Gender as a Determinant of Students' Interest and Academic Performance in Basic Science Taught Using Think-Pair-Share and Concept Mapping Strategies in Benue State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study examined gender as a determinant of students' interest and academic performance in Basic Science taught using Think-Pair-Share (TPS) and Concept Mapping (CM) instructional strategies in the Vandeikya Education Zone of Benue State, Nigeria. Four research questions and four null hypotheses guided the study. A quasi-experimental, non-equivalent pretest-posttest design was adopted, with a sample of 215 Upper Basic II students, 109 in the TPS group (55 male, 54 female) and 106 in the CM group (53 male, 53 female), drawn through a three-stage sampling procedure. Data were collected using the Basic Science Interest Questionnaire (BSIQ, Cronbach's Alpha = 0.85) and the Basic Science Performance Test (BSPT, K-R21 = 0.79), and analysed using mean, standard deviation, and Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) at the 0.05 level of significance, with pretest scores as covariates. Findings showed no significant gender difference in interest, F (1, 106) = 0.101, p = 0.752, or performance, F (1, 106) = 1.176, p = 0.281, among students taught using TPS. Among students taught using CM, there was no significant gender difference in interest, F (1, 103) = 1.177, p = 0.281, but a significant difference in performance favouring female students, F (1, 103) = 4.957, p = 0.028. The study concluded that TPS is gender-neutral in its effect on both interest and performance, while CM is gender-neutral for interest but gender-sensitive for performance, favouring female students. It was recommended that teachers using Concept Mapping pay deliberate attention to male students' performance outcomes.