ENHANCING SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS’ GEOMETRY ACHIEVEMENT THROUGH CTML-ALIGNED ANIMATED INSTRUCTION

Abstract

Persistent difficulties in secondary school geometry learning have been linked to instructional approaches that inadequately support students’ visual–spatial processing. Grounded in the Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning (CTML), this study examined the effectiveness of a Developed Animated Instructional Package for Geometry (DAIPG) on the geometry achievement of Senior Secondary II students in a gender-segregated, low-resource educational context. A quasi-experimental pretest–post-test control-group design was employed. Participants comprised 200 students drawn from public secondary schools in Sokoto State, Nigeria, with 100 students assigned to the experimental group and 100 to the control group. Geometry achievement was measured using a validated Geometry Performance Test (KR-20 = .87). Data were analysed using Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA), with pretest scores treated as a covariate. Results revealed a statistically significant effect of instructional method on post-test geometry achievement, F(1, 197) = 76.91, p < .001, partial η² = .28, indicating a large effect size. Pretest achievement also significantly predicted post-test performance, F(1, 197) = 46.28, p < .001, partial η² = .19. Students exposed to DAIPG outperformed those taught using conventional instructional methods after controlling for prior achievement. The findings provide empirical support for CTML-aligned animated instruction as an effective approach for enhancing geometry achievement in gender-segregated and resource-constrained secondary school settings. The study underscores the importance of theory-driven instructional design for improving mathematics learning outcomes.