The Effect of Learning Centers on Arousing and Sustaninig Interest in Nursery School Children

Abstract

The study set out to create in nursery one classroom and to compare the effect of the learning centers on arousing and sustaining interest in the pupils with pupils whose classroom did not have learning centers. The research was conducted over a period of ten weeks in two nursery schools in Jos using pre-test, post test two group quasi experimental design. Thy population was made up of nursery one pupils whose average age was three years seven month.. 56 pupils that were selected through cluster sampling. Data was collected using observation. An observation rating scale was constructed using adaption from Thermers and Carlson (2007 ) observation rating scale for preschoolers. Pre-treatment data was collected from the two schools, then the treatment was administered to school B and then a post-treatment data was collected from the two schools. The data was analyzed using Hest formular for independent samples. The result showed that no significant difference existed between the interest and social skills the pupils at the pretest but there was a significant difference in the interest and social skills of pupils in the post test. It was then concluded that learning centers in nursery one have significance arousing and sustaining interest, keep pupils engage and learning social skills. It was recommended that nursery one classroom should have rich learning centers and that nursery school teachers should be trained on how to create and maintain effective centers in their classroom.