Comparison between boy and girls on the academic performance in physics department
Introduction
Background of the Study
Education is an important instrument for the all-round development of an individual as well as a vital tool for rational development. According to Kirk (2007), education is the systematic training and instruction that result in acquiring knowledge and abilities, mental power and development of characters.
Education implies the transmission of what is worthwhile in those who become committed to it Peter,(2020) in Okoro (2019)]. The study of science will not be left alone without including physics. Therefore, physics is one of the three main branches of pure science. The other two being chemistry and biology and it is in this knowledge that the National Policy on Education (Fourth Edition, 2004) spelt out that physics is one of the compulsory subjects for students who are science inclined in the Senior Secondary School. Physics has the major capabilities of playing a major role in finding solutions to many of the problems facing the human race although it does not have all the answers but the science has developed enough to have invented nuclear weapons which remains a global threat.
Science education is of great importance for the technological advancement of any nation, this is why the National Policy on Education (NPE, 2004) emphasized the need for teaching and learning of science subjects. The teaching of sciences offers students the ability to access a wealth of knowledge and information which will contribute to an overall understanding of how and why things work like they do. Science is able to explain natural phenomena and also equips students with useful knowledge for solving scientific problems.
Egbugera (2020) has argued that a basic issue in having physics in the school curriculum is purposeful. Further, he stated that for every endeavor, there should be a purpose, an objective goal which may be general or specific of short or long term nature. The purpose of teaching physics in most developed countries is not just to have another subject on the school curricular, it is clearly defined and relates very shortly to specific and unambiguous policies and manifestation in good curricular planning and innovations.
The primary aim of including physics in the school syllables is to understand how nature works. Physics is about finding things out and understanding what lies behind everyday phenomenon. In Nigeria, physics has not been given a priority place, efforts towards promoting science generally have not been in full scale for students in senior secondary schools and have not been encouraging and needs urgent attention.
Adegboye (2018), states that some factors responsible for the decay and poor performance of male and female students in physics are as follows.
- Poor attitude on the part of the students
- Apathy on the part of the students and teachers
- Lack of infrastructure like laboratories teaching resources,
- Mathematical factor
- Poor quality for teaching staff in terms of training and competency in physics. The controversy could therefore be said to continue as to which of the gender have a better academic performance in physics. The study therefore assessed difference in academic performance of male and female in physics of selected secondary schools in Onitsha Educational Zone of Anambra
Statement of the Problem
The research findings of Ogbodo (1990) clearly revealed that many of the students have negative attitudes toward physics and this resulted to their poor results in the subject, physics. Efforts must be geared towards presenting students with the good background and solid base for good results on the Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination (SSCE).
The main problem of this research work was on comparison between boy and girls on the academic performance in physics department
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