control group.
Lamba, Rawat, et,al. (2014) conducted a study on Attention is the most powerful asset of human beings, and if correctly used, it can have numerous benefits. At the same time it is very difficult to master. A descriptive survey was conducted to assess the impact of teaching time that is classes for two hour, on attention and concentration of pupil nurses. The study was conducted in selected College of Nursing, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, INDIA. Ninety one pupil nurses were selected by simple random sampling. Data was collected through self- reported checklist. Majority,( 95% of the pupils), were between theage group of 18 – 22 years. Forty five percent pupils were from GNM group and 55% pupils were from B.Sc. group. Result shows that 44% pupils had good attention and concentration, 46% pupils had an average attention and concentration and 10% of pupils had poor attention and concentration score during the teaching – learning activities.
Concentration of Pupils
Raviv, Low (1990) conducted a study on Influence of physical activity on concentration among junior high-school pupils. The level and quality of concentration were tested before and after each lesson in one class session. Two of the four classes participated in physical education activities, and the other two studied science. Each subject matter was studied the beginning and at the end of the school day. The research design was 2 x 2 x 2 factorial (two subject matters,
two times of the school day, and as a repeated measure two times of test for each group at the beginning and end of each lesson). The level and the quality of concentration found at the end of each lesson were significantly higher than at the beginning. The subject matters did not influence concentration. It may be concluded that the time of day was the main influence on concentration, so pupils’ claims against physical education activity lessons can be rejected. The increase in concentration toward the end of the lesson implies the need for careful lesson planning or even the consideration of increasing duration of lessons.
Twardella, Matzen, et, al (2012) conducted a cross-over cluster- randomized experimental study in 20 classrooms with mechanical ventilation systems. Test conditions ‘worse’ (median CO₂ level on average 2115 ppm) and ‘better’ (median CO₂ level on average 1045 ppm) were established by the regulation of the mechanical ventilation system on two days in one week each in every classroom. Concentration performance was quantified in pupils of grade three and four by the use of the d2-test and its primary parameter ‘CP’ and secondary parameters ‘total number of characters processed’ (TN) and ‘total number of errors’ (TE). 2366 d2-tests from 417 pupils could be used in analysis. In hierarchical linear regression accounting for repeated measurements, no significant effect of the experimental condition on CP or TN could be observed. However, TE was increased significantly by 1.65 (95% confidence interval 0.42-2.87) in ‘worse’ compared to ‘better’ condition. Thus, low air quality in classrooms as indicated by increased CO₂ levels does not reduce overall short- term CP in pupils, but appears to increase the error rate.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research Model
The research is a quantitative study, which took place in two stages. With the descriptive screening model, in the first stage, it was determined which of the different storytelling methods used by a total of 72 KG2 teachers. In the second stage, a comparative unequalled group post-test research model, one of the experimental designs, was used. In this research model, only experimental measurements (post-test) are performed (Karasar, 2009): Experimental research is accepted as the most reliable research because of the certainty of the results achieved and the relationship between the variables can be determined exactly (Ural & ve Kılıç, 2006).
Population and Sample
While determining the participants of the research, the volunteering of the individuals and their openness to cooperation were taken into consideration and in this context, the sample group was determined by convenience sampling method. Convenience sampling method is expressed as creating a study group from individuals that researchers can easily reach throughout the research (Baltacı, 2018). According to this, the research was carried out in two stages. In the first stage, firstly, with descriptive scanning, it was studied with 72 KG2 teachers working in Kamina Barracks province to determine which of the storytelling methods used by them. It was decided to conduct the research in the classrooms of the teachers who had allowed to practice in their classrooms. Parents’ permission was also obtained for children, and in this second stage of the research, 59 children who received pre-school education in four different classes were selected in an independent kindergarten in Kamina Barracks province. However, the study was completed with a total of 40 children, whose ages ranging from five to six, with 10 children from each class participating in all story sessions. The research was conducted with volunteer children by obtaining the necessary permissions from the parents of the children participating in the research.
CHAPTER FIVE
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
CONCLUSION
Reading activities in KG2 education contribute to all areas of the development of children. The process of reading the book should be designed in the best way. According to the results of this research, in order for the children to understand the story being read and give their attention to the story, it will be realized by presenting the visual and audio elements appropriately for the purpose and using the voices of the teachers effectively. Another important point is that KG2 teachers need to improve their story reading skills. It is thought that the fact that teachers receive effective book reading training and use their gestures and mimics will enable children to both understand the stories and follow them carefully.
Recommendations
- The study can be conducted on larger sample to generalize the
- The study can be conducted among the other group of school pupils like intellectually disabled
- The study could be replicated in other settings like the community and colleges
- A study can be conducted to assess the effectiveness of activities and short stories on quality of life among the alcoholics, wives and children of alcoholics.
- A comparative study can be conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of various other interventions to help the school pupils in improving their concentration and attention
- The study can be conducted among the autistic children to improve attention and
Limitations
- The study findings cannot be generalized due to small sample size.
- Investigator could not find much published studies on Activities and short stories on concentration and attention span.
- Setting was selected based on the convenience of the
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