Influence of Gender and Location on Students’ Achievement in Chemical Bonding

Is students’ achievement in chemical bonding a function of their gender and school location? This question and two hypotheses guided the study. Pre-test-post-test non-equivalent control group quasi-experimental design was used, with a population of 5,966 senior secondary class one (SS1) chemistry students in 57 senior secondary schools in Nsukka education zone of Enugu State, Nigeria. Adopting purposive sampling technique, nine schools were selected to draw 311 SS1 students. Intact classes were used. Instruments for data collection were Students’ Interest Scale on Chemical Bonding (SISCB) and Chemical Bonding Achievement Test (CBAT). The instruments were validated and had reliability coefficients of 0.68 and 0.87 respectively. Regular chemistry teachers of the selected schools taught the students using instructional software package method of teaching (ISPMT). Research questions were answered, using descriptive statistics. The hypotheses were tested using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) at P < 0.05 level of significance. Result of the study showed that ( i ) mean achievement score (10.09) of female students was higher than that (8.02) scored by the male students; (ii) mean achievement score of rural students (9.06) was higher than that of the urban students (8.76); (iii) gender as a main effect on students’ achievement in chemical bonding is not significant at p < 0.05; and (iv) location as a main effect on students’ achievement in chemical bonding is significant at p < 0.05. The educational implications of the research findings for students, teachers and teacher-training institutions are discussed and recommendations made. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2016.v7n3p30