PEER TUTORING INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGY AS AN EFFECTIVE TOOL FOR ENHANCING SENIOR SECONDARY STUDENTS' ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN PHYSICS IN GOMBE STATE, NIGERIA

This study investigated the effectiveness of the Peer Tutoring Instructional Strategy in enhancing senior secondary school students’ academic performance in Physics in Gombe State, Nigeria. Persistent low achievement in Physics, as reflected in WAEC reports and state performance records, has been linked to teacher-centred instructional methods and limited student engagement. Employing a quasi-experimental design, the study compared the performance of 204 students assigned to experimental (peer tutoring) and control (conventional teaching) groups. Data were collected using pre-test and post-test Physics achievement measures and analysed using mean scores and ANCOVA. Findings revealed a significant improvement in the academic performance of students taught through peer tutoring compared to those exposed to conventional methods (F = 83.649, p < 0.05), indicating the superiority of peer-assisted learning in promoting conceptual understanding and achievement. Results also showed no significant difference between the performance of male and female students within the peer tutoring group (F = 1.874, p > 0.05), suggesting that the strategy benefits both genders equally. Additionally, there was no significant interaction effect between teaching method and gender on academic performance (F = 1.690, p > 0.05), confirming that the effectiveness of peer tutoring is gender-inclusive. The study concludes that peer tutoring is an effective and equitable instructional strategy for improving Physics achievement among senior secondary school students. It is recommended among others that teachers should adopt and integrate structured peer tutoring strategies into physics instruction to improve students’ understanding and overall achievement.