Abstract:
This research was informed by the need to evolve strategies of improving students’ achievements in science learning. The study examined the effects of computer animation and static graphics on senior secondary school students’ achievement in biology in some selected schools in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State. A quasi-experiment of the non-equivalent group design was adopted for the study. Two public secondary schools were purposively selected from the 13 Senior Secondary Schools in Yenagoa education zone. The two schools were randomly assigned each to the two experimental groups. One school was assigned computer animation and the other school was assigned to static graphic. From a cluster of 75 SS2 Science students in the computer animation school and a cluster of 66 SS2 Science students in the static graphic school a stratified random sampling was used to categorize the classes into high and low ability students in terms of biology learning. The sample size of the study is 141. The study was guided by six research questions and six null hypotheses. The instrument used was Biology achievement test (BAT). BAT was made up of 50 multiple choice objective questions developed by the researcher including the learning instruments for the treatments. These were duly validated by experts. The data collected from the pretest and posttest were analyzed using mean and standard deviation for analyzing the research question while Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was used in the testing the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. Graphical representations were also drawn to show gains in mean scores between pretest and posttest. Results form the data analysis indicated a significant difference in the mean achievement scores between the high ability level and the low ability level students in favour of the high ability group. Also from the analysis was a clear indication of a significant difference between the mean achievement score of the male and female students in favour of the male students. Thus from the findings, it was concluded that both computer animation and static graphics enhanced students’ academic achievement in biology. However, computer animation was superior to static graphics. The study also revealed that male students achieved more than their female counterparts, when exposed to computer animation and static graphics in biology learning. Based on these findings, some recommendations were made. Very important among them is that computer animation and static graphics should be used to teach biology and other science subjects in Nigeria’s secondary schools as they are capable of transforming students from passive receptacles of knowledge into active learners.
