Effect of Gender on Students Academic Achievement in Secondary School Social Studies

Abstract

This paper investigated the effect of gender on students academic achievement in secondary school Social Studies. The study adopted a quasi-experimental design (2x2 non-randomized pre-test, post-test control group) comprising six groups made up of four experimental groups and two control groups. Six schools and one hundred and eighty (180) Upper basic 2 students in Delta and Edo States made up the sample for the study. Six intact classes were randomly selected and assigned to experimental and control groups. The instrument used in this study is the achievement instrument tagged “Social Studies Achievement Test” (SSAT).  The validity and reliability of these instruments were established. The reliability of the instruments was established using Pearson product moment correlation coefficient (r). And the reliability coefficients obtained was 0.79. Means, Standard Deviation, Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) Result revealed that: gender (male/female) had no significant effect on students achievement in Social Studies and finally, result showed that there was significant interaction effect of treatment and gender on students academic performance in Social Studies. Based on the findings, some recommendations were made.

Keywords: Gender, academic achievement