Effectiveness of Peer Teaching Strategy in Improving Chemistry Performance Among Senior Secondary Students in Akwa Ibom State

This study evaluated the effectiveness of peer teaching strategy in improving Chemistry performance among senior secondary students in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. Peer teaching, which involves structured knowledge exchange among students of similar academic standing, has been theorised to benefit both the teaching peer and the receiving peer through reinforcement and reduced affective barriers to learning. A quasi-experimental pretest-posttest equivalent group design was adopted. Six intact SS2 Chemistry classes from six secondary schools in Uyo and Eket Local Government Areas were randomly assigned to either the peer teaching or conventional instruction condition. A Chemistry Achievement Test comprising 50 multiple-choice and structured questions was used as the instrument, validated by Chemistry education specialists with reliability of 0.83. Analysis of Covariance was used to compare group means while controlling for pretest performance. Results indicated that students in the peer teaching group outperformed those in the conventional instruction group at a statistically significant level. Students in rural schools benefited more from peer teaching relative to their urban counterparts. The study concluded that peer teaching is a cost-effective and culturally congruent strategy for improving Chemistry performance in resource-limited settings. Recommendations included teacher training in structured peer instruction design and integration of peer teaching into formal lesson planning. Keywords: peer teaching, Chemistry performance, senior secondary students, Akwa Ibom State, cooperative instruction.