Female distance education students overtaking males in science

Abstract

This study was initiated to compare the performance of male and female distance education students of the University of Education, Winneba in Integrated Science. This was done by randomly selecting the cumulated grades of male and female students of 2002, 2003 and 2004-year groups in Integrated Science for analysis.
The results of Integrated Science for the Basic School Teacher 1 for the 2002-year group indicate that 19.02% (31) males and 6.13% (10) females failed whilst 55.21% (90) males and 58.90% (96) females obtained grades between C+ and A. The differences between the means were highly significant (W = 13; df = 8,P< 0.01). For the 2003-year group 7.87% (20) and 8.27% (21) males; and 10.63% (27) and 19.69% (50) females scored grades A and B+ respectively. The differences between the means were highly significant (W = 17; df = 8, P<0.01). In the case of 2004 year group 6.11% (16), 11.46% (30), 22.90% (60) and 22.90% (60) males; and 8.40% (22), 15.65% (41), 23.66% (62), and 22.90% (60) females scored grades A, B+, B, and C+ respectively. The differences between the means were significant (W = 9.5; df = 6, P < 0.05). The results of the 2002-year group in Integrated Science for the Basic School Teacher 2 showed that majority of both males and females scored grade D. In all cases the females generally registered better performance than the males. The differences between the means were significant (W = 10.5, df = 6, P < 0.05).


Global Journal of Educational Research Vol. 5 (1&2) 2006: pp. 11-16