Effect of Computer-Based Animation Instructional Packages on Senior Secondary School Students' Interest and Achievement in Agricultural Science in Gboko Metropolis, Benue State, Nigeria

This study investigated the effect of computer-based animation instructional packages (CBAIP) on senior secondary school students’ interest and achievement in Agricultural Science in Gboko Metropolis, Benue State, Nigeria. Four research questions were asked, and four hypotheses were formulated. Quasi experimental design, specifically pre-test post-test control group design, was adopted. The population of the study is 2,505 while the sample size was 160 SSII Agricultural Science students, which was drawn from eight secondary schools (four private schools and four public schools), using purposive sampling techniques. In each of the schools, intact classes were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. The research instruments used were Agricultural Science Achievement Test (AAT) and Agricultural Science Interest Inventory (AII). These were face validated by five experts, trial-tested and used for data collection. Cronbach Alpha reliability coefficient was used to get the reliability of AII which was 0.65 and Kuder-Richardson 21 formula was used to determine the reliability coefficient of AAT which was 0.87. The research questions were answered using mean and standard deviation, while hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance, using Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). In the course of the field work four (4) instruments were misplaced. Therefore, the study had 156 instruments to work with. The results of research showed that there was a significant difference between the mean achievement scores of students taught Agricultural Science using CBAIP and students taught with the chalk board method. There was no significant difference between the mean interest ratings of students taught Agricultural science with CBAIP and students taught with the conventional method. There was no significant difference between the mean achievement scores of students in public schools taught Agricultural science using CBAIP and their counterpart in private schools. There was also no significant difference between the mean interest rating of students in public schools taught Agricultural science using CBAIP and those in private schools. This study therefore recommends that because computer animation instructional strategy promotes Agricultural Science students’ achievement, Agricultural Science teachers should be encouraged to adopt the instructional strategy for the teaching of Agricultural Science in secondary schools.