ANALYSIS OF GENDER PERFORMANCE IN SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL PRACTICAL PHYSICS IN GOMBE METROPOLIS, GOMBE STATE

Abstract

The study analysed the gender and performance of senior secondary school students in practical physics in the Gombe metropolis, Gombe state. The study adopted the pure experimental research design of randomized subjects, post-tests, and experimental groups. The target population comprised all Senior Secondary School second year (S.S II) physics students in Gombe metropolis, Gombe State in the year 2017. The study was guided by three research questions and one hypothesis. A random sampling technique was adopted to select 80 subjects, 40 male and 40 female from the two randomly selected schools in Gombe metropolis. The instrument used for data collection was the Practical Physics Achievement Test (PPAT) which was adopted from NECO (E-5051) and NABTEB (2015) practical physics past questions. The instrument was assumed to be of high reliability since the test items were adopted from standardized tests. The data collected were analysed using mean, standard deviation, and t-test at a level of significance of 0.05. This indicates that there is a significant difference in the practical physics performance of male and female students in favour of the male students in the PPAT, t = 0.704, df = 78, p > 0.05. Based on the findings, it is recommended with the help of qualified teachers, female students should be encouraged to participate actively in the practical aspect of the subject. This may enhance their achievement and motivate them to study physics and physics-related disciplines in secondary schools and tertiary institutions.