منصوره قنبرپور جویباری

This research was aimed at investigating the effectiveness of multimedia software use in sociology course on educational progress, learning, and retention of the students. The method of this research was quasi-experimental one using post-test design with a control group. The statistical population of the research included all the second grade high school girl students (humanity major) in Juybar in 2010-11 academic year. Of them, two classes, namely 40 students were selected as statistical sample, 20 as experimental group and 20 as control group. The experimental group was taught using educational software and the control group was taught through traditional teaching methods (without using multimedia). To gather data, teacher-made questions, including post-test were used. Validity of the teacher-made test was confirmed by experts several times and reliability of the test was calculated about 0/87 using Cronbach Alpha. Collected data were described using descriptive statistics indexes such as mean and standard deviation and to make the findings generalizable, inferential statistics (independent t and dependent t) was used. Findings showed that teaching through multimedia software could affect the students’ achievements. Although teaching trough multimedia software is more effective than traditional methods to improve the learning process, no significant difference was detected. Besides, teaching with the use of multimedia software method had greater impact on the students’ retention compared to the traditional method of teaching.