Republic of the Philippines

Laguna State Polytechnic University

Action Research Proposal 

Submitted by:

JOHAIRA L. SARIP

Submitted to:

Dr. Nimfa G. Dimaculangan

Effectiveness of Peer Tutoring on Students' Academic Performance of Grade 11 STEM in

Biology 2 in Laguna State Polytechnic University

I. CONTEXT AND RATIONALE

Every society uses education as an essential instrument to help its members develop

into more useful, competent, and self-reliant individuals and to provide them the necessary

knowledge, skills, and abilities to participate in the community. In peer instruction, professors

pose a challenging question to the class, which the students must answer alone, discuss with a

classmate, and then re-answer. Many studies have shown that peer instruction improves

student learning. Enhancing collaboration to attain excellent academic grades can be done by

cooperating with classmates (Department of Education Order no. 31, s. 2012). In educational

research, the subject of peer tutoring has drawn a lot of attention. Peer tutoring has been

shown to have favorable effects in research spanning from academic to extracurricular

education services, according to Abellon (2019, as referenced in Ching & Chang-Chen,

2009).

As per the study of Briggs (2013) the idea of peer teaching is not new. It can be traced

back to Aristotle’s use of archons, or student leaders, and to the letters of Seneca the

Younger. In the 19th century, it was introduced into French and English schools after being

initially organized as a theory by the Scotsman Andrew Bell in 1795. Peer teaching has

grown in popularity over the past 30 to 40 years, along with mixed ability grouping in K–12

public schools and a need for more cost–effective teaching strategies. The following, among

others, is a list of the key advantages of peer teaching: Students get more time for

personalized instruction. Active learning is encouraged by student-to-student interaction. Peer

instructors help others learn while enhancing their own understanding. When conversing with
a classmate, students are more at ease and candid. Greater understanding is possible since

peers and students converse similarly.

A more cost-effective option than adding more employees is peer teaching. Teachers

are given more time to concentrate on the following lesson. With the help of small groups,

cooperative learning allows students to work together to complete tasks more effectively.

Each member of the group is responsible for teaching the others in the group. Based on the

study of Goldstone and Tullis (2020, Simon, Kohanfars, Lee, Tamayo, & Cutts, 2010)

students' replies are frequently more accurate after discussion than before it, which is one of

the reliable empirical markers of peer instruction. For instance, post-discussion performance

in beginning computer science classes was better on 70 out of 71 items over the course of the

semester. Peer conversation may also help students' metacognitive abilities to identify and fix

problems in their mental models. Together, students produce more fresh information and

more accurate diagnostic examinations of their responses than they do separately. In the end,

the additional information and enhanced metacognition can make the right response seem

more convincing or rational than the wrong ones. More than just students' initial confidence,

peer discussion would highlight solutions that were coherent or persuasive, and the coherence

of the right answer would persuade students to abandon their incorrect ones.

A variety of peer teaching initiatives have emerged in universities all around the

world, advancing the idea of peer-assisted learning. Nearly all higher education institutions

throughout the globe provide teaching assistant roles for advanced students and peer tutoring

opportunities for failing students. And according to Abellon (2019) the peer tutoring program

claimed that the intervention raised the students' science test results. They also improved their

participation in classroom activities in a positive and active way. A more formal peer tutoring

design should be created during independent/cooperative learning (ICL) time, in my opinion,

based on the reviews. In the end, the ICL's goal is to motivate students to encourage their
peers to establish healthy study habits. Teachers need to appropriately orient the tutors they

choose to train their students.

II. ACTION RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1. How peer teaching improves students' learning? 

2. How well does the peer tutoring program meet the needs of the students?

3. What changes should be made to the existing peer tutoring program?

III. PROPOSED INNOVATION, INTERVENTION AND STRATEGY

In peer instruction, teachers ask a complex question to the class, students respond to it

on their own, discuss it with a classmate, and then answer the question once more. Peer

instruction enhances student learning, according to a wide body of research. The researcher

plans to introduce peer-teaching as innovation to the problem. The researcher observed that

the students were having a hard time maintaining their previous knowledge with regards to

the previous discussions, that leads most of them to get a low score in midterms examination.

In the situation of the students right now, we could clearly see the aftermath of the CoVid-19

pandemic to their performances. The researcher plans to utilize the peer-teaching in order to

see the improvement of the STEM students’ performance in Biology 2.

IV. ACTION RESEARCH METHODS

a. Participants 

The participants of this action research will be the grade 11 STEM students of Laguna

State Polytechnic University, Santa Cruz Campus.

Data gathering methods

To solve the study's challenge, the researcher will use a descriptive/qualitative

strategy. In order to gather information from the respondents, the researchers will employ a
descriptive study approach. To determine the effectiveness of peer-teaching, the selected

respondents will be the grade 11 STEM students of Laguna State Polytechnic University,

Santa Cruz Campus.

c. Data analysis plan

The researcher want to (1) To know how peer teaching improves students' learning;

(2) To know how well does the peer tutoring program meet the needs of the students?; (3) To

learn what changes should be made to the existing peer tutoring program?

The researchers will be utilizing the use of ICT in order to make audio-visual

materials. The researchers will give a pre-test to the students in the beginning of the lesson.

Then, during the discussion the audio-visual aids will be use as an instructional material.

After that, the research will give a post-test worksheet to the students to know the

effectiveness of the audio-visual aids that they use. The researchers will compare the scores

of the respondents pre-test and the post-test to determine the effectiveness of the audio-visual

aids that they use.

V. ACTION RESEARCH WORK PLAN 

Purposive sampling will be used by the researcher to determine the study's target

respondents; as a result, grade 11 STEM student who were taking biology 2 will be chosen to

participate in the survey. Before beginning the actual testing, the researcher will write a letter

to the chairperson Senior High School Department, and to the subject adviser of the grade 11

STEM, requesting permission to conduct a peer-teaching, that will be done on the free time

of the students every face-to-face meeting. The researcher will conduct the study within 10

weeks.

VI. COST ESTIMATE

these are the following:

 Printing of questionnaires- Php500

 Internet Connection - Php00

 Final output - Php1500

 Statistician fee -Php1500

 Other expenses- Php1000

VII. PLANS FOR DISSEMINATION AND UTILIZATION

The researcher plans to present the result of the action research to the chairperson of

the Senior High School Department. In order to promote the findings of the research, the

researcher also intends to upload the action research in several sites dedicated to research. If

given the opportunity, the researcher would like to suggest that the study serve as the impetus

for creating a group in which the more advanced students oversee peer teaching of their

classmates or fellow students. Additionally, the researcher is eager to work with others to

make the study relevant in the future.

Abellon, P. (2019, January 18). Effects of Peer Tutoring on the Academic Performance of
Selected Grade 9 Students in Science Subject | Ascendens Asia Journal of Multidisciplinary
Research Abstracts. Effects of Peer Tutoring on the Academic Performance of Selected
Grade 9 Students in Science Subject | Ascendens Asia Journal of Multidisciplinary Research
Abstracts. Retrieved January 5, 2023, from
https://ojs.aaresearchindex.com/index.php/AAJMRA/article/view/9285

Briggs, S. (2013, June 7). How Peer Teaching Improves Student Learning and 10 Ways To
Encourage It | InformED. InformED. Retrieved January 5, 2023, from
https://www.opencolleges.edu.au/informed/features/peer-teaching/

Tullis, J. G., & Goldstone, R. L. (2020, April 9). Why does peer instruction benefit student
learning? - Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications. SpringerOpen. Retrieved
January 5, 2023, from https://cognitiveresearchjournal.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/
s41235-020-00218-5