EFFECT OF LEARNING CORNERS ON THE PRE-SCHOOLERS LEARNING OUTCOMES IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION

1.1 Introduction

Learning Corners is a unique educational programme designed to foster independence and a love of learning in young children in nursery school. Early childhood education describes the formal instruction and supervision of young children in venues other than their homes or by someone other than their families. The developmental definition of early childhood education, as stated by the National Association for the Education of Young Children, encompasses the period of a person's life from birth to age eight.

Early childhood education, however, usually encompasses the time a kid is born until they begin school, which may occur as early as age five. A child's total social, physical, and intellectual development is referred to as early childhood development and education. It includes the upbringing, development, and instruction of kids under the age of six (Maduewesi, Osakwe 2009).

This chapter will address the background information that motivated this study, the challenges that prompted it, its aim, and its objectives as a preface to subsequent sections of the study. Additional factors include the study's significance, scope, limitations, research questions and hypotheses, and the definition of technical terms.

1.2 Background of Study

Early childhood education involvement according to Barnard (2001) positively affects home and school participation in education at the long run. A child who fails to acquire early education may suffer emotionally, socially, intellectually and even physically if he or she is trusted into the primary school without a sustainable early childhood education involvement that will give him a solid foundation in the primary school. Infact, for the effective and efficient unfolding and development of a child’s latent abilities, attitudes and other forms of behaviour of positive values in the society in which he lives, early childhood education becomes very imminent. This is of utmost importance because researches on early childhood education have shown that early childhood education involvement have great impact on every facet of a child’s development and had suggested that the first teacher is an extremely important person in the child’s life, hence he becomes a role- model to the child.

Anderson (2002) is of the view that when children are exposed to early childhood education, they develop superior communication skills, necessary physical ability and social unity needed in adult life and an increased cognitive and effective educational balance. Researchers in the field and early childhood educators both view the parents as an integral part of the early childhood process. Early childhood education takes many forms depending on the beliefs of the educator or parent. In today’s world, parents and families contribute as much as teachers, students and administrators to the educational process or even more. More than any other time in history, involving community players represents a high priority of most school settings. The measured and researched positive effect of parent involvement on student academic achievement pushes this area into focus of most school district and early childhood programme goals.

According to Nwagbara (2000), a child's vocabulary grows between the ages of 12 and 72 months, with an average of 3 words and 2562 (two thousand, five hundred, and sixty-two) words, respectively. Therefore, youngsters can communicate without explicit training in reading or writing. A lot of what toddlers say follows their own set of norms, which are frequently different from adult speech. Studies in this field validate the hypothesis that children do not learn grammar by imitation or practice like adults do.

The extent of the notion of early childhood education sometimes referred to as early childhood learning and early education varies and appears to be strongly associated with certain geographic places. Some definitions focus primarily on the age range of the student, while others take the educational setting into account. Still others mix the two. Early childhood education (ECE) is seen as a semi-formal, outside-the-home preschool (Oyewumi, Alhassan, and Ofoha 2010). ECE consists of the creche, nursery, and kindergarten (Olaleye, Florence, and Omotayo, 2009).

Children ages 0 to 5 were the target audience for the introduction of this programme. Early childhood education (ECE) was established in Nigeria to help the majority of children there, especially those who lived in rural and low-income regions. Thus, a low-cost, community-based, non-formal day care programme is being implemented by the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council in partnership with UNICEF. Caretakers are introduced to locally acquired educational resources in order to facilitate the child's cognitive, emotional, and psychomotor development (Zakariyah, 2012).

The early childhood classroom is designed to provide a conducive learning environment. In order to appeal to children and support the curriculum's content goals, furniture, equipment, and materials are carefully selected and organized. The learning environment offers resources that represent the variety of children's family life and promotes a balance between independent and cooperative play. Interest Areas, also known as "Learning Corners", are designated areas inside the physical space of a preschool where certain activities are set up for the kids to investigate (Nakpodia, 2011). Learning nooks or interest zones are often how preschool classrooms are set up. With the help of the instructor, kids can play and investigate things in these designated spaces, either alone or in small groups. The corners are generally divided by low barriers, although kids can roam freely between them. Skills that lead to reading, writing, and math are not limited to any one corner; rather, they are reinforced in many ways via play, discovery, and communication throughout all the corners.

The classroom setting conveys to pupils expectations for their behaviour. Transmitting independence and a love of learning is what's important. Using learning nooks in the early childhood classroom is essential to guaranteeing students' success. When deciding where to set up corners, you need to consider three main settings: an area for group work led by the instructor, an area for students to work independently, and a space for the entire class to work together. A classroom map with scale cutouts of the furniture and equipment is useful for experimenting with alternative setups.

Therefore, in Jos North LGA of Plateau State where the research was carried out, the activities that was conducted is to know the Effect of Learning Corners on the Pre-schoolers Learning Outcomes in Early Childhood Education.

1.3 Statement of Problems

An investigation showed that there are still certain gaps in the program's execution and non-implementation, even with all the safeguards put in place by Nigeria's Federal Ministry of Education. It is undeniable that the government, parents/guardians, and school administrators must work together and provide feedback in order to establish early childhood education. The provision of essential teaching and learning resources by the government is anticipated; nevertheless, the cooperation of parents/guardians in registering their children/wards and the availability of students in age-appropriate grades cannot be overemphasized.

Children do not know or master speeches due to the fact that the teachers who teach them at the primary school do not have the mastery content or the methods with which to teach these children and develop their speech. For the fact that children’s speeches are not developed at the grassroots, it affected them even at the adult age. This is why many adults find it difficult to speak fluently either in the private or public arenas.

The enormous capital required to build learning nooks in Nigeria's environment, which is more expensive to acquire, is another issue hurting early childhood education. Because of the economic downturn and rising costs for materials and technological devices, countries further developed than Nigeria in Africa can attempt to construct learning corners more successfully.

1.4 Aim and Objectives of Study

The aim of the study is to investigate the Effect of Learning Corners on the Pre-schoolers Learning Outcomes in Early Childhood Education using Jos North LGA of Plateau State as a case study. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:

1. To ascertain the correlation between learning corners and preschoolers’ academic performance in early childhood education;
2. To identify the effective learning corners research approaches for improving preschoolers’ performance;
3. To determine whether the relationship between learning corners and preschoolers’ learning outcome; and
4. To examine the strategies for enhancing preschooler’s performance through effective learning corners study methods.

1.5 Research Questions

The study came up with research questions so as to be able to ascertain the above stated objectives. The specific research questions for the study are stated below as follows:

• Is there any correlation between learning corners and preschoolers’ academic performance in early childhood education?
• What are the effective learning corners research approaches for improving preschoolers’ performance?
• What is the relationship between learning corners and preschoolers’ learning outcome in the study area?
• What are the strategies for enhancing preschooler’s performance through effective learning corners study methods?

1.6 Research Hypothesis

In order to pursue the objective of this study, the following generalized statements have been designed to guide and aids in obtaining the result for the experiment to be conducted. For this work, the null hypothesis will be represented with H0 while the alternative hypothesis will be represented with hypothesis H1.

• H₀1: There is no significant correlation between learning corners and preschoolers’ academic performance in early childhood education.
• H₀2: There is no significant relationship between learning corners and preschoolers’ learning outcome in the study area.
• H₀3: There are no effective learning corners research approaches for improving preschoolers’ performance.
• H₀4: There are no relevant strategies for enhancing preschooler’s performance through effective learning corners study methods.

1.7 Significance of Study

The study will be of great benefit to the following individuals:

1. Caretakers, school administrators, and the government will learn more from the study's conclusions on the variables influencing learning corners and preschoolers' learning outcomes in early childhood education.
2. The study will also help care-givers and district education officers/school inspectors understand the impact of subpar learning corners on preschoolers' learning results. It will also provide guidance on how to strategically improve learning corners.
3. Furthermore, it will make it possible for owners of pre-nursery schools to methodically prepare for the provision of high-quality classrooms that improve students' academic achievement.
4. Finally, it will benefit other researchers working on relevant subjects and add to the amount of information already in existence.

1.8 Scope of Study

The scope of this research is focused on the Effect of Learning Corners on the Pre-schoolers Learning Outcomes in Early Childhood Education using Jos North LGA of Plateau State as a case study.

1.9 Limitations of the Study

During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:

1. Time Constraint:The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
2. Research Material: availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.
3. Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).
4. Initial Cooperation Delay from Respondents: A particular limitation of this work came as a result of the respondent refusal to offer their cooperation at the initial time they were contacted. This contributed in making the success of this research study difficult.

1.10 Definition of Terms

ECE:

It is an acronym for Early Childhood Education.

Early Childhood Education:

It is the term commonly used to describe the formal teaching and care of young children by people other than their family or in settings outside of the home.

Caregiver:

A caregiver is an unpaid or paid person who helps to look after the preschool children.

Preschool:

A preschool is an educational establishment or learning space offering early childhood education to children, usually between the ages of three and five, prior to the commencement of compulsory education at primary school.