Gender Test Anxiety, Students Interest and Academic Performance in Chemistry Among SS3 Students
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Gender Test Anxiety, Students Interest and Academic Performance in Chemistry Among SS3 Students
Chapter one
Introduction
1.1 Background of the Study
Unfortunately, data and observations over the years have revealed that children have fared poorly in mathematics. This sorry state of affairs has troubled the hearts of parents, administrators, government officials, instructors, and even kids themselves. This is because, aside from being a criterion for entrance into postsecondary institutions, it includes information and skills that are essential for daily living.
Chemistry, as a subject field, has an impact on all facets of human endeavour (Maliki et al., 2009; Owan, 2012). It thus becomes a national issue because pupils’ academic achievement has an impact on society as a whole.
Efforts by the government, non-governmental organisations, and even researchers appear to be ineffective in changing student performance.
Chemistry is one of the most important scientific subjects. It is a core subject in medical sciences, textile technology, agricultural science, synthetic industries, printing technology, pharmacy, and chemical engineering, to name a few.
Despite the importance of the topic and efforts by both the federal and state governments to support chemistry education, students continue to shun it (Jegede, 2003).
Despite the age-old fear and its impact on the subject, academics had done little or nothing to investigate the underlying psychological processes that could cause such worry.
Gender refers to the status of being either male or female. Test anxiety is essentially a combination of psychological overarousal, tension, and physical sensations, as well as concern, dread, and fear of failing, that occur in a person prior to or during a test.
Item sequencing, on the other hand, refers to the process of determining the sequence or arrangement of test questions while keeping the difficulty level of each question in mind and adhering to a given pattern. Studies in these areas have demonstrated a link with the dependent variable (student academic performance).
Munz and Smouse (1968) observed a significant F-ratio (p<.01) for reaction type and interaction, showing that item complex sequencing and achievement anxiety have a significant effect on students’ academic performance.
Ojediran and Oludipe (2016) investigated the impact of test anxiety and gender on Nigerian preservice science education students and discovered that when test anxiety was low, pre-service science students performed better with CGPAs than their high-test anxiety colleagues; female pre-service science students had lower test anxiety than male pre-service students.
Another study found that girls had a greater mean score on test anxiety than males, although this difference was not statistically significant. The study also found that female participants had a much higher mean accomplishment score than males (Timoty, 2015). Sideeg (2015) discovered that test anxiety is substantially higher than the crucial value that was established.
It was revealed that test anxiety had a substantial correlation with kids’ academic achievement. The study’s negative correlation revealed a considerable link between these psychological characteristics. Further findings show that gender differences and the nature of study have a statistically significant effect on test anxiety levels.
According to Josiah and Adejoke (2014), pupils perform on average in chemistry. There were no significant variations in achievement across gender, age, or chemistry anxiety groups (low, medium, and high). Another study conducted by Iroegbu (2013) found that subjects with reduced anxiety and female gender outperformed male ones.
Furthermore, anxiety and gender interact significantly, as do anxiety self-concept and gender on academic performance. Barrows et al. (2013) found a significant link between test anxiety, self-concept, and exam grades. According to the multiple regression analysis, test anxiety and self-efficiency level can predict exam grade, and self-efficiency moderates the impacts of test anxiety.
Farooqi et al. (2012) found that female students had higher levels of test anxiety than males. Male students had statistically significantly higher GPAs than females, and the study discovered a substantial negative association between test anxiety and academic performance.
Syokwaa et al. (2014) discovered a substantial relationship between anxiety levels and academic achievement, with high anxiety levels having a negative impact on the quality of academic results recorded by students.
The study also found that students experienced high levels of anxiety, which interfered with their ability to function efficiently. Karjanto and Yong (2015) similarly found that students with lower score expectations were more worried than those with greater score expectations, although they received a higher score than expected.
Statement of the Problem
Abiam and Odok (2006) discovered that there was no significant gender difference in student accomplishment in number, numeration statistics, and the chemistry process. In a similar vein, Josiah and EtukIren (2014) discovered no significant link between gender, age, math anxiety, and chemistry achievement among college students. Mari and Shauba (1997) found that female students understood science process skills better than male pupils.
They indicated that the widely held belief that boys outperform girls in science education should be addressed and understood with extreme caution. Similarly, Godpower-Echie and Amadi (2013) discovered a favourable association between gender and chemical achievement in a study of 400 senior secondary (SS) 2 pupils.
Females tend to score better in standardised science assessments that focus on human applications of research, such as life science (Ingels and Dalton, 2008). Contrary to the findings above, Babalola and Fayombo (2009) discovered that there was no statistically significant variation in students’ science achievement based on gender.
According to Fredrick (2008), there was no statistical difference between boys and girls in their ability to manipulate the apparatus/equipment, take observations, correctly report/record results, and compute/interpret/analyse results during chemistry practicals, and both male and female students perceived interpreting/analysing results to be the most difficult skill to perform during chemistry practicals.
Ikenna (2009) discovered that gender alone has no effect on academic achievement, but may function in concert with other variables to influence learning outcomes.
The objectives of the study
The study’s aims are:
To determine the impact gender has on students’ interest in chemistry.
To determine the impact of gender on students’ achievement in chemistry.
To investigate the interactive effects of gender and test anxiety on students’ academic performance in chemistry.
Research Hypotheses
The following research hypotheses are formed.
H1: Gender and test anxiety had no interaction influence on students’ academic performance in chemistry.
H2: gender has no bearing on pupils’ achievement in chemistry.
Significance of the Study
The report will be extremely useful to students, lecturers, the Ministry of Education, and policymakers. The study will provide clear insights into gender exam anxiety, student interest, and academic success in chemistry among SS 3 pupils. The study will also act as a reference for other researchers who would engage on the similar issue.
Scope and limitations of the study
The study’s scope includes gender exam anxiety, student interest, and academic achievement in chemistry among SS 3 pupils in M M C educational zone, Borno state, Nigeria.
Limitations and constraints are unavoidable when conducting this type of research. However, over the course of this investigation, the following limits were encountered.
Non-availability of sufficient resources (finance): A work of this sort is extremely financially demanding; money had to be spent at various phases of the research, and resources that could have aided the appropriate conduct of the study were not readily available.
Time factor: The amount of time spent on research is insufficient to extract the most useful information. However, I hope that the little that is covered in this paper will go a long way towards tackling many larger problems.
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