Gender, Interest and School Type as Predictors of Academic Achievement in Trigonometry among Secondary School Students in Kano State, Nigeria

Muhammad Umar Sumaila, Maitama Yusuf Bello

Abstract


The study investigated and analysed students’ gender, interest and school type as predictors of academic achievement in trigonometry among secondary school students in Kano State, Nigeria. To guide the study, three research questions and three hypotheses were formulated. The research design for the study was survey design of ex post facto type. The population of the study consisted of nine thousand eight hundred and seventy (9,870) SS II students from which a sample of three hundred and seventy students were selected in accordance with Krejcie and Morgan (19070). The procedure for the data collection were administration of questionnaire (Students’ Trigonometry Interest Questionnaire STIQ) and an achievement test (Trigonometry students’ achievement test TSPT). Descriptive statistics (frequency and percentage) and t-test were employed to analyse the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The findings of the study showed that female students’ performed slightly higher than the male students’ in trigonometry. Students’ interest in trigonometry is a predictor of achievement while the school students attended is not a predictor of achievement in trigonometry. The study recommends that teachers should endeavour to make the students courageous enough to be able to face the tasks ahead of them (learning trigonometry). The study concludes that students’ gender and school type are not predictors of students’ academic achievements in trigonometry in Kano State, Nigeria but interest is a predictor.


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