Abstract

EFFECTS OF GENDER AND SCHOOL LOCATION ON MATHEMATICS ACHIEVEMENT OF SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN KATSINA EDUCATIONAL ZONE, KATSINA STATE, NIGERIA

Akissani I. Muntari I. & Ahmed M

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Abstract The study investigated the effects of gender and location on mathematics achievement of senior secondary school students in Katsina educational zone, Katsina State, Nigeria. The design adopted for the study was a descriptive research of the survey type. The population of the study consisted of thirteen thousand, seven hundred and sixty-five (13,765) senior secondary two (SS 2) students in the zone. Sample of two hundred (200) students comprising 100 males and 100 femalesfrom four co-educational schools were drawn using simple random sampling and purposivesampling respectively.The instrument used for data collection was a 30-itemMathematics Achievement Test (MAT). The instrument was validated by twoexperts in mathematics education and one in measurement and evaluation. The reliability coefficient obtained was 0.81. Based on the objectives, this study was guided by two (2) research questions which was answered using descriptive statistics of mean and standard deviation. Two (2) null hypotheses stated were tested at 0.05 level of significance using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). The results obtained from data analysis revealed that there was no significant difference in the mathematics achievement with respect to gender. Findings from the study also showed that students from the urban area achieved significantly better than students from the rural areainmathematics. Based on the findings, it was recommendedamong others that Government and other Stakeholders in education through relevant agencies should equip rural schools with facilities that are available in urban schools to improve students? mathematics achievement in rural schools and Government should also provide adequate incentives in form of rural teaching allowance that will attract teachers to the rural areas. Keywords: Education, Mathematics, Gender, School location.

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