Abstract:
This study was undertaken to determine the influence of cognitive style and gender on students’ achievement in selected areas of mathematics. The study was motivated by the poor achievement of students in senior secondary school mathematics. The study therefore looked at achievement of male and female students, categorized under field independent and field dependent students in geometry, algebra and statistics. Six research questions and six research hypotheses guided the study. The study adopted the ex-post factor research design. The population of the study consisted of 3,932 SS2 mathematics students of 2011/ 2012 academic year in the five co-education schools of Ogoja Education Zone of Cross river state. The sample of the study is 620 mathematics students selected through multi-stage sampling techniques. The instruments for data collection were Group Embedded figure Test (GEFT) and Mathematics Achievement Test (MAT). Data collected were analyzed using spss (special packages for social sciences) to determine mean, standard deviation and t-Test results. The results of the findings reveal that field independent students achieved better than the field dependent students in geometry, algebra and statistics. There is significant difference in the mean achievement scores of field independent and dependent students in these areas of mathematics. Male students achieved higher than female students in geometry and algebra while in statistics there was no significant difference in achievement of male and female students. There was significant difference in the mean achievements of male and female students in geometry while Gender was a significant factor on students’ achievement in geometry. The results have implications for learners, teachers, and professional bodies. Based on the results some recommendations were made, which include use of instructional materials and techniques that can make males and females develop critical thinking abilities to improve teaching and learning of mathematics. This will help to eliminate gender imbalance in class-room instructions and achievement because the objective of teaching is to make pupil learn or achieve higher irrespective of sex.
