Effect of Gender Friendly Teacher Practices on Students’ Participation Interest and Achievement in Chemistry

Abstract

This study was designed to investigate the effect of gender friendly classroom teacher practices on students’ participation, interest and achievement in chemistry. The design of the study was quasi-experimental. The non-equivalent pretest, post-test was used. Three hundred and four (304) senior secondary one (SS I) students in co-educational schools formed the sample. Four co-educational schools were purposively selected from fifty one co-educational schools in Nsukka education zone of Enugu State. Intact classes were randomly assigned to experimental group and control group. The experimental group was exposed to the gender friendly classroom teacher practices (GFCTP) while the control groups were exposed to the conventional classroom teacher practices (CIP). Nine research questions were formulated and nine null hypotheses were also postulated and tested at 0.05 level of significance. Three sets of instruments were used for data collection namely: Chemistry Achievement Test (CAT), Chemistry Interest Scale (CIS) and Classroom Participation Index Scale (CPIS). These instruments were validated on face and content validity. The reliability of the CAT was determined using Kuder-Richardson formula 20 (K-R 20) and a reliability index of 0.94 was obtained. Crombach Alfa was used to determine the reliability of CIS and a reliability index of 0.804 was obtained. An inter rates reliability was done for the participation checklist using Kendall’s W Test and an index of 0.77 was obtained. The data obtained was analyzed using mean and standard deviation for answering research questions while ANCOVA was employed for testing the hypotheses. The observation check list was analyzed using Pearson product moment correlation coefficient. The results revealed among other things that the use of gender friendly classroom teacher practices, enhanced students’ participation in chemistry classes, increased their interest and promoted high level of achievement in chemistry. Teaching with GFCIP had significant effect on the students’ mean achievement, participation and interest scores in chemistry, and the students taught with the GFCTP gained more interest in chemistry; Gender has no significant effect on students’ mean achievement score in chemistry and has no significant effect on students’ mean participation score in chemistry, but has significant effect on students’ mean interest score in chemistry. The interaction effect of method and gender on students’ achievement and participation was not significant, but showed significant interaction effect on the interest of students in chemistry. The findings made the researcher to conclude that using gender friendly practices in teaching chemistry (such as demonstrating a caring attitude to the students weather male or female, holding the same behavioral expectations for all students of all genders, providing a non-threatening environment for both boys and girls, elimination of bias in the classroom practices like in task assignment) increases students’ interest in chemistry and gives them room to participate in all class works and enhanced achievement. GFCTP should therefore be upheld by practicing teachers and should be incorporated into teacher training programs.