Abstract:

Genetics, the biology of heredity provides a unifying conceptual framework linking all the life sciences and has been identified as one of the difficult concepts in biology to teach and learn. The presence of terminologies with meanings different from common usage and the teaching strategies employed by teachers have been identified in the literature as influencing student performance. The study adopted a quasi-experimental design of pre-test, post-test and non-randomized control group. The study sample was 119 senior school students from two intact classrooms. Data were collected using the Genetic Achievement Test, and Group Embedded Figure Test.Data collected was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics, hypotheses were tested using ANCOVA at0.05 level of significance. The results of the study revealed that students exposed to MIS performed better than their counterparts in the control group. It was also revealed that there was no significant difference between the results of the students according to their cognitive styles. Therefore, it was recommended that teachers could adopt the use of MIS in teaching genetics and other hard-to-teach biological concepts.

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