Effects of Two Peer Instructional Strategies on Secondary School Students’ Achievement in Science

Emmanuel Etu Odo^1, and John Njoku Nwachukwu²

¹Department of Chemistry, Ebonyi State College of Education, Ikwo, Nigeria

²Department of Mathematics, Ebonyi State College of Education, Ikwo, Nigeria

Cite this paper:
Emmanuel Etu Odo and John Njoku Nwachukwu. Effects of Two Peer Instructional Strategies on Secondary School Students’ Achievement in Science. American Journal of Educational Research. 2020; 8(2):80-89. doi: 10.12691/education-8-2-3

Abstract

This research titled Effects of two peer instructional strategies on secondary school students’ achievement in science was aimed at determining the relative effects of the Jigsaw and Peer Tutoring instructional strategies on secondary school students’ achievement in science. Three research questions and three null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance guided the study. Quasi-experimental design was adopted. The population of the study comprised all SS 2 science students in Abakaliki Education Zone of Ebonyi State Nigeria. The sample for the study was 202 science student. A 30-item instrument, Science Achievement Test was used for data collection. The instrument was face validated and the reliability coefficient tests gave 0.83 and 0.95 using Product Moment Correlation and KR-20 respectively. Permanent teachers of the sample classes taught chemical equilibrium and administered the pretest and posttest. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions. ANCOVA was used to test HO1 while t-test was used to test HO2 and HO3. The findings include that secondary school students taught science using Jigsaw instructional strategy had higher achievement mean score than students taught using the Peer Tutoring strategy, male students in the jigsaw group achieved higher than male students in peer tutoring group, female students taught science using the Jigsaw IV instructional strategy had significantly higher achievement mean score than female students taught using the Peer Tutoring instructional strategy and there was significant difference between the mean achievement scores of students taught science using Jigsaw instructional strategy and those taught using Peer Tutoring. The findings implied that jigsaw instructional strategy yields greater achievement. It was recommended among others that science teachers should make use of the Jigsaw instructional strategy to enhance students’ achievement in science.

Keywords:
science Peer instruction jigsaw strategy peer tutoring achievement

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

References:

[1]	National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Medicine, Science, Evolution, and Creationism. The National Academies Press, Washington, DC, 2008,
[2]	Kazeni, M. M. Development and validation of a test of integrated science process skills for the further education and training learners. Unpublished Degree of Master of Science in Science Education Dissertation, Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, University of Pretoria, South Africa. 2015.
[3]	Mbah, C. N., Leghara, B. N. Science education in Nigeria: current curriculum practices and implication for national development. Proceedings of the 49th National Conference of the Science Teachers Association of Nigeria, pp 31-35, 2008.
[4]	Britain’s Science Council (2009). Our definition of science. 2009 [Online]. Available: http://sciencecouncil.org/about-us/our-definition-of-science [Accessed: May 14, 2016].
[5]	Olatola, A. T., Daramola, D. S., Bamidele, E. O., “Comparative Effects of Practical and Alternative to Practical Methods on Students’ Academic Performance in Biology”. International Journal of Educational Benchmark (IJEB), 3(1), 67-80, October, 2016.
[6]	Nwachukwu, C. O. “The relevance of science, technology and Mathematics (STM) education to development of entrepreneurial skills: the Nigerian situation”. Proceedings of the 50th Annual Conference of Science Teachers Association of Nigeria, pp 321-328, August 2009.
[7]	Federal Republic of Nigeria (FRN). National policy on education (4th ed.). Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC) Press, Lagos, 2004
[8]	Odo, E. E., Levels of Possession of Science Process Skills by final year Nigeria Certificate in Education students of selected science subjects in Ebonyi State College of Education, Ikwo. Unpublished M.Sc.(Ed) dissertation, Faculty of Education, Ebonyi State University, Abakaliki, 2013.
[9]	Aina. J. K., “Importance of science education to national development and problems militating against its development”, American journal of Educational Research, 1(7), 225-229, January, 2013.
[10]	Igwe, I. O. & Odo, E. E. “Levels of possession of science process skills by final year Nigeria certificate in education students of selected science subject in Ebonyi State College of education, Ikwo”. International Journal of Strategic Research in Education, Technology & Humanity, 3(1), 99-112, January, 2016.
[11]	Federal Ministry Education (FME), Senior secondary school education curriculum: Chemistry for SS 1-3, Nigeria Educational Research and Development Council, Abuja, 2009
[12]	Odo, E. E. “Refocusing Chemistry education for sustainable national development: Case for creativity in chemistry education in Senior Secondary Schools in Nigeria”. Ideal Journal of engineering and Applied Sciences, 2(3), 129-137, 2016.
[13]	Abdu, B. “Chemistry education and entrepreneurial development in Nigeria: Issues and challenges”. Global Academic Group Journals, 107-114.
[14]	Achimugu, L. “Factors affecting the effective implementation of senior secondary education chemistry curriculum in Kogi State, Nigeria”, International Journal of Scientific and Research Publication, 6(5), 562-566, 2016.
[15]	Onwu, G. “Increasing the socio-cultural relevance of science education for sustainable development”. Holbrook & P. Enyayeju (eds) Meeting challenges to sustainable development in Africa through science and technology Education, ICASE, Ibadan, 2009.
[16]	Bogar, Y, Kalendar, S., Sarikaya, M., “The effects of constructivism Learning method on students’ academic achievement, retention of knowledge, gender and attitudes towards science courses in matter of structure and characteristics unit”, Procodia-social and behavioral sciences, 46, 1766-1770, 2012.
[17]	Anyafulude, J. C., “Effects of problem-based and discovery-based instructional strategies on students’ academic achievement in chemistry”, Journal of Educational and Social Research, 3(6), 105-111, September, 2013.
[18]	Ganyaupfu, E. M., “Teaching methods and students’ academic performance”. International Journal of Humanities and Social Science Invention, 2(9), 29-35, September 2013.
[19]	Freeman, S., Eddy, S. L., McDonough, M, Smith, M. K, Okoafor, N., Jordt, H., Wenderoth, M. P., “Active learning increases students’ performance in science, engineering and mathematics”. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 111(23), 8411-8415, April 2014.
[20]	Federal Republic of Nigeria (FRN), National policy on education (6th ed). NERDC Press, Lagos, 2013.
[21]	Eison, J. Using active learning instructional strategies to create excitement and enhance learning, Memograph, 2010. [Online]. Available:http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.456.7986&rep=rep1&type=pdf. [Accessed: November 20,, 2016].
[22]	Al-Hebaishi, S. M., “The Effect of Peer Instruction Method on Pre-Service Teachers’ Conceptual Comprehension of Methodology Course”, Journal of Education and Learning, 6(3), 70-82, March 15, 2017.
[23]	Trent, K. S., The effects of the peer instruction technique Think-Pair-Share on students' performance in chemistry, Louisiana State University Master's Theses. 2606, August 2013. [Online]. Available: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_theses/2606. [Accessed: January 10, 2017].
[24]	Fini, A. A., Zainalipour, H., Jamri, M., “An investigation into the effect of cooperative learning with focus on jigsaw technique on the academic achievement of 2nd – grade middle school students”, Journal of Life Science & Biomedicine, 2(2), 21-24, 2012.
[25]	Timayi, J. M., Bolaji, C. Kajuru, Y. K., Effects of Jigsaw IV Cooperative Learning Strategy (J4CLS) on Academic Performance of Secondary School Students in Geometry, International Journal of Mathematics Trends and Technology (IJMTT). 28(1): 12-18, December 2015.
[26]	Sahin, A., Effect of Jigsaw II Technique on academic achievement and attitudes to written expression course. Educational Research and Reviews, 5(12), 777-787, December, 2010. Available: www.academicjournals.org/article/379656063-Sahin.pdf. [Accessed: December 9, 2016].
[27]	Turacoglu, I., Alpat, S., Elleg, A. M., “Effects of Jigsaw in teaching chemical nomenclature”. Education and Science, 38 (167), 256-272, 2013.
[28]	Abbas D., “The effect of jigsaw instructional strategy on Senior Secondary School class one students’ achievement and interest in geometric construction”. African Research Review, 7(3), 156-167, 2009.
[29]	Kalkowski, G., “Peer and Cross-age tutoring” in School Improvement Resource Series, 1995. [Online]. Available:https://educationnorthwest.org/sites/default/files/peer-and-cross-age-tutoring.pdf. [Accessed: December, 9, 2017].
[30]	Medway, F. J. (1995).Tutoring in L.W. Anderson (Ed) International Encyclopedia of Teaching and Teacher Education. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
[31]	Eskay, M., Onu, V.C., Obiyo, N., Obidoa, M., “Use of peer tutoring, co-operative learning, and collaborative learning: Implications for reducing anti-social behavior of schooling adolescents”, US-China Education Review, A(11), 932-944, 2012.
[32]	Hott, B., Walker, J. Peer tutoring. Council for Learning Disabilities, April 2012. [Online]. Available: https://www.council-for-learning-disabilities.org/peer-tutoring-flexible-peer-mediated- strategy-that-involves-students-serving-as-academic-tutors. [Accessed: January 16, 2017].
[33]	Jibrin, A. G. & Zayum, S. D., “Effects of peer tutoring instructional method on the academic achievement in Biology among secondary school students in Zaria Metropolis, Nigeria”, Journal of Research in Education and Society, 3(2), 13-17, September, 2012.
[34]	Adekoya, Y. M., Olatoye, R. A., “Effect of demonstration, peer tutoring and lecture teaching strategies on Senior Secondary School Students’ achievement in an aspect of Agricultural science”, The Pacific Journal of science and Technology, 12 (1), 320-332, May 2011.
[35]	Adedeji, T., “The effects of peer tutoring and explicit instructional strategies on primary school pupils learning outcomes”, Bulgarian Journal of Science and Education Policy (BJSEP), 7(1), 5-25, 2013.
[36]	Johnson, D. W. & Johnson, R. T., “New developments in social interdependence theory”, Genetic, Social and General Psychology Monographs, 131(4), 285-358.
[37]	Johnson, D. & Johnson, R., Cooperative learning and social interdependence theory. Theory and Research on Small Groups: part of Social Psychological Applications to Social Issues, 4, 9-35, November 2006.
[38]	Laal, M., “Positive interdependence in collaborative learning”, Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 93, 1433-1437, Oct. 2013.
[39]	Association of Educational Communication Technology (AECT), Handbook of Research for Educational Communications and Technology, AECT, Bloomington, 2001.
[40]	Johnson, D. W., Johnson, R. T., Smith, K. A, “Cooperative Learning: Improving university instruction by basing practice on validated theory”, Journal on Excellence in University Teaching, 1-26, April 2013.
[41]	Okoli, J., “Gender mainstreaming: A strategy for promoting gender equity in science and technology education,” Journal of Science Teachers Association of Nigeria (JSTAN), 47(1), 96-104, July 2012.
[42]	Okorie, E. U. & Ezeh, D. N., “Influence of gender and location on students’ achievement in Chemical bonding”, Mediterranean Journal of Social Science, I(3), 309-318, May 2016.
[43]	Trochim, W. M. K, Quasi-Experimental design, Research methods knowledge base in WebCentre for Social Research Method, 2006. [Online]. Available:https://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/quasiexp.php. [April 30, 2017].