Benue State University, Makurdi

IMPACT OF PEER-LED MASTERY LEARNING APPROACH ON PERFORMANCE AND ATTITUDE OF SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL SCIENCE STUDENTS

Umar Abuja & Dalaham, Philibus Duhunkyes^*

Abstract

Science as an academic discipline in secondary schools is plagued with problems such as poor performance and poor attitude of students to learning. These problems could be traced to the abstract nature of science subjects and teaching approaches employed by science teachers. This study investigated the impact of Peer Led Mastery Learning (PLML) approach on science students’ attitude and academic performance. A survey research design was adopted. The population of the study comprised of all the 1,900 senior secondary II science students in Gwagwalada Area council of the FCT, Abuja. Simple random technique was used to select 378 science students in physics, chemistry and biology with 126 male and female students each in physics, chemistry and biology. Three research questions and three hypotheses guide the study. Two instruments: Students’ Attitude Evaluation Questionnaire (SAEQ) and Science Students Performances Test (SSAT) where used to gather data from the respondents. Data collected were analysed using mean and standard deviation to answer the research questions and ANOVA to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significant. The result of the study revealed that when science is taught with PLML it promotes positive attitude towards science for both male and female and science students’ performance do not differ significantly by gender. It was also revealed that PLML approach impacted positively on students’ performance in science. The study concluded that PLML approach is gender friendly. The study recommended that Physics, chemistry and biology teachers should adopt the use of Peer Led Mastering learning strategy because it enhances students' performance and it is not gender-biased.

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