EFFECT OF PEER GROUP ACTIVITY-BASED LEARNING ON STUDENTS' ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT IN PHYSICS AT SECONDARY LEVEL

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of ‘peer group activity-based Learning’ on academic achievement of secondary schools students in the subject of physics. In this study, an achievement test (pre-test/ post-test) covering seven chapters was used as measuring instrument. Depending upon pre-test scores, 88 science students of 10 th class were divided into two equal groups (n=44) named as experimental group and control group. The experimental group was taught with peer group activity-based method and the control group was taught by traditional lecture method. Both the groups were taught for a period of four weeks (40 minutes period per day). The post-test was administered at the end of treatment. The pre-test and post-test scores of the experimental and control groups served as data for this study. The analysis of data revealed that on the whole, experimental group showed better performance than controlled group. Furthermore the experimental group performed significantly better than control group in the domain of knowledge, comprehension and application, but no significant difference was found in both comparison groups in skill development. Hence the ultimate results of the study indicated that peer group’s activity-based learning was more effective for teaching of physics as compared to traditional lecture method of teaching at secondary level.