Gender Differences and Mathematics Achievement of Senior High School Students: A Case of Ghana National College

Abstract

A quasi-experimental research was conducted to find out differences in mathematics performance of students using performance assessme[nt-driven instructions at the senior high school level at Ghana National College in Cape Coast. Two Form 1 science classes were used for the study and were assigned as experimental and control groups. These two classes were randomly chosen for the study. The experimental group consisted of forty-two students and the control group forty students. Data was collected through the use of an open ended test in mathematics. The independent sample t-test and paired sample t-test were used to find the differences between the groups. The experimental group differed significantly on the post-test scores from the control group. This study identified that PA-driven instruction improved students’ problem-solving abilities and showed no bias among gender. It is recommended that mathematics teachers use PA-driven instructions and performance assessment task in their mathematics lessons.

Keywords: Gender, performance assessment and performance-driven instructions.