Mathematics Education Forum

May 2009, Vol. 1, Issue 25. Year 13, pp 44-46

Gender Differences at Achievement Level of Eight

Graderes in Mathematics

Dr.Indra Kumari

Bajracharya

Background of the study

Gender difference in learning mathematics continued to

attract researcher in recent days. Women education was started

very late in many countries. Differences in the educational

opportunities available for male and female are clearly illustrated by

literacy rates of different societies. Gender equity in mathematics

education is always a complex issue. Although boys and girls take

the same course and textbooks in mathematics in the school, there

is difference in achievement pattern. The literacy rates clearly show

the effect of gender difference in education. Literacy rate for women

is 15% where as male literacy is 40% in Nepal. This kind of

difference shows unequal access to educational opportunities. Lack

of equity in education has been a serious problem in developing

countries like Nepal. Variables such as social systems, culture

customs, economic condition and traditions effect gender equity. In

most cases, the trend of sending girls to schools has been affected

by the notion of making them literate in the first place whereas boys

have special focus in educational activities in part of the family.

They are supposed to carry on the social tradition and expected to


Lecture of mathematics education, Mahendra Ratna Campus of Tahachal, Kathmandu
generate livelihood. This situation is attributed to the fact that boys

are invaluable and indispensable assets in the family and society.

However, at the present moment number of school going girls have

risen sharply. The pattern of achievement is a significant aspect in

educational researches.

In Nepal, there is not any evidence related to gender

difference in academic performance, which based on scientific

research. Therefore, it is not possible to claim about gender

difference in mathematics achievement. Below some study was

shown sex difference in achievement. These studies are -

CERID (1982) has conducted a study on national achievement

status of those who have completed Primary schools. The research

concludes that performance of boys is better than the girls. CERES

(1995) has conducted a study also shown in boys' students have

performed better (57%) than the girl students (49%). Another study

conducted by Joshi (1997) entitled- Determinants of Mathematics

Achievement of Grade X Students for Ph.D. In this study, 431 boys’

students and 423 girls were used to analyzing mean differences

between boys and girls in the mathematics achievement scores. The

achievement score of boys was higher than the average score of

girls in all test and subtest level of mathematics (arithmetic, algebra

and geometry). When variability of scores was compared girls were

found to be more variable than boys on all subtests although the

differences were significant for only the total test and algebra

subtest. Another, EDSC (1999) conducted entitled- National

Assessment Level Of Grade V Students was submitted to the Basic

and primary Education Project also shown boys' achievement did

better than the girls. CERID (1999) conducted a study entitled-

Assessment Of Learning Achievement Of Lower Secondary Children

also boys’ achievement score are better than the girls. Bajracharya

(1999) conducted a study entitled- Achievement in Mathematics

Among the Fifth Grade Student in Some Selected Schools in Lalitpur

result does not support sex difference in mathematics in primary

level. Neupane (2001) studied entitled- Mathematics Achievement

Of Primary School Children Of Various Ethnic Groups In Nepal for

Ph.d. the researcher was selected 250 boys and 250 girls from

ethnic groups of students. The groups of boys and girls of selected

ethnic groups of student differ from each other with respect to

mathematics achievement. The result shown that the boys are

better than girls in mathematics. Vaidya (2002) conducted a study

entitled- An Investigation into structural relationships between

family dynamics and students’ school achievements for Ph.D . In

this study, 330 male students and 300 females students were used

to asses the differences between the mathematics achievement

scores. The result showed that the males (348.79) had a higher

mean score than their female (339.20) but it is not significant at

0.05.

However no study has been conducted yet to see examine the

gender influenced in mathematics achievement at lower secondary

level. Hence the main objective of this study is to assess the

performance level of mathematics between boys and girls of grade

VIII.

Study Procedure

At the first stage, schools in each selected district were

categorized into two strata according to their location - schools in

urban area and schools in rural area. Hereafter referred to as

urban schools and rural schools. The schools located in

municipality areas in each sample district were considered as

urban schools whereas schools located in Village Development

Committees (VDCs) were considered as rural schools. Each group

of schools was further divided into two groups according to their

type - community schools and institutional schools. So, all the

schools of three districts were classified into four strata (2 areas ×

2 types of schools = 4 strata). The determination of sample size

and procedure for sample selection was based on sampling

frames designed by Kenneth Ross for designing the national

sample for data collection. The sampling frame suggested

selecting at least 20 students from each sample school in the

research. Therefore, the researcher has followed Ross’s sampling

guideline and selected 860 student samples from 43 sample

schools. The size of total number of student samples used in this

research was determined by desired accuracy of 95% confidence

for the value of sample estimate. For a reasonably large sample,

it is possible to assume normality of the distribution of sample

estimates (Kish, 1965, pp. 13-14). Altogether 43 Schools were

 selected randomly within the designed strata, which would be

proportional to total number of schools in each stratum.

Consequently, 27 schools (17 urban schools and 10 rural schools)

in Kathmandu, 12 schools (6 urban schools and 6 rural schools) in

Lalitpur district and 4 schools (2 urban school and 2 rural school)

in Bhaktapur district were selected as sample schools. From each

group of schools twenty students were selected randomly.

Therefore altogether 860 students were the sample of the study.

This study was based on achievement scores of grade eight

students. Mathematics Achievement tests with 64 full marks, which

was prepared and finalized by a study, whose reliability is claimed

0.90 in her study was used in this study. The researcher visited the

sample schools and administered the achievement test. In order to

analyse obtain the data were filled in SPSS 12 version program.

With the helped of SPSS program scores obtained by each student

mathematic score was calculated. T-test was also performed in

order to find out whether differences between mean scores of boys

and girls were significant or not.

Results of the Study

In order to accomplish the objective of the present research

mean and standard deviation of scores was classified into two

groups (i) achievement score of boys and (ii) achievement score

of girls. The mean and standard deviation of scores of each group

was calculated. In order to test significance of difference between

 the scores of two groups of the students, independent t-test was

calculated.

Again urban and rural students were grouped in terms of sex

and school types. The mean and standard deviation for each of

these four groups were calculated and their t-test were also found

out.

Gender Category in Mathematics of students' achievement

The mean and standard deviation of boys and girls and t-value

are presented in table 1.

Table 1
Means & Standard Deviations for t-test Scores of Gender
Category in Mathematics
tailed) Significance (2-

95%
Std. Deviation

Mean Difference

Confidence
Group N Mea interval of
s n the
difference
t

Lowe Uppe
r r
Boy 9.9
465 45.83
8 2.5 0.0
3.76 1.24 3.95
Girl 10.1 9 0
395 43.24
9

The result shows that average score for boys was higher than

the average score of girls. The t-value of the test score was t score =

3.76 which is significant at 0.05 level. The lower and upper limit was

positive. It indicates the direction of boys’ achievement score was

higher than girls.

Gender Category in Mathematics of Urban students'

achievement

Achievement scores obtained by each urban student were

divided into (i) the scores of boys and (ii) the scores of girls. The

mean and standard deviation of each group of students are

presented in table 2.

Table 2
Means & Standard Deviations for t-test Scores of Gender
Category in Mathematics

(2-tailed)Significance

95 % confidence
Group N Mean t

Interval of the
Difference
Std. Deviation

Mean Difference

Lower

Upper

263 46.41 10.13

Boys 2.3 2.6 0.00 0.61
4.123
7 5 8 3
237 44.05 9.81
Girls
The result shows that average score of boys was higher than

the average score of girls in mathematic. The t-value of scores were

found 2.65 which is significant at 0.008 level. The lower and upper

limit of scores was positive. It indicates the direction of boys’

achievement score in is higher than girls.

Gender Category in Mathematics of Rural students'

achievement
 The mean and standard deviation of each group of students t-

value are presented in table 3.

Table 3
Means & Standard Deviations for t-test Scores of Gender
Category in Mathematics

(2-tailed)Significance

95 % confidence
Group N Mean t

Interval of the
Difference
Std. Deviation

Mean Difference

Lower

Upper
201 44.99 9.75
Boys 2.8 2.6 0.00
0.708 4.948
3 2 9
159 42.16 10.64
Girls

The result shows that average score of boys was higher than

the average score of girls in mathematic. The t-value of scores was

found 2.62which is significant at 0.009 levels. The lower and upper

limit of scores was positive. It indicates the direction of boys’

achievement score in is higher than girls.

Gender Difference and Achievement Level

The result of gender differences in lower secondary level

mathematics was also analysed by chi square test. First of all,

achievement level was categorized on the basis of national level of

achievement standard or S.L.C. The proportion of achievement level

of 465 boys and 395 girls in mathematics score was categorized

into four groups presented in the following table 12.

Table 4
Gender and Level of Achievement

1st. 2nd 3rd Significan

Gend Fail
Divisio Divisio Division ce (2-
er
n n χ 2
sided)
Boy 364 79 20 1
11.86 0. 008
Girl 278 82 30 5

The differences of level of achievement in four categories

were examined by chi-square test. The value of χ 2

was calculated

to be 11.85 at p < 0.008, which is significant. Thus, the results of chi

square test reveal that gender and achievement were related to

each other. Hence, it also supports gender difference in the four

categories related to the level of achievement in the lower

secondary schools. The mean difference is also presented following

graph (fig. 1):

Relation of Gender and Student Achievement Level

 Figure 1

However, the result of all four levels of achievement,

gender differences in mathematics in lower secondary schools

depicts that mean score of boys is higher than the girls.

 Conclusion of the Study

Based on the above results, it was found the boys mean

score was higher than that of girls in total sample students, which

is also significant. Again, mean score was compared the urban

schools students. There was also found the boys mean score was

higher than that of girls which is also significant. Similarly, mean

score was also compared between boys and girls within the rural

schools. It was found that the boys mean score was higher than

that of girls which is also significant. the result concluded that

boys mean score was found significantly higher than girls' in

mathematics achievement of eight grades.

References

Best, John W. and James V. Kahn (2000). Research in Education,

New Delhi: Prentice Hall of India.

Bajracharya, Indra K., (1999). Achievement in Mathematics Among

The Fifth Grade Student in Some Selected Schools in Lalitpur,

Journal of the Mathematics Education Forum, 11: 5.

Kathmandu.

CERES, (1995). A Study on the Impact of Grade One New Materials

on Learning and Teaching, Kathmandu: CERES.

CERID, (1999). Assessment of Learning Achievement of Lower-

Secondary Children, Kathmandu: CERID.

EDSC, (1999). National Assessment Level of Grade Five Students,

Kathmandu: ESDC.
Joshi, Hemant. (1997). Determinants of Mathematics Achievement

Using Structural Equation Modeling, Ph. D. Dissertation,

University of Alberta. Published (Pub No: NQ23000).

Neupane, Shiva Ram. (2001). Mathematics Achievement of Primary

School Children of Various Ethnic Groups in Nepal,

Unpublished Ph. D Dissertation, Banaras Hindu University.

Vaidya, Shambhu Narayan. (2002). An Investigation into Structural

Relationships between Family Dynamics and students School

Achievement(At Study with Secondary Level Adolesents in

Public Schools in the Kathmandu Valley), Unpublished Ph. D

Dissertation, Danmarks The Danish University of Education.