Browsing by Author "Mensah, Peter Ndaahale"

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    Colour as a cognitive medium for teaching geometric shapes in the lower primary
    (1988.) Mensah, Peter Ndaahale
    Throughout the annals of man colour has been the principal predominant factor in the perception of objects, races, animals, forests, minerals, work of art mid all other things around man. With the layman the aesthetic qualities of things are evaluated in terms of colour. Colour renders so many uses to man. Apart from perception colour can be used for attraction, signals, information and above all, it brings messages of beauty. Perhape, the moat recent use of colour in modern times is its use as a tool f teaching children. Children love bright, conspicuous and beautiful colours, consequently the writer believes strongly that, colour can be used effectively to teach certain geometric shapes the lower primary School child should be conversant with before entering the upper primary. It is a fact that the use of colouras an aid in teaching children is not necessarily a new concept, though, however, the choice of this topic has raised many an eye-brow of some colleagues and lectures. Amid interesting and constructive criticism and meaningful suggestions the writer has been able to produce this week. Chapter one (which is the introduction) involves an outline of the essay which include, the purpose, the scope and limitation, the relevance of the essay, the rationale for choosing the topic and the justification of the concept chosen. In chapter two an endeavour has made to review what other writers have written about colour and shapes and their relationship with this essay. It also includes a diagram of shape of what some children have drawn. Chapter three is on colour. In this chapter are narrated elementary views of colour, description of a simple experiment on the visible rays of the spectrum, the function of colour, the Ghanaian notions of colour, the child’s concept of colour, the sis-colour. Chapter four deals with colour and shapes that should be introduced to the primary class one child. In this chapter the method of recognizing and identifying the introduced colours and shapes has been outline. There is also a model lesson notes clearly outlined for teaching colour and geometric shapes in primary class one which may be adopted by any teacher who wishes to do so. In chapter five are introduced new geometric shapes; and these shapes should be taught with the same colour used for teaching geometric shapes introduced in class one. In chapter six two new colour are introduced to complete the six-colour wheel. The geometric shapes introduced are three-dimensional and involve a practical activity which both the teacher and the children should carry out. The geometric shapes to be taught in this essay have been chosen to co-incide with those outlined in the Ghana mathematics Series, Primary Class One to Three. This has deliberately been done because the exercises on the geometric shapes in the Ghana Mathematics Series will serve as revisionary ones as most of them are practical in nature. Some of the shapes to be taught in class two also have been deterred to class three, by which time the children will have matured. The assay is concluded with the benefits that may be derived by both the teacher and his children when the concept outlined in this essay is adopted.
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    Development of a framework for visual arts curriculum for Polytechnics in Ghana
    (2003) Mensah, Peter Ndaahale
    Ghanaian polytechnics, having been elevated to the status of tertiary educational institutions have a distinctive role in producing middle-level manpower which is vocational or technical oriented for national development. The production of this middle-level manpower should be in the priority areas including Fine Arts and Industrial Arts. Ghana needs artists in critical areas such as Health, Engineering, Agriculture, Education, Applied Science and Applied Social Science, to help in its developmental process. But a critical observation of Ghanaian polytechnic education reveals that the middle-level manpower in Art needed to build adequate and innovative infrastructure for national development is grossly inadequate. This thesis, therefore, seeks to address this serious problem. The main problem of this study has been to develop a framework for Visual Arts curriculum for Ghanaian polytechnics which. is envisaged to produce men and women who will help produce the artistic goods and services for national development. It was hypothesised that there is no significant difference in the views of teachers and students on the limited nature of the scope of the Visual Arts programmes run by the polytechnics in Ghana, and that, teachers and students agree that there are additional relevant and feasible Visual Arts programmes (and work oriented content) that could be introduced in polytechnics in Ghana. The thesis, first, critically examines the existing Visual Arts programmes run in Ghanaian polytechnics. It analyses and discusses the present content of the Visual Arts programmes in. the light of Ghana’s philosophy of self-reliance, Ghana’s policies on tertiary education and Ghana’s policies and objectives of polytechnic education. It also critically examines whether the Visual Arts programmes run in Ghanaian polytechnics have been based on the philosophical and psychological foundations which Ghana has adopted for the development of its curricula of schools. The thesis then examines and discusses the objectives set for the Visual Arts programmes and the methods used in teaching the Visual Arts programmes. Further, it queries whether the Visual Arts programmes have ever been evaluated since their inception. The major findings have been: the scope of the Visual Arts programmes (and their content) presently offered in Ghanaian polytechnics, is woefully inadequate and limited; the inadequacy of the Visual Arts programmes exerts too much pressure on the polytechnics because of the application of the large number of students for the limited Visual Arts programmes they offer; the Visual Arts programmes are deficient in work oriented content and courses and hardly satisfy the production of the middle-level manpower in Art required for national development; the Visual Arts programmes do not adequately reflect Ghanaian/African culture; they do not also make the graduates adequately self-reliant as the nation requires and they have not been evaluated ever since their inception. Secondly, the thesis seeks to develop a framework for Visual Arts curriculum upon which Ghanaian polytechnics could further develop Visual Arts syllabuses. Accordingly, data have been secured from field-work. The population chosen for the study included teachers and students of polytechnics in Ghana, teachers and students of KNUST, Kumasi and University of Winneba, Winneba and personnel of the MOE, Accra. Since there were many strata to deal with, the Stratified Sampling method has been used for the study. Thirty percent of the accessible The Descriptive Survey and the Analytic methods have been used to analyse the data. The data collected have been critically analysed, interpreted and conclusions drawn. The findings been that, Ghanaians as a people want additional Visual Arts programmes (and their content) run in Ghanaian polytechnics: and these additional Visual Arts programmes and their content have been outlined in detail after. Based on the findings the thesis proposes a framework for Visual Arts curriculum for Ghanaian polytechnics. The framework encompasses: i. The national philosophy on which polytechnic Visual Arts programmes should be based ii. The national policy on tertiary education on which the Visual Arts programmes should be based iii. The philosophical and psychological foundations for Visual Arts education in Ghanaian ethnics, iv. Objectives for running Visual Arts programmes in Ghanaian polytechnics v. Visual Arts programmes and content Ghanaian polytechnics should run vi. Methods of teaching and learning the Visual Arts programmes, vii. The evaluation and methods of evaluating the Visual Arts programmes run in Ghanaian polytechnics. The thesis finally outlines the trial-tests done to ascertain the efficacy of the framework. Based on the findings, the thesis offers useful recommendations and suggestions that would make the framework feasible. Some of the recommendations are: there is the urgent need to expand the scope of the Visual Arts programmes presently offered in Ghanaian polytechnics; adequate work was sampled for study. Questionnaire was used to collect data from the sample nted content and courses should be incorporated in the Visual Arts programmes and the Visual programmes run Ghanaian polytechnics should be evaluated from time to time to address c need of the day.
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    University Art Education in the context of 1974-1998 education reform in Ghana
    (1989) Mensah, Peter Ndaahale
    A critical review of the current education reform in Ghana at the tertiary level, reveals that the role of University art education is crucial to the success of the reform. Ghana’s policy on Higher Education emphasizes education for national development. This policy entails that all educational programmes must be relevant to societal needs, especially to the on - going social transformation processes in Ghana. Against this background, a close examination of present content of University art education reveals that art programmes are not sufficiently relevant to present developmental needs of Ghana. The content of various art disciplines as taught at the University level cannot adequately meet the artistic needs of Ghana. In this light, this research has made proposals for improving upon the content of art programmes at the University level. No claim is being made over an absolute content for University art education. This research is only a pace-setter aimed at gingering the minds of Higher Education planners to present societal needs of Ghana.