This study examined the impact of teaching biology using interactive multimedia on the students’ academic performance in biology at Community Day Secondary Schools (CDSS). This study was conducted in three secondary schools in the Dedza district, in the central region of Malawi. A pretest-posttest quasi-experimental approach was used in this investigation. A total number of 189 Form Four students were selected from the three schools. The schools were categorized into three groups, namely: (a) urban, (b) rural, and (c) control. The control group received instruction using a teacher-centered approach, while the experimental groups received instruction using interactive multimedia resources. The pretest was conducted for three weeks, after which the posttest was administered. One-way ANOVA in IBM-SPSS software was used to analyse the data. Our findings showed that multimedia instruction packages had a significant impact on student performance (F (2, 188) = 126.557, p < .001). Furthermore, after the intervention, the scores of the rural group and the urban group significantly varied (p < .001). Gender had a significant influence on the performance of students in biology (F (1, 188) = 8.78, p = .003). Therefore, the study concludes that the use of multimedia instructional packages helps learners understand abstract concepts in biology, and the study further recommends that multimedia instructional packages be used to teach hard-to-grasp concepts in biology in CDSS.

Critical thinking is a skill that enables individuals to keep pace with changes and enhances crucial competencies for contemporary competitiveness. Many researchers have studied learning management approaches to develop students' critical thinking, resulting in a substantial body of knowledge but lacking clear systematic summaries. The researchers aimed to (a) examine the effect sizes and research characteristics influencing students' critical thinking, and (b) compare the effect sizes of learning management approaches after adjusting with propensity score matching from 108 graduate research published between 2002 and 2021. Data were collected using research characteristics recording forms and research quality assessment questionnaires. Effect sizes were calculated using Glass's method and analyzed through random effect, fixed effect, and regression meta-analysis. Findings revealed that (a) research on developing learning management approaches influences students' critical thinking at a high level (d ̅ = 1.669), with nine research characteristics, including the field of publication, courses, total duration, teacher learning process, learning media, measurement and evaluation, research design, research statistics, and research quality, statistically significantly influencing students' critical thinking, and (b) after adjustment, inquiry-based learning significantly influences students' critical thinking. Recommendations for developing students' critical thinking include learning activities that encourage problem exploration, expanding thinking through collaborative analysis, and applying diverse media and activity sheets tailored to context suitability.
 

Analytical thinking is crucial for developing problem-solving, decision-making, and higher-order thinking skills. Many researchers have consistently developed learning management models to enhance students' analytical thinking, resulting in extensive knowledge but lacking clear systematic summaries. This study aims to: (a) explore the effect sizes and research characteristics influencing students' analytical thinking, and (b) compare the effect sizes of learning management models after adjusting for propensity score matching. In exploring 131 graduate research papers published between 2002 and 2021, the research utilized forms for recording research characteristics and questionnaires for assessing research quality for data collection. Effect sizes were calculated using Glass's method, while data analysis employed random effects, fixed effects, and regression meta-analysis methods. The findings indicate that (a) research on learning management models significantly impacts students' analytical thinking at a high level (d̅ = 1.428). Seven research characteristics, including year of publication, field of research, level, duration per plan, learning management process, measurement and evaluation, and research quality, statistically influence students' analytical thinking, and (b) after propensity score matching, learning through techniques such as KWL, KWL-plus, Six Thinking Hats, 4MAT, and Mind Mapping had the highest influence on students' analytical thinking. Recommendations for developing students' analytical thinking involve creating a learning management process that fosters understanding, systematic practical training, expanding thinking through collaborative exchanges, and assessments using learning materials and tests to stimulate increased analytical thinking.