The Peer Instruction’s Effectiveness as Teaching Pedagogy: Research Reviews

Abstract

The effectiveness of PI as a research-based teaching pedagogy was the focus of this review. The authors reviewed nine research studies from 2010 to 2017 and different countries of the world taken from various academic journals. Juxtaposing the findings of these studies indicated that PI is a useful teaching pedagogy. Peer Instruction was developed in 1991 at Harvard University to address poor understanding of conceptual and problem-solving skill of introductory physics students. PI is a research-based pedagogy for teaching sizeable introductory science courses. Lectures in PI consist of some short presentations on critical points, each followed by short conceptual questions called Concept Test, posed in a multiple-choice format, on the subject under discussion. PI is a teaching pedagogy that is not common in schools in African countries. Several countries have adopted the pedagogy in science education with the evidence of its effectiveness. This paper reviewed a few of these research studies to spur Nigerian teachers to the adoption of PI as a better pedagogy. The article considered many reasons it is essential to adopt PI in Nigerian schools. The conclusion was made by suggesting PI adoption by all teachers in Nigerian schools.