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.
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