PEER-ASSISTED, INDIVIDUALIZED TEACHING STRATEGIES AND STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN CHEMISTRY IN MKPAT ENIN LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA

ABSTRACT The study investigated peer-assisted and individualized teaching strategies on students’ academic performance in Chemistry in Mkpat Enin Local Government Area. Three research questions and three hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. The design for the study was quasi-experimental design. The population of this study consisted of all the 1940 SS 2 Chemistry students in Mkpat Enin Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State. The sample for the study was 100 SS 2 Chemistry students. The sampling technique used was simple random sampling technique. The instrument used for the study was “Chemistry Performance Test (CPT)”. The instrument was subjected to face and content validity done by a Chemistry lecturer and an expert in measurement and evaluation in the Department of Science Education, Akwa Ibom State University respectively. The reliability index was determined using Kuder Richardson Reliability formula 20(K-R20) to ascertain the internal consistency and the result was found to be 0.86. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions while independent t-test was used to test the hypotheses. The finding showed that there is a significant difference that exist in the mean performance scores of Chemistry students taught hydrocarbons using peer-assisted and individualized teaching strategies. The finding showed that there is no significance difference that exist in the mean performance scores between male and female Chemistry students taught hydrocarbons using peer-assisted and individualized teaching strategies. Based on the findings of the study, it was concluded that students taught the concept of hydrocarbon using individualized teaching strategy performed academically better than their counterparts in peer assisted teaching strategy. It was therefore recommended among others that teachers should endeavour to regularly use individualized teaching strategy in teaching Chemistry concepts as this will enhance learning and hence facilitate academic performance of students.