ANALYSIS OF THE EFFECT OF PEER TUTORING ON ACHIEVEMENT OF STUDENTS TOWARDS ECOLOGY IN COLLEGES OF EDUCATION IN NORTH WESTERN ZONE OF NIGERIA

Authors: Sambo Muh’d Alh. Hudu (Ph.D.), Idris Tukur, Olayinka A. Florence (Ph.D.) & Sabo, Saleh Muhammad

ABSTRACT

This study investigated the effect of peer tutoring on the achievement of students in ecology in colleges of education in the North-Western zone of Nigeria. The study adopted a quasi-experimental pretest, a post-test control group design. The sample of 128 students from two(2) colleges of education out of seven (7) colleges of education in Kano State from a population of 2900, form the intact classes for the study. Each intact class was randomly selected from NCE 1 Biology students, each arm containing 64 students. Ecology Achievement Test (EAT) was the instrument used in this study for data collection, it was adopted from NCE 1past moderated examination questions that comprise 40 multiple-choice expert-validated questions. The split-half reliability coefficients of EAT were established. Three research questions guided the study and three corresponding null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The experimental group was taught using peer tutoring while the control group was taught using the lecture method. A pretest was administered to both groups. The experimental group was taught ecology using peer tutoring, while the control group was exposed to the lecture method for a period of six weeks. The results showed that the Experimental group (Mean=31.6) perform better than the Control group (Mean=24.9). The result showed that males in the Experimental group achieved higher mean scores (Mean=31.89) than those in the Control group (Mean=23.55.9). Results showed that female students taught using peer tutoring (M = 31.34) perform better than those taught using the lecture method (M = 26.64). From the findings of the study, it was recommended that the Administrations of Colleges of Education in the northwest zone in Nigeria should enforce the use of a variety of approaches in teaching. Such an approach should include the use of social interaction and a cooperative learning approach, the use of lecture methods by teachers should be reduced. Rather, a constructivist approach that calls for social interaction among students should be a dominant approach.

Keywords: Peer tutoring, Student’s Achievement, Ecology, Teaching, Learning

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