The effect of peer education on students' success, persistence and attitudes of knowledge in primary science teaching

In this study, the effect of peer education method on students' success, attitude and knowledge retention in science lesson was investigated. The study was carried out with forty-four 7th grade students studying in a secondary school in Refahiye, Erzincan, in the 2021-2022 academic year. 22 of the students are 7/A class experimental group and 22 7/B class control group. Peer education method was used in the experimental group and constructivist approach was used in the control group. Experimental research model with pretest posttest control group was used in the research. In the research, Academic Achievement Test for Cell Divisions, Attitude towards Science Scale and Structured Interview Form were used as data collection tools. Achievement test and attitude scale were applied twice, before and after the study. Then, an structured interview form was applied to the experimental group to analyze the thoughts of the students about peer education. After the post-tests, 4 weeks later, the same achievement test was applied again to both groups to measure the permanence of the information. The data obtained were analyzed in the appropriate package program. The data in the structured interview form were divided into certain categories and frequency values were calculated. According to the data obtained as a result of the research, there is no statistical difference between the achievement and attitude values of the experimental and control groups. According to the structured interview form applied to the experimental group, it was concluded that the students' interest and motivation towards the lesson increased and they understood the lesson better. 2022, 84 Pages Keywords: Academic success, Peer education, Persistence, Attitude