AN INVESTIGATION OF STUDENTS' PERFORMANCE AFTER PEER INSTRUCTION WITH STEPWISE PROBLEM-SOLVING STRATEGIES

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of strategic problem solving with peer instruction on college students' performance in physics. The students enrolled in 2 sections of a physics course were studied; 1 section was the treatment group and the other section was the comparison group. Students in the treatment group received peer instruction with systematic problem-solving strategies whereas students in the comparison group received only peer instruction. Data were collected on physics achievement, problem-solving strategies, homework problems, and students' opinions about the instruction. Results indicated that the treatment group students' homework and achievement test performances as well as their visualizing, solving, and checking habits improved relative to the comparison group students, which did not change noticeably. Treatment group students also changed their perspective on solving a problem and found the method helpful to connect the quantitative solution with concepts. These results revealed that the method could be implemented with little effort so as to assess and enhance student performance in science classrooms.