The purpose of this research was to investigate how students’ academic achievement in cell biology can be improved using animation-based instruction. The research adopted a pre-test, post-test and control group quasi-experimental design. The treatment group was taught using a lecture aided by video animation, while the control group utilised the traditional lecture method. The results show that students in the treatment group obtained a significantly higher achievement level compared to the control group. The items for which the achievements are superior are those relating to the structure of the cell membrane and membrane transport. These two items are considered among the most difficult for students to understand because they deal with dynamic and complex processes. This study implies that the lecture based-animation improves the learning of abstract concepts and complex processes that poses many understanding problems among students such as those in cell biology. Keywords:Animation-based instruction,cell biology,learning,achievement,university students

This study aims to assess the level of understanding of biology students and to identify their misconceptions about cell concepts. Participants of the study (n=160) were students enrolled in biology undergraduate level. Data analysis showed that the students had cell-related misconceptions. The misconceptions were found in four basic competencies of the cell concepts. The most common misconceptions (55.68%) among students are those related to the relationship between the structure and function of the nucleus and endoplasmic reticulum. We denote that most of the students have assimilated the concepts related to the chemical constituents of the cell. There are several potential factors that cause the occurrence of misconceptions among the participants in this study, including low retention of knowledge obtained in previous school levels, lack of learning resources, incomprehensible terms, and low interest of biology students in cell concepts.<p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0562/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>