Effects Of Animation Based Lesson On Students' Academic Performance And Attitude Towards Biology

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the study

Biology is an important subject among the core science subjects taught at senior secondary school level in Nigeria. Biology as a subject occupies a unique position in the School curriculum. Biology is introduced to students at secondary school level as a preparatory ground for human development where career abilities are groomed (Federal Republic of Nigeria, 2008). The importance of Biology in the industrialization and other sector of the economy cannot be overemphasized. As a matter of fact, it is a prerequisite for pursuing a number of careers in sciences which include medicine, pharmacy, biochemistry, botany, nursing, zoology among others. The learning of Biology provides an individual with useful information in solving everyday life challenges. Studies have shown that the knowledge of Biology contributes towards the socio-economic development of a country (Odubunmi, 2005)

However, the teaching of Biology should be one that encourages active participation of students for better understanding of its concepts. It is a natural subject which requires the use of appropriate and effective instructional strategy to understand nature, the environment and the application of Biological concepts for everyday use. One of the ways to bring about a change of emphasis in teaching from the teacher directed approach to a facilitated approach, is to change the medium of instruction (Kearsley, 2000; Kiili, 2005). For example, there is a common saying that if a child cannot learn in the way we teach, we must teach in the way the child will learn. Although, it has been observed that teachers have employed different instructional strategies to assist students during teaching and learning process of the subject to improve their learning outcomes and this to some extent has proven to be effective as students’ performance improve.

This shows that students’ performance in Biology in the past ten years has not been impressive. However, studies have been conducted to identify some of the more specific factors contributing to the poor performance of students in Biology the results of which have been linked to the poor performance, to poor quality of science teachers, inadequate science equipments and poor teaching methods (Salami, 2012). It has been observed that the current mode of learning in Nigeria is principally structured on traditional chalk-andtalk methods. Aladejana (2008) explains that teaching still retains the old conservative approach of teachers acting as repertoire of knowledge and students the dormant recipients. The teacher-centred method emphasizes learning through the teachers’ guardians at all times which favours passive reception of knowledge by the students hence limiting students from learning from variety of sources. Interestingly, technology in many ways is expanding globally and the need to adopt technology based packages to improve the teaching and learning of Biology for effective performance of students cannot be overemphasized. The use of technology in the classroom has proven to be effective in the teaching and learning of sciences. It offers new, creative and the most engaging ways of teaching. Technology such as computer Animation instructional packages makes teaching effective as learning is enhanced with images, video and sound. Also the use of technology provides an enabling environment through which different types of learners (visual, audio, kinesthetic etc) learn. Animation, which is basically a form of pictorial presentation, has become the most prominent feature of technology-based learning environments. It refers to simulated motion pictures showing movement of drawn objects. Recently, educational computer animation has turned out to be one of the most elegant tools for presenting multimedia materials for learners, and its significance in helping to understand and remember information has greatly increased since the advent of powerful graphics oriented computers. Computer animation instructional packages are tools that have the capacity to improve quality learning. It seeks to arouse students’ interests, stimulates thinking and concretizes knowledge that could otherwise only be explained in abstract terms. Literally, animation is moving something that cannot move by itself. It is the technique of photographing successive drawings or positions of puppets or models to create an illusion of movement when the film is shown as a sequence (Mayer and Moreno 2002). This aspect of multimedia learning supports student-centred strategy whereby learners take responsibility in their own learning process (Clark and Mayer, 2003). The liberty to proceed or recede allows self-pacing, an important facet to enable learners to learn according to their individual pace and that will ensure both group of students may perceive information equally (Moreno and Mayer, 2000). Online Animation is a subset of computer animation which literally connotes the animation of concepts that are available on the internet. Nowadays, the use of online animation or video is generally becoming more popular in the teaching and learning process. Animation of concepts when viewed on the internet provides learners with insight of some abstract concepts. Agommuoh and Nzewi (2003) reported that videos have the potentials of increasing the probability that students will learn more, retain better and even improve their performance of the skills they are expected to develop. Online animation instructional packages are learnercentred strategies and a learning environment in which they are employed can promote interaction, interest and attentiveness etc. Kearsley (2002) studies show that students who learn from animation have greater self-esteem and motivation. His studies also show that students retain information and the ability to sustain the learning process increases. These learner – centred instructional strategies can enhance a stimulating learning environment in which learners interest can increase positively and this can lead to increased attention, retention, concentration, knowledge and learning (Davis., and McGrail, 2009). This form of technology helps in representing information visually which help students understand concepts effectively as a result, it helps students to construct their own meaning and also to develop deep understanding of the subject content through what they see. It makes learning to be more interesting within students’ zone of proximal development (Vygosky, 1978). There is therefore the need to explore Technology based teaching in enhancing and facilitating acquisition of the knowledge of what is being taught using online animation instructional packages. Sousa, (2011) defines Retention as “the process whereby long term memory preserves learning in such a way that it can locate, identify, and retrieve it accurately in the future’’. He suggested that learning and retention are not the same and that learning does not necessarily result in long term retention. For example, one can learn information for a short period of time and forget such information. Many students have difficulties in learning Biology. They think that learning Biology simply involves memorizing the contents of the subject and regurgitate them during their examinations. According to Tekkaya, Ozkan and Sungur (2001), students have difficulties in learning Biology and have no interest in the lesson due to the fact that students’ motivation to learn this subject was low. Researchers (Lawal, 2007; Atadoga and Onaolapo 2008) found that the persistent low in academic achievement is attributed to teacher instructional strategies among others. Thus, instructional strategies used by teachers in teachinglearning process have significant influence on learners’ learning outcomes. Atadoga and Onaolapo (2008), states that, instructional strategies adopted by teachers at all levels of education in imparting knowledge and skills to the learners are determined by teachers abilities, topic to be taught, learners age, available resources and available space. Thus, Poopola (2010), ascertained that, academic achievement is a function of a various factors such as method of teaching, teachers‘ qualifications, child‘s home background, school environment, attitude, interest among others. Ogundokun and Adeyemo (2010) added that, academic achievement (low) is related to the decline in the availability of teaching resources in the school.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

Researchers in their numerous works in Nigeria have shown that the predominant method of instruction used by secondary school teachers is the conventional teaching method. Yet, students still encounter difficulties in understanding certain Environmental Education concepts infused in Biology, Chemistry, Physics, English Language, Geography, among others and are also unable to extend the knowledge of ideas to fix issues outside the classroom. Coupled with this, it was reported that 49.98% of all candidates who sat for the May/June 2019, failed grossly in some Environmental Education concepts in Nigeria secondary schools. In this category were 389,655 males and 396,361 females, representing 47.32% and 52.92% respectively. It was also reported that 19,781 candidates who sat for examination and 3,851 or 19.46 per cent passed at credit level (WAEC Chief Examiner’s Report, 2019). Probably, the mass failure may be attributed to many reasons of which could be traceable to the predominant use of the conventional teaching method? Therefore, there is the need to try whether the use of animation teaching strategy may improve students’ performance in learning Biology.