Kindergarten educators to use music in teaching mathematics

The Israel’s Agency for International Development Cooperation (MASHAV) has ended a two-week training in Accra for kindergarten educators on the need to adopt the teacher verse learner-centered approach to make learning attractive.

The training, which was held in collaboration with the Embassy of Israel, Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) and the Ghana Education Service (GES), took participants through learning principles that would make the study of Mathematics attractive among learners.

The theme: “An Integrative Approach to Learning in Early Age” is to teach these educators how to integrate mathematics into music and using music to teach mathematics.

Ms Idit Kubitsky, the MASHAV Resource person, said mathematics is seen as a scary subject and as such this new approach would make children to develop the interest in learning the subject.

She said research has shown that music is the central part of most activities and using it to teach the subject would enhance learning, but advised the teachers to use the music technique when teaching the subject to make it both enjoyable and easy to grasp.

Ms Sharon Bar-Li, Israel Ambassador to Ghana, said this is a unique concept as it would create the needed atmosphere for the use of objects that would improve on learning in societies.

She said integrating what one sees around to make learning fun is very important since it does not need any additional funds to make learning easy.

Ms Bar-Li noted that the essence of MASHAV activities is to build capacity and therefore urged the teachers not to let the training they have acquired be the end but rather implement it in their schools for the benefits of the children.

Mrs. Gladys Bugri, Representative of the Metro Director, said the training is in the right direction since it would lay the foundation firmly for the kindergarten pupils.

She, however urged the teachers to put the approach in good use and follow the guidelines given for the benefit of the students and the country at large.

Mrs. Grace Agyepong Dankyira, Coordinator Early Childhood Development, Accra, expressed gratitude to MASHAV and the Embassy of Israel for the training and added that the child-centered approach initiated in the past years has created room for the children’s participation in classroom activities, boost the confidence level of the children and created a cordial relationship among these children and their teachers.

She said this is a good initiative as it has yielded positive results in schools.