EFFECT OF MULTIMEDIA INSTRUCTION ON SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS’ ACHIEVEMENT IN CHEMISTRY IN ENUGU EDUCATION ZONE

Abstract

This research examined the impact of multimedia instruction on the academic performance of 
secondary school students in chemistry within the Enugu Education Zone. The study was guided 
by two research questions and three null hypotheses. A pretest-posttest non-equivalent control 
group quasi-experimental design was employed. The target population consisted of 1,577 Senior 
Secondary 2 (SS2) chemistry students in the Enugu Education Zone, from which a sample of 160 
students was selected. Data were collected using the Chemistry Achievement Test (CAT), which 
was validated by three experts. The reliability of the CAT was determined using the Kuder
Richardson Formula 20, resulting in a reliability coefficient of 0.82. Over a six-week period, the 
experimental group was taught specific chemistry concepts using multimedia instruction (MI), 
while the control group received instruction on the same concepts through the lecture method 
(LM). Research questions were addressed using mean and standard deviation, and the null 
hypotheses were tested using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). The results indicated that 
multimedia instruction significantly improved students' chemistry achievement compared to the 
lecture method. Based on these findings, it was recommended that chemistry teachers, students, 
and curriculum developers integrate multimedia instruction as a teaching strategy, as it has proven 
more effective in enhancing students' acquisition of science process skills and overall academic 
achievement in chemistry than the lecture method.