Sex-Differences in Attitudes towards Mathematics of Junior Secondary School Pupils in the Central Region of Ghana

Abstract

The study investigated junior secondary school pupils' attitudes towards mathematics. In addition, it investigated gender differences in attitudes towards the subject. The purposive sampling method was used to select nine schools in the Cape Coast Municipality, involving 581 pupils. Questionnaires on attitudes towards mathematics were used to gather data. The data was analyzed using the computer. The analysis involved calculating means, and finding significant differences in means of specific respondents by the Kruskal-Wallis test. The results of these analyses showed that both boys and girls at the JSS level had positive attitudes towards mathematics in all eight attitude dimensions. Both sexes did not see mathematics as a male dominated domain, with girls seeing it less a male domain than boys.

College of Education Pre-Service Teachers’ Attitude in Terms of Usefulness, Confidence and Enjoyment towards Geometry by Gender

“…Studies did not concentrate on the usefulness, confidence and enjoyment of Geometry, but covered mathematics as a discipline. For instance, studies (Asante, 2012;Asare-Nkoom, 2007;Eshun, 2004;Nyala, 2008;Wilmot & Otchery, 2012) were all conducted in Southern Ghana using either Senior High School or Junior High School students to investigate students' attitudes towards Mathematics. Also, Asomah, Dennis, Alhassan, and Asiedu (2018) used public and private Junior High Schools in Southern Ghana in their study which also concentrated on students' attitude towards mathematics.…”