Effects of Animated Cartoon Based Instructional Strategy on Senior Secondary School Students’ Learning Outcomes in Computer Studies in Ekiti State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study investigated the effects of animated cartoon based instructional strategy on senior secondary school students’ learning outcomes in computer studies in Ekiti State. The purpose of the study was to determine the significant difference between the academic performance and retention of students taught with the use of animated cartoon based instructional strategy and those taught with conventional method of teaching computer studies. The study adopted the pretest-posttest, quasi experimental research design. The population for the study comprised of Senior Secondary School II Students in Ekiti State. The multistage sampling technique was used to select 240 students from four secondary schools. The instruments used for data collection were Computer Achievement Test (CAT) and Computer Retention Test (CRT). The validity of the instruments was ensured using face, content and construct validities. The reliability coefficient of 0.80 and 0.79 were obtained respectively for the study at 0.05 level of significance through test- retest method. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics of mean, standard deviation and inferential statistics such as t-test, Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) and Multiple Classification Analysis (MCA). The findings revealed that there was no significant difference between the academic performance and retention of students in the experimental and the control groups before treatment but there was significant difference between the academic performance of students and between the retention of students in the experimental and the control groups after the treatment. Based on the findings, it was concluded that animated cartoon based instructional strategy significantly improved academic performance and retention of students in computer studies. It was therefore, recommended that conscious effort must be made by teachers in Ekiti State to use animated cartoon based instructional strategy to teach difficult concepts in computer studies to improve the students’ academic performance, sand learning retention in computer studies. Also government should provide adequate computers, other technological tools and well equipped computer laboratories for secondary schools for effective and efficient teaching and learning of computer studies.