Gender and parental socio-economic background as determinant of pupils’ multiplicative thinking

Abstract

The study investigated the influence of gender and socio-economic background on pupils’ multiplicative thinking among basic 5 and 6 pupils’ in Bayelsa State, Nigeria. A total of two thousand two hundred and forty pupils were selected form 80 basic schools using the stratified random sampling technique. Ex-post facto design was used for the study. Two instruments were used for the study. These were the Multiplicative Thinking Performance Test (MTPT) and Students Variable Questionnaire (SVQ). The instruments were constructed, validated and used for the study. Research questions were raised and answered including two hypotheses formulated and tested. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions and the hypotheses were tested using Independent t-test, One-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and the Scheffe’s Post Hoc Comparison. The results showed significant influence of parental socioeconomic status and non-significant influence of gender on pupils’ multiplicative thinking. Conclusion from the findings led to the recommendation that Parents should provide a conducive home environment with appropriate materials such as mathematics textbooks, mathematical games and toys to enhance the development of pupils’ multiplicative thinking.

Key words: Gender, Socio-economic background, multiplicative thinking