Gender Differences in Attitude toward Mathematics among Government Higher Secondary Students of Imphal East District Manipur

Abstract

Mathematics is of prime importance in human life. Mathematics is given an essential place in the school curriculum. This subject scares many pupils. One of the reasons is the attitude of the students towards the subject. Gender has been a prevalent source of discourse in mathematics education for many years; it is considered a male-dominated subject. A notable issue throughout the twentieth century was the underachievement of girls in mathematics education. Against this backdrop, the researchers were inspired to investigate gender differences in attitude towards mathematics among government higher secondary students in Imphal East District, Manipur. A sample of 100 students is selected through simple random sampling techniques. A descriptive method is adopted for the study, and a five-point Likert-type standardized questionnaire for attitude toward Mathematics developed by S.C. Gakhar, 2004 is used for data collection. A t-test is used to analyze the gender difference in attitude towards mathematics. The analysis shows that the maximum number of students have a moderate attitude toward mathematics, with 59 (59.00%). Further, the results highlight no significant difference in the attitude of male and female students of the government higher secondary school of Imphal East district towards Mathematics. It can be concluded that the learning environment at school should be designed to arouse the student’s interest in mathematics.