A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF MALE AND FEMALE STUDENTS ACHIEVEMENT IN ALGEBRA AMONG SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN BOSSO LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA, NIGER STATE

Abstract

The study compared the achievement of male and female in algebra among senior secondary school students in Bosso Local Government Area, Niger State. The major objectives of the study were to: Find out the difference in the achievement of male and female students in algebra in senior secondary school Mathematics and, determine the difference in ability level (high, moderate and low) of male and female students in algebra in senior secondary school Mathematics. Cross-sectional survey research design was adopted for the study. The population of the study comprised of 5671 students of senior secondary school two (SS 2) out of which a sample size of three hundred and seventy-four students (374) both male and female were drawn from three (3) different senior secondary schools, using simple random sampling technique. Mathematics Achievement Test (MAT) was the instrument used to obtain the relevant data. Experts in Mathematics Education validated the instrument. The reliability index of the instrument (MAT) was established at 0.75 using the Split Half Method of establishing reliability. The descriptive statistics of mean, standard deviation, and percentage were used to answer the research questions while independent t-test was used to test the hypothesis at 0.05 level of significance. The results of the analysis revealed that, there is a significant difference in both the achievement scores and ability level of male and female students in Algebra in favor of the females. It was recommended among others that, Mathematics teaching and evaluation strategies should be gender bias-free. This way, males and females will tend to see themselves as equal, capable of competing and collaborating in classroom activities.