GENDER FACTOR IN MATHEMATICS PERFORMANCE AMONG SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS
ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of gender on the academic performance of Senior Secondary students. The sample included 223 students: 136 males (60.99%) and 87 females (39.01%).
The ex – post facto design was used in this study, which used students’ performance in Mathematics MOCK SSCE results from some schools randomly selected in the Gbagada / Bariga Area of Lagos.
The t – test analysis was used to examine the data and test the hypothesis. The results revealed that there was a significant difference in mathematics performance between male and female students, with male students outperforming female students.
It was suggested that similar studies be conducted to cover both secondary schools and other areas of education because the current study was restricted to the Senior Secondary School level Also, there is a need to foster a love of mathematics by establishing a “Mathematics Club” in each secondary school, which would help influence students’ academic performance.
Gender disparities, mathematics performance, and gender
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
The abundance of knowledge and information has increased the number of issues that students must resolve both inside and outside of school. Knowledge explosion necessitates prudence and careful discernment on the part of students who must select more relevant and sound data.
This would necessitate the development of reasoning skills that would allow them to separate relevant information from irrelevant information. Arguments, premises, justification, and evidence are all used to support claims or positions when reasoning.
However, developing reasoning skills necessitates a significant investment on the part of students. It necessitates good study habits and attitudes, as well as positive contextual reinforcers and influences.
Many educators have observed that learning is dynamic and does not take place in a vacuum. Learning occurs as a result of a variety of factors, and influences As a result, it is critical to direct educational research efforts toward the study and analysis of how these variables facilitate student learning.
As a result, this study focuses on students’ study habits and attitudes toward learning, as well as how these influence their reasoning skill acquisition. It is hoped that student learning can be effectively improved by capitalizing on what students already possess: the ability to regulate their study habits and positively direct their attitudes toward learning.
The adage “attitude is the key to success” is well known to most people. Several quotes that subscribe to this philosophy can be found. According to research in education, student attitudes toward a subject lead to academic success. In general, mathematics is a subject that is frequently disliked, necessitating research into how student attitudes influence mathematics learning.
Mathematical learning processes are influenced by one’s attitude toward mathematics. It has an impact on students’ mathematical achievement. The teaching method, the support of the school structure, the family, and students’ attitudes toward school all have an impact on students’ attitudes toward mathematics.
Typically, the way mathematics is represented in the classroom and perceived by students, even when teachers believe they are presenting it in an authentic and context-dependent manner, has a negative impact on many students’ interest in mathematics (Barton, 2000).
Having a positive attitude toward mathematics means generally enjoying working with it and believing in one’s own ability to do so, but it does not imply that a student will always have this positive attitude toward the entire field of mathematics (Robson, 1996).
Students enjoy mathematics, but those who drop out due to it have a different perspective. It leads to the conclusion that mathematics is a difficult subject. The student’s attitude plays a significant role in shaping his perception of mathematics. It improves learners’ adaptability and applicability.
The general conceptions shape how students approach mathematics tasks, leading them down unproductive paths in many cases. Students have been found to have a strong procedural and rule-oriented view of mathematics, assuming that mathematical problems should be quickly solvable in just a few steps, with the goal being simply to get “right answers.”
For them, the student’s role is to receive mathematical knowledge and be able to demonstrate it; the teacher’s role is to transmit this knowledge and ensure that students have acquired it (Frank, 1988).
Due to different starting points, such conceptions may prevent students from understanding that there are alternative strategies and approaches to many mathematical problems, different ways of defining concepts, and even different constructions.
As a result, they may overlook important aspects of the mathematical experience, such as formulating their own questions, conjecturing relationships, and testing them. They may approach the tasks in math class with a very narrow frame of mind, which prevents them from developing personal methods and gaining confidence in dealing with mathematical ideas.
Students’ expectations of what constitutes a mathematics classroom are linked to these conceptions. If the teacher tries some novel activities, the students’ overt or covert reactions may quickly develop, further impeding the learning process.
How durable, once formed in students’ minds, are such notions and expectations? Are they simply a result of the mathematics classroom environment, or do they take on a life of their own?
Despite the recent interest in this topic, little is known about the possibilities of influencing these general views of students, and especially, what the effects of curriculum approaches specifically designed to improve their views and attitudes toward mathematics can be.
Burstein (1992) discovered this in a comparative study of factors influencing mathematics achievement. discovered a direct relationship between students’ attitudes toward mathematics and student outcomes
He also discovered that 25 percent of the variation in students’ attitudes toward mathematics that was due to student gender and success attribution was accounted for in England and 26 percent in Norway (belief about success in mathematics).
Beliefs and attitudes of students have the potential to either facilitate or hinder learning. According to Gibbons, Kimmel, and O’Shea (1997), students’ attitudes toward the value of learning
science can be used as both an input and an outcome variable because their attitudes toward the subject can be related to educational achievement in ways that reinforce higher or lower performance. This means that students who perform well in a subject have more positive attitudes toward that subject in general subject, and those with more positive attitudes toward a subject perform better in that subject.
A critical examination of the studies cited above revealed that there are conflicting reports regarding the relationship between students’ attitudes and academic achievement. Against this backdrop, the current study will attempt to determine whether or not there is a relationship between students’ attitudes and academic achievement in mathematics.
1.2 Statement of Problem
What are the perspectives of secondary school students on mathematics learning? In what ways do students’ attitudes toward learning mathematics affect their academic performance and study habits? And how does this impact their overall academic and learning experiences?
These are some of the questions we thought might be interesting, so we decided to conduct a case study of secondary schools participating in a mathematics curriculum experience. Our research focused on a variety of topics, including the nature of the learning process and the perceptions of the students who took part.
In this study, we focus specifically on the study habits and academic performance of senior secondary school students regarding mathematics learning, as well as the effects of these habits and performance on their attitude toward mathematics learning.
1.3 Research Questions
To guide the study, the following research questions were considered:
1. Is there a link between students’ study habits, academic performance, and attitudes toward mathematics?
2. Are study habits and mathematical performance significant predictors of students’ attitudes toward mathematics?
3. What is the relative importance of each factor in the prediction?
1.4 Research Hypotheses
In this study, the following research hypotheses will be tested:
Hypothesis 1: There will be no significant relationship between study habits, mathematical performance, and students’ mathematical attitudes.
Hypothesis 2: Mathematical performance and study habits are not predictors of students’ attitudes toward mathematics.
Hypothesis 3: There will be no significant relationship between study habits and performance in
Mathematics has an impact on students’ attitudes toward mathematics.
1.5 Purpose of the Study
The goal of this study was to look into study habits and math performance as predictors of students’ attitudes toward math in the Shomolu local government area. Specifically, the study discovered:
1) Students’ attitudes toward mathematics, which leads to effective mathematics teaching.
2) Appropriate study habits for effective mathematics teaching.
3) Appropriate instructional method to be used in teaching the subject mathematics
4) Appropriate teaching aids that will promote effective mathematics teaching and learning.
1.6 Significance of the Study
The researcher believes that if this study is completed successfully, it will be useful to both teachers and students, educational planners, educational institutions, and those concerned with the formulation and implementation of educational policy in relation to the new policy on education at all levels.
Through a critical examination of these variables, it will also assist parents and governments in identifying those variables under the teaching of mathematics, such as poor student study habits, limited time allocation for mathematics teaching, poor teaching aids, and so on, that are responsible for students’ poor performance in mathematics.
This research is also expected to assist teachers in identifying needs, effectively managing the classroom, and even implementing appropriate methods of mathematics teaching that will improve student achievement.
Students’ mathematical performance can be improved by understanding the importance of effective classroom management and the use of appropriate teaching methods. This study will also assist curriculum planners in effectively planning and evaluating the secondary school curriculum by understanding the needs of students and society at large.
Finally, it is expected that the findings and recommendations of this study will generate issues of research interest to other future researchers interested in this and related topics.
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1.6 Scope of Study
The first phase of the study will include the development of research questions, the planning of field work (including the development of observation guides and criteria for informant selection), the outline of the final report, and the first contact with the field. The second phase will involve fieldwork, and the third will be spent analyzing and writing the research report.
Data for this study would be gathered through primary data collection using a research instrument known as a questionnaire, as well as documental analysis. Stratified random sampling techniques would be used to sample a number of students from five different secondary schools in the Shomolu Local Government Area of Lagos State. Each school will have at least ten high school boys and ten high school girls.
students with low academic achievement The selection would be made jointly by the teachers and the researchers based on these criteria.
The fieldwork would last two months and would be done in groups of three researchers. The research team will be assisted by two assistants from each school, who will guide the researchers through the proper data collation process.
1.8 Operational Definition of Terms
Study habit: The manner with which you consistently use to study.
Attitude: They are the views of a person whether positive or negative.
Academic Performance: It is the ability to study and remember facts and being able to communicate your knowledge verbally or written.
GENDER FACTOR IN MATHEMATICS PERFORMANCE AMONG SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS
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