Influence Of Gender And Location In Mathematics Achievement Among Junior Secondary School In Delta State

 ABSTRACT

The study was to examine the influence of gender and location in mathematics achievement among junior secondary school in Delta State. To achieve the essence, the study was divided into five chapters. Four research questions were raise and answered in the study, related literature were reviewed in the study. The study used a descriptive survey. The population of the study consists of all mathematics teachers teaching in public junior secondary school in Oshimili South Local Government Area of Delta State which consists of hundred (100) mathematics teachers, sample of the study comprises of one hundred and twenty (120) public junior secondary schools mathematics teachers were selected out of the one hundred and fifty (150) Mathematics teachers in Asaba, Oshimili South Local Government Area of Delta State. The instrument for data collection was questionnaire which was validated by two lecturers from the department of mathematics, school of science education, and a measurement and evaluation in school of education. The method of data collection was mean and standard deviation and t-test to test the hypothesis. The findings revealed that inadequate facilities, gender and location of school, attitude of students, and attitude of teachers are responsible for what influence the academic performance of students among junior secondary schools in Asaba. Based on the findings, it was recommended among others that both the government and the school authorities should provide adequate facilities in other to facilitate learning, teachers should delegate interest in improving the performance of students instead of using their attitude to discourage students in learning, student should also development the interest of learning mathematics and remove the phobia of mathematics in them and teachers should use proper instructional materials in other remove the abstraction of mathematics in the students.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background to the Study

Achievement means to accomplish or gain by effort or do something success-fully with an effort or skill. Academic achievement has been seen as one of the most important goals of educational process (Gogoi, 2016). He went further to state that it has been of concern to parents, teachers, guardians, students and even the wider society. The desire for a high level of achievement puts a lot of pressure on students, teachers, schools and in general the education system itself. Therefore, academic achievement is a key mechanism through which students learn about their talents, abilities and competencies which are important parts of developing career aspirations. It is the result got by students or grades awarded to them after final evaluation. It reflects in examinations written by students after the process of learning (Borah, 2012).

According to (Okoli, 2015) gender is one of such factors that have considerable effects on students’ academic performances. In its narrowest sense, gender means socially constructed sex roles of female or male. Consequently, there might be differences on academic achievement in male and female. Gender issues are currently the main focus of discussion and research in any society. The question of gender is a matter of grave concern especially among academics and policy formulators. Intellectuals are worried about the role of male and female in the psychological, political, social, economic, religious, scientific and technological development of nations. Meanwhile, concerns about academic achievement with respect to males and females have generated a considerable interest in the field of educational testing over the years. Differences in academic achievement of the two genders are likely to contribute disparities in the allocation of cognitive roles in the world of work. Even though this research puts into questions whether gender differences still exist in academic achievement, many researchers are still finding differences in performance as well as their mental ability.

Location according to Nwachukwu (2014) is refers to a specific position in physical space. In the present study, location is seen as the residing within which area take place. Students refer to locate in urban and rural is classified here. There could be variations in educational opportunities of children due to location. Parents in the rural areas are poorer and less exposed than those in the urban areas. The result revealed was encouraging in relation to positive intellectual development. The children in the rural areas are not acquainted with some electrical gadgets like computers, recreational facilities such as cinemas and film shows, reading places like public libraries. These are known to enrich the education of children in urban areas and these may influence on their academic achievement. From personal observations, it seems that male students have more opportunities and access to the above mentioned facilities than the female hence the probable influence of gender.

Many Nigerian students are performing below expectation in their academics. The tread in the academic achievement of secondary school students in Nigeria in the last two decades has become a major source of concern to all stakeholders in the educational sector (Nwadinigu and Azaka-Obieke, 2012). There is a mass decline in the achievement of students in both National Examination Council (NECO) and the West Africa Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (WASSCE) (Dawa, Adamu and Olayomi, 2015). Adesemowo (2015) further stressed the issue by explaining that the annual release of senior secondary certificate examination (SSCE) conducted by West Africa Examination Council (WAEC) depicts the problematic nature and generalization of poor secondary school students’ achievement in different school subjects especially mathematics among secondary school students. The stakeholders in education agree that the huge investment on education is not yielding the desired dividend.

According to Nwadinigu and Azuka-Obieke, 2012, poor academic achievement is an achievement that is adjudged by the examiners as falling below an expected standard. It is when a student performance is below his actual ability. It could be as a result of several factors such as poor teaching, psychological factors, unpreparedness on the part of the students, poor learning environment, location of schools and the evaluation process.

Mathematics been the chief corner stone in the sciences is not left out in this issue. The results of WAEC from 2011 to 2015 in mathematics indicated that a high proportion of students recorded failure grade F9 and low pass grade of P7 and P8. Also from 2015 – 2017 the percentage of students who obtained five credit including English and Mathematics ranges between 15% to 31% (Uwadiae, 2012). Igbokwe, (20112) stressed that without mathematics there will be no technology and without technology there will be no modern society. This implies that a strong background in mathematics is critical for the nation’s development. It is not surprising therefore the interest of WAEC, mathematics teachers, educationist, parents and government in finding solutions to the problems that militate against the teaching and learning of mathematics in secondary schools.

Statement of the Problem

Despite the important of mathematics to every individual’s life, a lot of problems have been influencing the academic achievement of students in learning mathematics and Gender, location, and socio-economic status have been identified as some of the factors that can influence students’ academic achievement in mathematics. Previous studies on the influence of these variables on academic achievement are not conclusive. While some of the findings of the studies discovered that, there is a significant influence of these variables on students’ academic achievement.

Some studies equally discovered that these variables do not significantly influence students’ academic achievement. There is need to actually find out the influence of gender and school location on students’ academic achievement in mathematics.  Over the years, the achievement of student’s in mathematics examinations in Nigerian Secondary Schools has been poor despite the assumed easy nature of the subject. This has been attributed to several factors such as inadequate laboratory equipment, methods of teaching, student’s attitude, teachers attitude, inadequate facilities mention but a few. Furthermore, the influence of gender and school location in mathematics achievement which shows to be contradictory has not been resolved. For example, some researchers revealed that there was no significant difference in the achievement of male and female and urban and rural students in mathematics while some studies observed significant difference in the achievement due to gender and school location. Consequently, the problem of this study is to find out the influence of gender and location in Mathematics achievement among Junior Secondary School in Delta State.

Research Questions

1. To what extent is inadequate facility perceived to influence the achievement of mathematics among secondary school students in Delta State?
2. To what extent is (gender and location of students) perceived to influence the academic achievement of students in mathematics?
3. To what extent is the attitude of students perceived to influence their academic achievement in mathematics?
4. To what extent does the attitude of teacher towards teaching influence the academic achievement of students in mathematics among junior secondary schools in Delta State?

Research Hypothesis

1. H₀: There is no significant different between gender and location of        mathematics students in junior secondary school

H₁: There is significant relationship between gender and location of         mathematics students in junior secondary school

2. H₀: There is no significant different between urban and rural students        performance in mathematics achievement in junior secondary        school

H₁: There is no significant relationship between urban and rural          students performance in mathematics achievement in junior          secondary school 

Purpose of the Study

The broad purpose of this study is to examine the influence of gender and location in mathematics achievement among Junior Secondary School in Delta State.

The specific objectives are to:

1. Find out whether inadequate facilities can influence the achievement of mathematics among secondary school students in Delta State
2. Find out whether the gender and location of students can influence their academic achievement in mathematics among junior secondary schools in Delta State.
3. Find out how the attitude of students can influence their academic achievement in mathematics among junior secondary schools in Delta State.
4. Find out how the attitude of teachers can influence the academic achievement of students in mathematics among junior secondary schools in Delta State.

Significance of the Study

The findings of the study would be beneficial to mathematics students, mathematics teachers and the school administrator

This study would be relevant to the students because after going through this paper they will be able to understand how they can influence their academic achievement in mathematics and having understand this, there will be able to make necessary adjustment to help improve in their academic performance in school.

This study will be of great benefit also to the mathematics teacher because it will enable them to be aware of how their influence the academic performance of students in mathematics in junior secondary school, having gone through the paper properly the teacher will be able to know the necessary measures to use in other to improve the academic performance of students such as the appropriate instructional materials to use to influence the teaching and learning processes. \

The findings of this study will enable the school administrator to understand how to provide all adequate material needed to improve the performance of students in mathematics and then provide the needed materials. 

Scope of the Study

The focus of the study is on the influence of gender and location in mathematics achievement among Junior Secondary School in Delta State.

Definition of Term

Gender: gender can be define either of the two sexes (male and female), especially when considered with reference to social and cultural differences rather than biological ones. The term is also used more broadly to denote a range of identities that do not correspond to established ideas of male and female.

Influence: Influence is the capacity to have an effect on the character, development, or behaviour of someone or something, or the effect itself.

Location: A location is the place where something happens or is situated. The term location generally implies a higher degree of certainty than place, the latter often indicating an entity with an ambiguous boundary, relying more on human or social attributes of place identity and sense of place than on geometry.

Mathematics: the abstract science of number, quantity, and space, either as abstract concepts ( pure mathematics ), or as applied to other disciplines such as physics and engineering ( applied mathematics ).

Mathematics achievement: Mathematical Achievement is the competency shown by the student in the subject mathematics. Its measure is the score on an achievement test in mathematics.

Limitations to the Study

The limitation for this study was that some of the respondents could not give genuine response during the collection of data and some school authorities did not co-operate with the researcher during the period of collection of data.

Pages:  53

Category: Project

Format:  Word & PDF               

Chapters: 1-5                                          

Source: Imsuinfo

Material contains Table of Content, Abstract and References.