Differentiated Instructions on Numeracy Achievement Among Nursery Two Pupils

Chapter One

Introduction

1.1 Background of The Study

Education began in prehistory, as adults trained the young in the knowledge and skills deemed necessary in their society. In pre-literate societies, this was achieved orally and through imitation. Smith (2002) passed knowledge, values, and skills from one generation to the next. As cultures began to extend their knowledge beyond skills that could be readily learned through imitation, formal education developed. Schools existed in Egypt at the time of the Middle Kingdom.

Education brings a natural and lasting change in an individual’s reasoning and ability to achieve the targeted goal. It facilitates us to investigate our own considerations and thoughts and makes it ready to express it in various shapes. Starkey (2004)

Education is the main thing that encourages us to distinguish between right and wrong because in the absence of education, we can’t do what we need or we can’t achieve our goal. Santrock (2007).

Dawson 2005; Education is a gradual process which brings positive changes in human life and behavior. We can also define education as “a process of acquiring knowledge through study or imparting the knowledge by way of instructions or some other practical procedure

Robinson (2002) Education is the process of facilitating learning, or the acquisition of knowledge, skills, values, morals, beliefs, and habits. Educational methods include teaching, training, storytelling, discussion and directed research. Education frequently takes place under the guidance of educators; however, learners can also educate themselves. Education can take place in formal or informal settings, and any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts may be considered educational. The methodology of teaching is called pedagogy.

Arnett 2019, Education brings about an inherent and permanent change in a person’s thinking and capacity to do things. Real education is very different to just having access to (or being exposed to) information about something. Real education embeds things into one’s brain, and anyone who understands learning will understand that this comes from repeated exposure and use of information or skills. Sadly, in today’s world, people want to fast track everything: but learning is something that cannot usually be fast tracked.

There are various types of education available all over the world. While some school systems in other countries have different practices from ours, generally, there are standards set so that there are equivalents that allow people to continue schooling even in another country. Manning (2008). However, education isn’t limited to the specific types you’d think. There are laws protecting a child’s right to enter school. But still, there are several types of education based on the formal or informal setting of a student’s education to the different levels of education available for different students from preschool to the highest levels of education. Education is classify into formal and informal.

Formal Education this is the systematic way where a person attends a school or university and receives training from teachers that are equipped and licensed to teach you what you need to know. And Informal Education refers to the ways children learn outside of the classroom. Munni (2009).

Moving onto the types of education according to the educational level, the first level is preschool. Also known as kindergarten or pre-primary school, Elementary School After kindergarten, pupils attend elementary school from ages 6 to 13 years old. Karl (2015), this part of their education provides fundamental skills such as reading, writing, mathematics, and other general knowledge to prepare them for secondary school. Secondary Education, This may be divided into lower secondary education (“middle school”) and upper secondary education (“high school”).

On this study pre-primary education will be treated, Achilles 2015 Pre-primary education is the education given to younger learners before the age of entering primary education (6 years). Early childhood education or pre-primary education is defined by the National Policy on Education (FRN, 2012) as education given educational settings for children aged 3 through 5 years in preparing their entry into primary school.

Arnett 2019, once a child misses that early stage it is usually difficult for the learner to get back to the basics. Pre-primary education is a common practice in most societies; they make provision for early childhood education programs of various types for children below the official school age (usually 6 years) mainly to prepare them for the rigors of primary education and beyond.

It should be noted that not everyone is in support of early childhood education. Robinson and Robinson (2002) hold the view that young children are not mature enough to learn complex task or skills that are required of them in the pre-school programs. They also argue that the love and warmth of a mother is more important than any educational program. On the other hand, some research evidence shows that early childhood education has a positive influence in children’s affective, conceptual and social development in later years (Baker2003; Gormley, Gayer, Phillips and Dawson 2005; Rolnick and Grunewald 2003). Despite the different views on early childhood education by scholars, the National Policy on Education (FRN, 2012) stipulates that it should be included in mainstream education. Formal education begins from pre-primary education as provided in day-care centers and nursery schools to children aged 3 through 5 years. It is enriched by the informal traditional upbringing given to children from 0 through 3 years which makes them ready for school. The operational objectives of pre-primary education as stated in the National Policy of Education (FRN 2012) include:

– Effecting a smooth transmission from the home to the school;

– Preparing the child for the primary level of education;

– Providing adequate care and supervision for the children while their parents are at work;

– Inculcating in the child the spirit of enquiry and creativity through the exploration of nature and environment, art, music and playing with toys, etc;

– Develop a sense of co-operation and team spirit; Inculcating social norms;

– Learn good habits, especially good health habits; and Teaching rudiments of numbers, letters, colours, shapes, forms etc. through play.

Achilles 2015. Understanding the early development of numeracy can provide early childhood educators and elementary school teachers with the tools they need to nurture mathematical thinking. Children think mathematically long before they start school, and there is substantial growth in numeracy skills during preschool. Such informal knowledge about numbers is often referred to as number sense. August, 2007. At the pre-primary school stage, children learn to share and co-operate with others instead of developing the selfish tendencies. Basic numeracy skills consist of comprehending fundamental arithmetic like addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. For example, if one can understand simple mathematical equations such as 2 + 2 = 4, then one would be considered possessing at least basic numeric knowledge. Basic number concepts and skills (numeracy) generally emerge before school entry. It is important to promote the development of these competencies in young children and to know the best learning methods, as these skills are often predictive of children’s future school achievement.

Numerical skills emerge during infancy and the preschool years when children are exposed to different quantitative and spatial relations in everyday activities, Kenway (2008). At 12months babies typically can detect the difference between quantities of small sets of objects (e.g., a container  with two blocks vs. one with three blocks), and they even can detect the difference between more numerous sets of objects if the ratio of one set to the other is large enough (e.g., 16 versus 32 dots). Toddlers gradually learn the names of numbers as they learn language. By 3 years of age many children have memorized 1 to 10 and are beginning to count small sets of objects successfully Children around 5 years of age learn to generate numbers with decade structures (i.e., teens, twenties), understand what numbers mean, learn to count increasingly large sets of objects, understand that the last number of a count is the number of objects in a set, and understand how to add and subtract. Many school-age children struggle to learn math concepts and skills. Achilles 2015. Understanding the early development of numeracy can provide early childhood educators and elementary school teachers with the tools they need to nurture mathematical thinking.

Children think mathematically long before they start school, and there is substantial growth in numeracy skills during preschool. Such informal knowledge about numbers is often referred to as number sense. Jodl (2001), The teacher has to aware of the steps and methodology in developing numeracy in children Children are using early math skills throughout their daily routines and activities. This is good news as these skills are important for being ready for school. But early math doesn’t mean taking out the calculator during playtime. Even before they start school, most children develop an understanding of addition and subtraction through everyday interactions. For example, Thomas has two cars; Joseph wants one. After Thomas shares one, he sees that he has one car left Bowman, (2001)

More advanced mathematical skills are based on an early math “foundation” Yelland (2012), just like a house is built on a strong foundation. In the toddler years, you can help your child begin to develop early math skills by introducing ideas like: Number Sense is the ability to count accurately—first forward. Then, later in school, children will learn to count backwards. Representation is making mathematical ideas “real” by using words, pictures, symbols, and objects (like blocks). Spatial sense later in school this will be call “geometry.” But for toddlers it is introducing the ideas of shape, size, space, position, direction and movement, Aziz (2009). One of the methods to use in teaching numeracy to children is by Reading and singing number song sing songs that rhyme, repeat, or have numbers in them. Songs reinforce patterns (which is a math skill as well). They also are fun ways to practice language and foster social skills like cooperation. Another way is giving children the chance to play with wooden blocks, plastic interlocking blocks, empty boxes, milk cartons, etc. Stacking and manipulating these toys help children learn about shapes and the relationships between shapes,etc. Hiebert (2008), low achievement in numaracy continues to remain a cause of concern and an impetus to reform efforts. Legislators, policy makers and the public, express dissatisfaction with pupils’ ability to successfully acquire mathematical knowledge, skill, and the confidence they need to apply in succeeding. Nigeria is one of the many countries reporting low levels of mathematics achievement in its student populations, low achieving students are generally identified on the basis of performance on tests.

Many factors could be the cause of low achievement in Mathematics some factors are, lack of interest by the pupils, inappropriate teaching methods, shortage of staff, learner attitudes to the subject, amathophobia, lack of teaching and learning resources and inexperienced teachers, etc. On this study teaching method or instructional strategies will be research on as to what effect it has on pupils numeracy achievement. Greene 2019, recent years issues of pupils performance has been a big concern and one of the things to look at is the teaching methods and strategies use by the teacher, there has always been the usual teaching method what called traditional or conventional method were the teacher mostly is seen at the center of the classroom while the pupils will mostly be seen as passive learner, the has been much concern on how the teacher could make the lesson much of child centered which will allow the child to learn at his/her rate and develop their skills through an appropriate way. This study will unfold one among numerous instructional strategies that allows the children to learn base on their rates.

Carol Ann Tomlinson (2001). Is a leader in the area of differentiated learning and professor of educational leadership, foundations, and policy at the University of Virginia? Tomlinson describes differentiated instruction as factoring pupils’ individual learning styles and levels of readiness first before designing a lesson plan. Also differentiating instruction means teaching the same material to all pupils using a variety of instructional strategies, or it may require the teacher to deliver lessons at varying levels of difficulty based on the ability of each pupils. Just as everyone has a unique fingerprint, every student has an individual learning style. Chances are, not all of your pupils grasp a subject in the same way or share the same level of ability. So how can you better deliver your lessons to reach everyone in class? Consider differentiated instruction. To deploy differentiated instruction in the classroom the to consider the following:

– Design lessons based on students’ learning styles.

– Group students by shared interest, topic, or ability for assignments.

– Assess students’ learning using formative assessment.

– Manage the classroom to create a safe and supportive environment.

– Continually assess and adjust lesson content to meet students’ needs. According to Tomlinson, teachers can differentiate instruction through four ways: content, process, and product.

Content: As you already know, fundamental lesson content should cover the standards of learning set by the school district or state educational standards. But some students in your class may be completely unfamiliar with the concepts in a lesson, some students may have partial mastery, and some students may already be familiar with the content before the lesson begins. What could do is differentiate the content by designing activities for groups of pupils that cover various levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy (a classification of levels of intellectual behavior going from lower-order thinking skills to higher-order thinking skills). The six levels are: remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating. Pupils who are unfamiliar with a lesson could be required to complete tasks on the lower levels: remembering and understanding.

Process: Each student has a preferred learning style, and successful differentiation includes delivering the material to each style: visual, auditory and kinesthetic, and through words. This process-related method also addresses the fact that not all students require the same amount of support from the teacher, and students could choose to work in pairs, small groups, or individually. And while some students may benefit from one-on-one interaction with you or the classroom aide, others may be able to progress by themselves. Teachers can enhance student learning by offering support based on individual needs.

Product: The product is what the student creates at the end of the lesson to demonstrate the mastery of the content. This can be in the form of tests, projects, reports, or other activities. You could assign students to complete activities that show mastery of an educational concept in a way the student prefers, based on learning style.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

There have been complains on the outcome of numeracy achievement among children in this study area, issue cannot be emphasized without considering the school where the children have the space to shape their numeracy skill through the guidance of the teacher. And when it’s comes to classroom learning, overtime the teacher had use different conventional teaching method to facilitate learning in children, and recent findings as proven very poor numeracy achievement. Robinson (2004) Children are unique, they are individuals and no two children are alike: physically, emotionally, socially and intellectually, each child is a unique individual. Because children are unique, even if there are common needs and characteristics that children of a particular age or stage of development share, they must be understood by their parents and teachers in their uniqueness, and their individuality must be respected. They has been a concern on the poor performance of pupils in Uyo Educationtional area, and this needs an urgent respond by the Researcher to ascertain what truly is the major cause(s) of low achievement in numeracy by pupils. Teachers have great role to play in the classroom by making all the pupils have learnt something new despite their individual differences.

However, this does not mean that a teacher has to prepare 45 or 50 different lesson plans­ whether it is a single-grade or a multi-grade classroom. Instead the teacher must be able to get to know and understand each of the children and prepare teaching/learning activities that will respond to and reflect these individual needs of children. According to Gayer, Phillips and Dawson (2005), As children work individually or independently, in small-groups or as a whole group, they will each benefit in their own way from these activities. What is most important is that the teacher, who is primarily responsible for planning the daily activities through which the children will learn, should know every child and keep track of how well each child is able to learn.

Early numeracy achievement is a good sign that the child has a brighter prospect in the future when it comes to mathematics, Uyo Educationtional area has many schools where by numeracy skills are taught. But the achievement scores of pupils in the area is recorded low, this is attributed to instructional strategies, emphasize has to be put on these strategies to salvage the poor achievement of the pupils in the study area and give them better advantage on future mathematics achievement.

1.3 Purpose of the Study

1. i) To determine the difference in the mean achievement scores of nursery II pupils in numeracy when exposed to differentiated instructions and those exposed to conventional method.
2. ii) To ascertain the influence of gender (boys and girls) on the mean achievement scores of nursery II pupils in numeracy.
3. iii) To examine the interaction effect of mode of instruction and gender on mean achievement scores of nursery II pupils in numeracy.