Effects of Peer Tutoring Strategy on Performance in Basic Science among Upper Basic Secondary School Students in Makurdi Metropolis

The study examined the effect of peer tutoring on academic performance of upper basic science students in Makurdi metropolis. Two research questions and corresponding hypotheses tested at 0.05 level of significance. A pre-test post-test quasi-experimental research design was adopted for the study. Purposive and simple random sampling techniques were used to sample 65 ( 30 Male  and 35 Female) students in two intact classes from the population of 1726 (828 Male  and 898 Female) upper basic II students during 2023/2024 academic session in 25 government approved public secondary schools under Benue State Universal Basic Education Board, Makurdi. Basic Science Performance Test (BSPT), with reliability coefficient of 0.86 was determined using Kuder Richardson (KR-21) formula was used for data collection. Data were analysed using mean and standard deviation, mean gain scores and mean gain difference to answer research questions while the null hypotheses were tested using two-way analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA). Findings of the study showed that there is significant difference in performance mean scores of upper basic science students taught basic science using peer tutoring strategy and those taught using lecture method among others. Based on the findings, it was concluded that peer tutoring strategy enhance upper basic science students performance without gender disparity. Therefore, it was recommended that peer tutoring strategy should be encouraged at basic education level.

Keywords:  Peer tutoring, Performance, Basic science and Gender