EFFECTIVENESS OF PROBLEM OF SOLVING APPROACH ON GENDER RELATED DIFFERENCES IN TEACHING SECONDARY SCHOOL CHEMISTRY STUDENTS MATHEMATICAL CONCEPTS OF CHEMISTRY IN ONDO STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The study identified Mole Concept in Ordinary Level West African School Certificate (WASC) syllabus, and examined the effectiveness of Problem Solving Approach (PSA) on male and female chemistry students in Senior Secondary Schools in Akure South Local Government Area of Ondo State, Nigeria. The study adopted a pre-test post-test experimental design. The sample consisted of 60 participants selected from two non co-educational senior secondary schools in Akure South Local Government Area of Ondo State, Nigeria. Two intact classes from Senior School I were chosen from the two selected schools comprising 32 females and 28 males. The two intact classes were assigned school A (females) and schools B (Male). These two intact classes were taught mole concepts separately using Problem Solving Approach in their respective schools. A 20 item instrument tagged Mole Concept Achievement Test (MCAT) was developed by the researcher and ascertained for reliability (r= 0.78, p<0.05). The study was guided by two hypotheses. Data collected were analysed using t-test. The results showed that there was no significant difference in the performance of female (X=16.039) and male (X= 16.013) students after treatment, t=0.087, p<0.05. The study concluded that Problems Solving Approach is an effective method of teaching both male and female secondary school chemistry students the mole concept. Article visualizations: