Peer instruction’s Achilles’ heel: An analysis of its ineffectiveness in confronting counterintuitive physics questions

Abstract

This paper examines peer instruction, an educational technique that enhances student-student interaction and student-teacher interaction, influencing students’ performance on counterintuitive physics questions. The study employed a quantitative approach with 40 participants, 22.5% of whom were male and 77.5% were female. The counterintuitive dynamics test was used to measure students’ counter intuitions in dynamics. The study results on counterintuitive questions showed no noticeable effect from peer instruction. Surprisingly, more students shifted from correct to incorrect responses after group discussions, leading to a decrease in the overall accuracy rate. Although peer instruction did not show a clear impact on counterintuitive physics questions, it is important for educators to recognize the complexity of peer instructions. Exploring different teaching methods that use peer interaction might help improve learning outcomes for counterintuitive physics questions.