This study investigated the impact of Laboratory and problem-solving strategies on attitude,retention and academic performance in biology among varied ability secondary school students in Zaria, Kaduna State Nigeria. All the senior secondary II students of the schools in Zaria Educational Zone under study with total number of one thousand six hundred (1600) were the population for the study. Three out of the six co-educational SSII in the area with a total number of one hundred and eighty-five (185) i.e. (113male and 72 female) students were selected as sample of the study using simple random sampling technique involving balloting method. Two schools formed the experimental groups that received treatments via laboratory and problem-solving strategies respectively, while the third school was used as the control group. High, average and low ability levels were determined using their class work and continuous assessment result and pre-test scores. The top 25% were ranked the high, middle 50% were the average while lower or bottom 25% were low ability group. The intact classes of the three schools were used so as to take careof the issue of gender. The experimental groups were taught using laboratory and problem-solving strategies while the control group was taught using lecture method. Two instruments were developed for this study i.e. Ecology Performance Test (EPT) and Student Attitude Questionnaire, (SAQ). These instruments were used for data collection. Five research questions and five null hypothesis were formulated and tested at 0.05 level of significance. The data collected were analyzed using t-test and Kruskal Wallis statistics to determine the significant difference of the three groups, at P<0.05. The finding of the study showed that laboratory strategy had significant effects on the attitude and academic performance of the students of varied abilities. Low ability students that were taught ecology using problem-solving strategy improved in their academic performance and retained the learnt conceptsbetter than those taught using lecture method. Neither male nor female in the two experimental groups performed significantly better than the other in biology after treatment. Based on the findings of the study, it is recommended that laboratory and problem-solving strategies should be used to teach ecology at secondary school level.