Development and Validation of an Animated Microlearning Video for Grade 8 Genetics

Genetics is recognized as one of the most difficult Biology topics because many of its concepts are abstract and difficult for students to visualize. To address these learning challenges, this study aimed to develop an animated microlearning video as a supplementary instructional material for teaching Genetics in Grade 8 Biology under the MATATAG Curriculum. A needs assessment was conducted among 29 Grade 9 students and five (5) Science and ICT teachers to identify the least-mastered competencies, learning difficulties, misconceptions, and instructional needs that served as the basis for developing the instructional material. The findings identified Patterns of Inheritance as one of the least-mastered Genetics competencies. Students reported difficulties in learning Genetics because of its abstract concepts, technical terminology, limited visual representations, and instructional pacing, while expressing preferences for visual, collaborative, and multimedia-supported learning. Teachers likewise observed persistent student misconceptions, challenges in teaching abstract concepts, and limited student engagement, and emphasized the need for concise, visually rich, and interactive instructional materials to improve conceptual understanding. Guided by these findings, an animated microlearning video on Patterns of Inheritance was developed and evaluated by Science and ICT experts. The instructional material obtained an overall mean rating of 3.88 (Excellent), indicating high acceptability in terms of content quality, instructional design, technical quality, usability, and student engagement. These findings highlight the potential of animated microlearning as a supplementary instructional resource for making abstract Genetics concepts more accessible, engaging, and meaningful, while supporting the effective implementation of the MATATAG Curriculum in Biology education. It also serves as a foundation for future classroom implementation and effectiveness studies.

Genetics Education, Animated Video, Animation

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