EFFECT OF PEER-ASSISTED LEARNING STRATEGY (PALS) ON STUDENTS' ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT IN BASIC SCIENCE.

Abstract

The study investigated the effect of Peer-Assisted Learning Strategy (PALS) on students' achievement in Basic Science. It also compared the effect of peer-assisted learning strategy on achievement scores of male and female students in Basic Science. The population for the study comprised all basic science students in Ojo Education district V of Lagos State. The sample for the study involved 160 junior secondary school students in Basic Science classes, with a total of 80 students in the experimental group and 80 students in the control group purposively selected from intact classes. The schools were randomly assigned to experimental and the control groups. four (4) intact Junior secondary school two (JSSII) classes were purposively chosen at random from four (4) public mixed secondary schools The study was carried out in some selected Junior Secondary Schools in Education district V of Lagos State. Two research questions and two hypotheses were generated for the study. One hundred and sixty (160) students from JSS II were selected for the study. They were assigned to experimental and control groups respectively. The experimental group was taught using Peer-Assisted Learning Strategy, while the control group was taught using convectional method. Two research instruments were used for data collection, these were Basic Science Peer-Assisted Learning Achievement Test (BASPALAT), Students Attitude Towards Basic Science (SATBS) (BSPALAT) was developed to test the academic performance of the students while (SATBS) were developed to elicit information on learners' attitude towards Basic Science respectively. Data collected were analysed using mean, standard deviation and t-test. The results obtained from teaching Basic Science with Peer-Assisted Learning strategy significantly improved students post-test academic performance.