Influence of Gender and School Location on Senior Secondary School Student’s Achievement in Biology Inagbani Education Zone of Enugu State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study examined the influence of gender and school location on senior secondary school student’s achievement in biology in Agbani Education Zone of Enugu State. 328 students were sampled (164 males and 164 females respectively) from Four (4) co-education schools and four intact SS3 classes both from rural and urban schools were used. The sampling technique used was multiple stage sampling technique. The research design used was ex-post facto design since the students used for the study has been assigned to appropriate tends of gender (male and female) and school location (rural and urban) and cannot be manipulated by the researcher. Biology Achievement Test (BAT) was used as the instrument for data collection. Two (2) research questions and two (2) research hypotheses were formulated. Research questions were answered using mean, simple percentage while the hypotheses were answered using z-test at 0.05 level of significance.. The findings showed that there was a significant difference in the mean achievement score of male and female students. Male students achieved higher than their female counterparts in Biology Achievement Test. Findings further revealed that there was significant difference in the achievement mean scores of students in rural and urban school located areas. The urban students achieved higher than rural students. Based on the findings, it was recommended that government should recruit more qualified biology teachers and distribute them equitably to schools irrespective of location and also females should be provided with adequate motivation to make them perform better in sciences.

Keywords: Gender, School location, Achievement, Biology