Effect of peer tutoring instructional strategy on secondary school students’ achievement in physics in Awka South Local Government Area, Anambra State

Abstract

Academic achievement is strongly influenced by instructional strategies that promote collaboration and active knowledge construction. Based on this premise, this study examined the effective of peer tutoring instructional strategy (PTIS) among secondary school students’ academic achievement in physics in Awka South Local Government. Two research questions and two hypotheses tested at 0.5 level of significance guided the study. A pretest-posttest quasi-experimental design was employed. The sample of the study was 105 Senior Secondary School Two (SS2) students selected through multi-stage sampling approach from a population of 1.493 during the 2024/2025 academic session. Data were collected using physics Achievement Test (PAT) validated by relevant experts in education. The reliability of the instrument was established using Kuder-Richardson 20 (KR-20) which yielded a reliability index of 0.70. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions, while Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The findings revealed among others that students taught with PTIS achieved significantly higher than those taught using the lecture method. Further, gender had no significant influence on student’s academic achievement in physics. Drawing from the study’s findings, it is recommended that physics teachers receive sustained professional development through seminars and workshops, alongside adequate financial support, to enhance the adoption and effective implementation of PTIS in secondary school physics instruction.