Gender Difference and Problem Solving Abilities in Mathematics among Senior Secondary School Students

Abstract

The study examined gender difference and Problem-Solving abilities in mathematics among senior secondary school students in Port-Harcourt local government area Rivers State, Nigeria. Design of the study was ex-post facto. The population of the study involved all senior secondary school III students in Port-Harcourt local government area. 373 senior secondary school III students achieved through intact class method participated in the study. Six secondary schools (two co-educational, two exclusively boys and two, exclusively girls) in Port Harcourt were purposively selected for the study. The instrument for data collection was a mathematics problem-solving test collated by the researcher from mathematics textbooks and administered to the students to ascertain and compare the problem-solving abilities of male and female students in mathematics. A reliability coefficient of 0.82 was obtained using Pearson Product Moment Correlation formula. Students’ scores of 50% and above are classified as good performance, while scores of 49%and below are classified as poor performance. Two research questions and one hypothesis guided the study. Simple mean was used to answer research questions 1 and 2. Students’ t-test score was used to test the null hypothesis at 0.05 significant level. Results of the analyses revealed that the male students had higher mean scores in mathematics than the female students in the two groups classified as good and poor performance respectively. The t-test score showed that there is a significant difference between male and female problem-solving abilities in mathematics in favour of the male students. Based on the findings, recommendations were made.