Abstract
Student engagement is an important contributor to academic success. In the learning arrangement in a pre-school in Quezon city, students attended the online class and answered workbooks and worksheets as offline learning activities. These paper-and-pen activities did not motivate the students as they delayed doing the task. The present study aimed at incorporating play-based activities to increase the pre-school students' engagement in their offline learning activities. The study was conducted among 20 preschool students with the help of the parents in implementing the play-based offline activities. Responses regarding students’ engagement were documented using the student engagement tool that parents accomplished every after offline activity, reflections notes, and survey questionnaires. A focus group discussion was also organized at the end of the study. The findings in this study show that the use of offline play-based activities improved student engagement in three dimensions - cognitive, emotion, and behavior. Students who previously expressed disinterest towards offline activities demonstrated self-motivation, conceptual understanding, engagement in physical activities, and have nurtured positive relationships among the students, their parents, and their siblings throughout the study. Considering the parents’ feedback, the researchers further modified the design of the instructional activities to address prior poor student engagement by incorporating music and movement, balancing play and work in the activities, and by sending the guides earlier for the convenience of the parents. It is recommended that future research delve into the difference in engagement among different class hours, given that more students in the late morning and early afternoon sessions showed poorer engagement in offline paper-and-pencil activities prior to the intervention being made. Future research can also focus on the influence of fathers on their child’s engagement, implementation of play-based activities in public schools adopting the modular approach, and parent-teacher relationship in managing and handling students' mental wellness.
Highlights
Student engagement is one of the important aspects of teaching and learning that teachers across the world desire
The researchers sought to find out whether the introduction of play-based activities as compared to the usual paper and pen tasks, would strengthen children’s engagement in offline activities. It aimed to answer the following questions: 1. What changes in student engagement occurred when offline play-based activities are used? 2
The study illustrates the changes in student engagement and changes in play-based activities resulting from the implementation of offline play-based activities
Summary
Student engagement is one of the important aspects of teaching and learning that teachers across the world desire. With the sudden shift to online learning, scholars are rethinking whether it would be beneficial for young learners to be exposed to such a new mode of learning It is doable, it may not give adequate or appropriate opportunities for children to learn, considering their need for more interactions and hands-on activities (Kim, 2020). The lack of opportunities to play and socialize can cause children to be frustrated about not being able to move around and explore because they are being confined in cramped spaces for extended periods (Iqbal & Tayyab, 2021) These changes in the mode of learning emerge to the unexpected transitions that children need to undergo. There is a need to find teaching approaches that would make the transition easy for the children
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