The Harbour Library Journal

“Oh! I wish you were a boy”…I don’t remember how many times my father said these words to me during my growing up days. I was born into a family of seven and I am the second daughter. I used to wonder if I was ever accepted in the family since I turned out to be a girl while he was expecting a boy. Did I have a choice in determining my gender from my mother’s womb? What was I supposed to become with these words? My growing up days was tough. My father rarely paid my school fees without murmuring and complaining even though he was quite well off. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t impress my father. I often overheard him speaking in favor of my younger brother and discrediting my potentials. I grew up with low self- esteem as a result of the words my father spoke to me. As I grew older, I resolved to start speaking words of affirmation to myself and through these words I regained my self-confidence. On the twenty sixth of July, three years ago I had my second daughter- a ch...

Summarizing the research work of Swick and Blackwell was a very interesting and thought provoking experience for me. It deepened my understanding of the importance and relevance of a research work in stimulating intellectual growth in young children. They opened their report by focusing on current trends in social studies. In as much as contributors to the current trend in social studies have come up with specific method of learning (relaying on verbal or highly symbolic method of learning), these methods according to them are often inappropriate for pre-school age children especially for culturally disadvantaged children. Research studies have shown that the intellectual and linguistic growth of young disadvantaged children depends very much upon the presence of various concrete learning objects in their immediate environment. This makes it necessary to develop multi-media materials that will help preschool children to develop the vast base of concrete experience that will lead them i...

I have been pondering over the inconsistency of the educational programs in Nigeria until I understood the role of research in education policies and programs. The oxford English dictionary defines research as a study and investigation to discover new facts about a subject (Oxford University Press, 1995). In the course of my study on the subject of research and its impact on education policies and programs, I have been able to come up with my own definition of research. I see research as a deep search on a particular field in order to develop and formulate theories that are based on empirical validation. Research is what we do when we have a question or a problem we want to resolve. It happens as a result of dissatisfaction and a yearning for something better than what is already been used. We may already think we know the answers to some question or think the answer is obvious, but until a problem has being subjected to vigorous scrutiny, then should we arrive at a conclusion. The fir...

All over the world, students have different academic calendar depending on their country’s educational body. Students in Nigeria attend school for an average of 195 days in a year, the school year starts in September and ends in July. The typical school day is from 7:45am-3:30pm. Giving this background, it is worthy to note that the structure of the Nigerian school calendar is sufficient for every student in Nigeria to acquire all the education they need for every academic year without adding extra, except for students who may need intervention and additional support. The Nigerian school calendar is compliant with the standard requirement for academic calendar around the world. Students in Australia attend school for 200 days in a year from 9am-3:30pm. While students in China attend school from September to mid –July and the average school day runs from 7:30am-5pm with a two hour lunch hour break. Kenya has an academic calendar that is similar to Nigeria’s and their school day i...

Digital books, apps and electronic media resources help students learn at school and home through engagement and interaction. As beneficial as these digital resources are, not every student, school or parents have access to these resources. Income inequality is the reason why some schools, parents and students can access these resources and others can’t. Only the middle class and rich families in my country can afford to expose their children to online reading materials because of the high rate of internet subscription. Public schools do not have adequate facilities to provide these means for  students from low income families, therefore increasing the gap between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots’.   Integrating technology in the classroom can add to eliminating or reducing the gap created by income inequality because all students will have access to digital educational materials that can increase their level of academic achievement. My only concern is how low income scho...

                     Children can attain an optimum level of cognitive skills with consciously developed strategies that can facilitate their learning. There are so many strategies that an early childhood teacher can use to support a child in achieving this milestone.                          The first of this is to encourage young children to work with picture puzzles and figure them out independently. Exposure to picture puzzles can get children to think more and ultimately develop their reasoning and sharpen their cognitive skills.                           Children’s cognition of numbers can be taught by making them appreciate quantiti...