Perspectives of University Science Students on the influence of peer tutoring on Academic Performance and Critical Thinking Skills Acquisition

Peer tutoring has been found to improve secondary school students’ academic performance, however, studies are scarce on higher education students. The focus of this study was the perception of science undergraduates on the influence of peer tutoring on academic performance and the acquisition of critical thinking skills. Four research questions guided the study, and two null hypotheses were tested. The study adopted a descriptive survey design. A simple random sampling technique was used to select the study sample. Structured questionnaires were administered to 250 students from two universities in Lagos State, however, only 224 (89.6%) were returned. The data collected were analysed using descriptive statistics, while the hypotheses were tested using inferential statistics. The findings showed that only a few university science students engage in peer tutoring regularly; many do not engage in peer tutoring at all, while some engage occasionally. Also, a high percentage of the students agreed that peer tutoring influences academic performance positively. Furthermore, it was deduced that there was a significant relationship between the extent of involvement in peer tutoring and the acquisition of critical thinking skills. It is recommended that university faculties, through the course advisers, should encourage their students to engage in peer tutoring with the many benefits associated with it.