The effect of peer teaching on students' achievement and attitudes in the Religious Culture and Ethics Course

The aim of this study is to discuss the effect of peer teaching on the Religious Culture and Moral Knowledge (DKAB) course with the example of the unit "Traces of Religion in Our Environment". In this context, the effect of this method on student achievement and students' attitudes towards the course will be examined. The research is a quantitative study and a quasi-experimental design with pre-test-post-test control group was used in the research. The population of the study was determined as 5th grade students studying at Süleymaniye Secondary School in Haliliye district of Şanlıurfa province. Appropriate sampling method was adopted in the selection of the sample. In this direction, 2 different classes from the 5th grades, one of which is the experimental group and the other is the control group, were determined. The data of the study were obtained from the achievement test on the Traces of Religion in Our Environment and the attitude scale regarding the Religious Culture and Moral Knowledge course applied to both groups. While the achievement test used in the study was prepared by the researcher, the attitude scale was used as prepared by another researcher. The data obtained from the study were analyzed with the SPSS package program. The compliance of the obtained data with normal distribution was tested. In this regard, independent sample t-test, one of the parametric tests, was used to compare the pre-test scores of the experimental and control groups regarding the achievement test. Wilcoxon Signed Rank test was used to compare the pre-test and post-test scores of the control group regarding the achievement test. Dependent sample t-test was used to compare the pretest-posttest scores of the experimental group regarding the achievement test. Mann Whitney-U test was used to compare the post-test scores of the experimental and control groups regarding the achievement test. While the Mann Whitney-U test was used to compare the pretest-posttest scores of the experimental and control groups on the attitude scale, the Wilcoxon Signed Rank test was used to compare the pretest-posttest scores within the groups. Based on the findings of the study, it was concluded that peer teaching increased students' academic success, but did not create a significant difference in their attitudes towards the course. Key Words: Religious education, constructivism, peer teaching