PLAY- BASED LEARNING AND PUPILS' ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN LOWER PRIMARY CLASSES

ABSTRACT

The study investigated play-based learning and pupils' academic performance in lower primary classes in Oredo Local Government Area, Edo state. Also of interest in this study were the relationship between the prevalence of play-based learning and the level of academic performance of pupils' in lower primary classes in Oredo Local Government Area, and the difference in the relationship between the prevalence of play-based learning and the level of academic performance of pupils' in lower primary classes based on location, age and size of school were also the concern of this study.To guide the study, six research questions were raised. Two were answered directly while four were formulated into hypotheses and tested at 0.05 level of significance. The study is a descriptive survey research which adopted the correlational design. The population was made up of all the teachers in lower primary classes of primary 1 to 3 in private schools in Oredo Local Government Area. The sample size of 63 teachers were used, 5 private school was sampled through convenience, sampling technique 10 respondent in each school were used . The instrument used for data collection was a questionnaire and checklist. The data collected were analyzed using percentage, mean, standard deviation, Pearson r and the Fisher Z statistics. Among the findings is that play-based learning is prevalent in various degrees in lower primary classes in Oredo Local Government Area. In addition, the study also revealed that there is a relationship between the prevalence of play-based learning and the academic performance of pupils' in lower primary classes in Oredo Local Government Area. Based on the findings, it was recommended among other that there is a significant relationship between the prevalence of play-based learning and the level of academic performance of lower primary pupils' it means that the School Authority and the the Ministry of Education, should take the matter serious. This they can do by organizing workshop, and seminar where these play-based activities are exposed to the teachers and the teachers are then trained in their utilization.