COMPARATIVE PERFORMANCE BY GENDER IN SUBTOPICS OF JUNIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL ALGEBRA IN SOKOTO STATE
COMPARATIVE PERFORMANCE BY GENDER IN SUBTOPICS OF JUNIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL ALGEBRA IN SOKOTO STATE
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Date
1988
Authors
IBRAHIM, GALADIMA
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Abstract
This study i n v e s t i g a t e d and compared the performances
of J u n i o r Secondary School t h r e e s t u d e n t s in the s u b t o p i c -
c a t e g o r i e s of a l g e b r a i c c o n t e n t . It a l s o i n v e s t i g a t e d t h e ir
a r e a s of d i f f i c u l t i e s in the s a i d c o n t e n t . The study covered
a l l the Junior Secondary School three s t u d e n t s who were
found to have had continuous Mathematics t e a c h i n g from forms
one to t h r e e in Sokoto S t a t e .
A A sample of f i f t e e n out of seventy q u a l i f i e d schools
were randomly s e l e c t e d and used. In each school one stream
of the J u n i o r Secondary School three c l a s s e s was randomly
s e l e c t e d . On the whole, a t o t a l of 516 s t u d e n t s were involved
comprising 314 boys and 175 g i r l s . The instrument used was
a s t a n d a r d i z e d t e s t c o n s t r u c t e d and v a l i d a t e d in Kano S t a te
by Jahun (1986). Difference of m e a n s - t e s t s ( Z - t e s t ) were
employed to compare performance p a i r w i s e , between boys and
g i r l s and over performance. The l e v e l of s i g n i f i c a n c e was
put at 0 . 0 5.
Some of the f i n d i n g s of the study show t h a t , there were
s t a t i s t i c a l l y s i g n i f i c a n t d i f f e r e n c e s in the subtopic
c a t e g o r i e s of a l g e b r a i c c o n t e n t , both p a i r w i s e and between
boys and g i r l s . It was only in the p a i r s , equation and
v a r i a t i o n among boys, and f a c t o r i z a t i o n and graph among
g i r l s t h a t , s i g n i f i c a n c e d i f f e r e n c e was not e s t a b l i s h e d , in
t h e comparison between boys and g i r l s (in each of the subtopic
categories), a significant difference was found in the
subtopic, variation, where the Z-value was found to be 3.850.
While in the remaining categories; factorization, equation
and graph, no differences were observed. However, boys were
found to score higher in the categories graph and variation,
with the mean rcores 18.3 and 10.7 respectively, and g i r ls
in factorization and equation with mean scores of 16.2 and
12.3 respectively. In the overall performance, no significant
difference was found. This implies that, both boys and g i r ls
performed the same in the algebraic content.
In the areas of d i f f i c u l t i e s , both boys and g i r l s were
found to have d i f f i c u l t i e s in solving equations involving
difference of two-square, cross-multiplication and solving
equation, using the methods of elimination and substitution.
Graph and variation were also found to have posed some d i f f i c
u l t i e s to Junior Secondary School three students. In
p a r t i c u l a r , the later was found to be the most d i f f i c u lt
category, because, majority of the students did not understand
the terms- and symbols involved in the category.
Based on the findings, some recommendations were made
to ameliorate the s i t u a t i o n . These include;
i) That remedial classes in the identified
areas of d i f f i c u l t i e s should be designed
at Senior Secondary School I level to remedy
the situation.
ii) Teachers should always put more emphasis
on the identified areas of difficulties
while teaching and also make sure that
concepts, terms and symbols are fully
comprehended by the students.
iii) Further research of this kind should be
entended to other topics in Mathematics, such
as geometry, trigonometry, etc. This will
provide a clear juncture of the areas of
difficulties among students in Mathematics
as a whole.
Description
A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF
THE REQUIREMENTS FOR MASTER'S DEGREE
IN
MATHEMATICS EDUCATION
(CURRICULUM AND INSTRUCTION)
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY
ZARIA - NIGERIA
1988
Keywords
COMPARATIVE PERFORMANCE,, GENDER,, SUBTOPICS,, JUNIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL,, ALGEBRA,, SOKOTO STATE.