Effect Of Animations In E-Learning Materials On Students’ Performance In Physics Among Selected Secondary Schools In Nairobi City County, Kenya.

ABSTRACT

This study focused on the effect of the animations embedded in e-learning materials produced at the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development. The first objective of this study was to determine the influence of instructional values inculcated by animations embedded in Interactive Digital Content (IDC) on performance of learners in Physics. The second objective was to determine the effect of animations on the concentration span of learners while learning Physics and the last one was to develop a process model for development of quality animations in Physics education. The third one sought to find out if animations enhance conceptual understanding of text within the interactive Physics digital content. Lastly, this study sought to develop an instructional model. It was guided by the Paivio’s dual – coding theory of learning and was done in Nairobi County. Four public secondary schools were purposively sampled out of sixty public secondary schools in the County. One hundred and four students from the sampled schools were involved in the study. Quasi – experimental research design was used. The instruments used in collecting data were piloted in two schools. After piloting, the instruments were validated and made more reliable. During the study, a pre-test was administered to the learners selected to participate in the control and experimental groups and their performance was determined and their scores were recorded. Treatment was given to the two schools in the experimental group where they were given IDC with animations. The control schools were given content without animations. Both groups were given a post – test after interacting with the provided IDC to determine their performance on the topics tested during pre- test. Data was analysed using descriptive statistics and inferential statistics. The scores were recorded for both groups and the data collected was analysed to determine whether there was a significant difference in the performance of the learners in the two study groups. The findings from the study showed that performance of the learners who used the IDC with animations improved significantly. After comparing the means of the learners in the two study groups, during pre-test, the mean posted by learners in the control group was 11.35 while learners the experimental group posted a mean of 15.40. The difference between the means of the two groups in pre - test was calculated using T-test which gave t (90.48) = -1.60, p = 0.64. This shows that the difference between their means was not significant and therefore the groups dealt with were of equivalent ability. During post - test, learners in the control group posted a mean of 12.88 while their counterparts in the experimental group had a mean of 25.27. The significance of the difference between the two means was calculated using T-test which gave t (102) = -3.45, p = 0.001. This shows that there was a significant difference between the means posted by the subjects in the two study groups during the post-test. The results from the data collected from the teachers’ questionnaire, learners’ questionnaire and the observation schedule show that learner’s conceptual understanding of Physics content was enhanced when they used animations and similarly, use of IDC provided stimulus variation more hence extending the learners’ concentration span. It is therefore recommended that the Ministry of Education should review the policy on instructional materials to include Physics IDC with animations and emphasize that Physics educators should use such content.