EFFECT OF SIMULATION APPLICATION TECHNIQUE ON SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS' INTEREST IN GENETICS IN ANAMBRA STATE

The study investigated the effect of Simulation Application Technique (SAT) on secondary school students' interest in Genetics in Anambra State. A quasi-experimental research design, specifically the pretest-posttest non-equivalent control group design, was adopted. The population comprised 21,211 Senior Secondary II Biology students in public secondary schools in Anambra State. A sample of 220 students participated in the study, with 120 students assigned to the experimental group and 100 to the control group using multistage sampling techniques. The instrument used for data collection was Genetics Interest Inventory (GII). The instrument was validated by experts in Biology Education and Measurement and Evaluation, while the reliability of the GII was established using Cronbach's Alpha and yielded an index value of 0.84. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions, whereas Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was employed to test the hypotheses at the 0.05 level of significance. The findings revealed that students taught Genetics using Simulation Application Technique recorded a higher mean interest gain (22.14) than those taught using the conventional Lecture Method (7.20). ANCOVA results further showed that the difference was statistically significant (F = 12.001, p < .05), with gender having no significant influence on students' interest, and there was no significant interaction effect between teaching strategy and gender. The study concluded that Simulation Application Technique is an effective learner-centred instructional strategy for improving students' interest in Genetics irrespective of gender. It was recommended that Biology teachers integrate simulation applications into Genetics instruction and that educational authorities organize regular professional development programmes to enhance teachers' competence in the use of simulation-based instructional strategies.