Journal of Natural Science and Integration, Vol. 5, No. 1, April 2022, pp 117-125 | 117 Journal of Natural Science and Integration P-ISSN: 2620-4967|E-ISSN: 2620-5092 Vol. 5, No. 1, April 2022, pp 117-125 Assessing Effectiveness of Animated Instructional Media on Academic Performance and Retention of Genetics Concepts Umar Ramatu Faruk 1 , Aliyu Faruku 2* , Lawal Zahriya Hassan 3 1,2 Department of Science Education, Sokoto State University, Sokoto, Nigeria 3 Department of Computer Science, Sokoto State University, Sokoto, Nigeria *Correspondence Author: Faruk.aliyu@ssu.edu.ng Received: 19 April 2022 Accepted: 30 April 2022 Published: 30 April 2022 ABSTRACT The present study was carried out to assess the effectiveness of animated instructional media on academic performance and retention of genetic concepts among senior secondary school on biology students in Sokoto State. Adopted through Quasi Experimental design involving pre-test, post-test and post-posttest on two equivalent groups as experimental and control, the population on the study was 10148 SS III Biology students. In this regard, four intact classes were chosen with sample size of 238 SSIII students. Genetic Concept Performance and Retention Test (GCPRT) was the instrument used for data collection. Animated Instruction Media was used as instructional material to teach the experimental group while demonstration method was used to teach the control group. Independent sample t-test was used to test the four (4) hypotheses formulated in the study. The esults obtained in this line of research revealed that there was a significant difference in the academic performance and retention ability between students taught using Animated Instructional Material and those taught using demonstration method. It was therefore recommended for other senior secondary school teachers to harness the considerable benefits of technology, particularly animations, in teaching genetics and other related concepts. Keywords: animated, media, academic performance, retention. INTRODUCTION There is persistently poor performance in science subjects in secondary school certificate examination, and this leads to the assumption that most science teachers in Nigerian secondary schools do not make use of the varied forms of teaching method with innovations in teaching and learning of science. Whereas the world is now becoming dynamic in terms of technological development, an instructional system supported by technology will be meaningful for teaching and learning of science. Genetics is one of the topics under the theme continuity of life taught in biology at Senior Secondary School level in Nigerian schools. It is the study of genes, genetic variation and heredity in living organisms. It attempts to explain the mechanism and basis for both similarities and differences between related individuals and also explain the phenomenon of evolution and cyto- differentiations (Aggarwal, 2008). Genetics gives the basis for which characteristics are or traits are transferred from parents to offspring and from generation to generation. Like other sciences, the study of genetics has produced an insight to new challenges as well as solution to human problems Available online at: http://ejournal.uin-suska.ac.id/index.php/JNSI DOI: 10.24014/jnsi.v5i1.16949