Publication Details
Abstract
The study examined Influence of Teachers’ Gender on Secondary School Students’ Interest in Biology, Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, Nigeria. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design. The population of the study comprised 15,840 Secondary School II (SS II) Biology students in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. A sample of 240 SS II Biology students was selected from four secondary schools using a multistage sampling procedure. Data were collected using: Gender and Students’ Interest in Biology Questionnaire (TGSIBQ). The instrument was subjected to face and content validation by experts in Science Education and Measurement and Evaluation, while its reliability was established through a pilot study using an appropriate reliability coefficient of 0.84. The instrument was administered to the respondents by the researcher with the assistance of trained research assistants. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions, while independent-samples t-test was used to test the hypotheses at the 0.05 level of significance. The findings revealed that students perceived male Biology teachers as positively influencing their interest in Biology, with a grand mean of 3.06, above the criterion mean of 2.50. The test of the first hypothesis showed a significant difference in the interest ratings of male and female students regarding the influence of male Biology teachers, t(238) = 22.333, p < .001, with male students recording a higher mean rating (M = 2.99) than female students (M = 1.99). The second hypothesis also revealed a significant difference in the interest ratings regarding female Biology teachers, t(238) = −7.65, p < .001, with female students recording a higher mean rating (M = 3.12) than male students (M = 2.71). The study recommended that Biology teachers should adopt gender-responsive instructional practices that promote equal participation, motivation and sustained interest among both male and female students.