Covid-19 and multimedia video pedagogy: An appraisal of children experimental theatre practice of Creative Hands Academy, Oye-Ekiti

Abstract

The spread of Covid-19 in recent time has sent shockwaves and limitations in human interactions and contacts across the globe. These constraints in  human contacts and interactions have made scholars and professionals experiment alternative means of practising their trades. It is in this context that  this study assessed the impact of the “multimedia CDs” adopted as new trends in children theatre practice occasioned by the outbreak of Covid-19. Rather  than engage the children in the formal and usual participatory children theatre activities, this study evaluates the experiments with Multimedia  Video CD by The Creative Hands Academy at Oye-Ekiti, Nigeria. Tulsi Kumar’s Jonny Jonny Yes Papa was used to facilitate learning in Mathematics, in the  early childhood programme. To investigate this impact, the study hinged on Howard Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences that posits that people do  not have just intellectual capacity, but many kinds of intelligence; thereby making people learn through various means. The study adopted participant  observation approach as its research method; by using the video CDs under study to teach the curriculum content of Primary 3A arm of the Creative  Hands Academy Oye-Ekiti, Ekiti State during the pandemic era. Thereafter, the entire Primary 3 classes of the school, consisting of four (4) arms, were  examined on the curriculum content taught. The results revealed that the pupils of Primary 3A arm that were taught using the Multimedia CD, Jonny  Jonny Yes Papa Video CD performed exceptionally well. Based on the results, the study recommended Multimedia as a viable medium of teaching and   learning in the lower secondary schools.