How the COVID-19 shutdown revealed the effectiveness of a northern Nigerian educational media program

ABSTRACT

A team of researchers were investigating the impact of a Nigerian adaptation of Akili and Me when the COVID−19 pandemic struck. Schools shut down, interrupting the study’s quasi-experimental intervention design. Post-school reopening, researchers recontacted 363 children (mean age = 5.1, SD = 1.1 years) who had provided data at baseline and had completed the intervention. The analyses revealed that during the shutdown, participating children watched Akili and Me, beyond the exposure experienced through the study intervention. Across viewing groups and including the control group, researchers found the children knew the program’s characters using a program receptivity score. The researchers found no differences associated with study’s initial group assignments. Those children who could name more Akili and Me characters performed significantly better on the outcomes of literacy, numeracy, shape, socio-emotional development, controlling for sex, age, baseline score, and group assignment. This study offers promising evidence that locally-produced educational media interventions can impact early learning skills, especially during a crisis when children rely on educational media for home learning.

IMPACT SUMMARY

Prior State of Knowledge

Previous research conducted in low- and middle-income countries offers evidence that when exposed to educational and entertaining media, young children show significant albeit small improvements in their knowledge and skills related to literacy, numeracy, socio-emotional development, and health and hygiene.

Novel Contributions

Our original plan was to examine learning from media through a school-based study. In Nigeria, the government shutdown schools because of COVID−19; we used this interruption as an opportunity to capture children’s exposure to and impact of home-based viewing of educational media.

Practical Implications

Educational programs offering culturally-relevant content can affect preschool children’s learning of content and skills. If school interruptions happen because of manmade or natural disasters, governments can disseminate quality educational programming to enhance children’s learning while at home.

KEYWORDS:

• media receptivity
• television
• numeracy
• literacy
• school readiness skills
• Nigeria
• COVID-19

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the team of researchers who carefully collected and the participating children who provided data. Ubongo commissioned this work, with funding from Grand Challenges Canada.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Authors’ contributions

DLGB was contracted to create and conduct the study. DLGB, HB, and MJ developed the protocol and instruments. DLGB and HB gained IRB approval for the work. LK conducted the statistical analyses. LJ assisted with table and figure creation. All authors discussed the results and contributed to the final manuscript.

Data availability statement

The research team will make available the data and instruments from this study upon formal request.

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the Grand Challenges Canada mechanism.

Notes on contributors

Dina L.G. Borzekowski

Dina L.G. Borzekowski, Ph.D. is the Director of the Global Health Initiative and a Research Professor at the University of Maryland’s School of Public Health. Dr. Borzekowski has over 70 papers in peer-reviewed journals and anthologies, considering health communication, global health, child development, and research methods. She has conducted research in more than 35 countries exploring how young people use media and how media impacts the health of children and adolescents.

Lauren E. Kauffman

Lauren E. Kauffman, M.P.H. is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of Maryland, School of Public Health. She has an M.P.H. in Biostatistics and was an Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education Fellow at U.S. Food and Drug Administration Office of Pharmaceutical Quality in 2019. Her current and previous research interests include behavioral epidemiology, childhood health, and vaccine hesitancy.

Lauren Jacobs

Lauren Jacobs is a University of Maryland student, majoring in physiology and neurobiology and double minoring in general business and health, humanities, and medicine. She expects to finish her undergraduate studies in May 2024 and is on the pre-medical track. Lauren is passionate about the role of public health in medicine.

Mamun Jahun

Mamun S. Jahun is a Ph.D. scholar at Ahmadu Bello University, studying Development Communication, with a particular interest in projects monitoring and evaluation. He has experience conducting research with children at pre-school and early school levels. He has over 10 years of experience in process management and has core competencies in research, monitoring, and evaluation. He has managed various projects in health, education, and business development sectors.

Hadiza Babayaro

Hadiza Babayaro is Khadija Educational Foundation’s founder and executive director in Kano, Nigeria. She advocates for women issues with expertise in voice and accountability programs. Ms. Babayaro specializes in designing programs for hard-to-reach and hard-to-convince social groups and has led and worked on advocacy, research, and behavior change communication projects. She holds a Masters in Education and International Development from the Institute of Education, University of London, UK.