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European Journal of Education Studies ISSN: 2501 - 1111 ISSN-L: 2501 - 1111 Available on-line at: www.oapub.org/edu 10.5281/zenodo.1009653 Volume 2│Issue 10│2016 EFFECTIVENESS OF PROBLEM OF SOLVING APPROACH ON GENDER RELATED DIFFERENCES IN TEACHING SECONDARY SCHOOL CHEMISTRY STUDENTS MATHEMATICAL CONCEPTS OF CHEMISTRY IN ONDO STATE, NIGERIA Omoniyi Adesoji Olubunmii Dr., Department of Science Education, Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko, Ondo State, Nigeria Abstract: The study identified Mole Concept in Ordinary Level West African School Certificate (WASC) syllabus, and examined the effectiveness of Problem Solving Approach (PSA) on male and female chemistry students in Senior Secondary Schools in Akure South Local Government Area of Ondo State, Nigeria. The study adopted a pre-test post-test experimental design. The sample consisted of 60 participants selected from two non coeducational senior secondary schools in Akure South Local Government Area of Ondo State, Nigeria. Two intact classes from Senior School I were chosen from the two selected schools comprising 32 females and 28 males. The two intact classes were assigned school A (females) and schools B (Male). These two intact classes were taught mole concepts separately using Problem Solving Approach in their respective schools. A 20 item instrument tagged Mole Concept Achievement Test (MCAT) was developed by the researcher and ascertained for reliability (r= 0.78, p<0.05). The study was guided by two hypotheses. Data collected were analysed using t-test. The results showed that there was no significant difference in the performance of female (X=16.039) and male (X= 16.013) students after treatment, t=0.087, p<0.05. The study concluded that Problems Solving Approach is an effective method of teaching both male and female secondary school chemistry students the mole concept. Keywords: effectiveness, gender related differences, mole concept, problem solving approach, non co-educational Copyright © The Author(s). All Rights Reserved Published by Open Access Publishing Group ©2015. 52 Raed Zedan, Jarmas Bitar EFFECTIVENESS OF PROBLEM OF SOLVING APPROACH ON GENDER RELATED DIFFERENCES IN TEACHING SECONDARY SCHOOL CHEMISTRY STUDENTS MATHEMATICAL CONCEPTS OF CHEMISTRY IN ONDO STATE, NIGERIA 1. Introduction A review of research in science teaching shows an almost exclusive domination of males over females in learning achievement in selected science concepts. The male dominance has been partly attributed to ineffective methods of teaching or lack of female models to serve as motivation for female learners. Renner & Schnelder (1980) have recommended the use of innovative and metacognitive teaching methods as an attempt to promote gender equality in science learning. In Nigeria, much school learning consists of rote memorization and regurgitation of facts with little emphasis on meaningful interpretation of ideas. Students are often asked to solve scientific problems and conduct laboratory experiments in a rote rather than in a meaningful way (Novak, 1988, 1990). Often, science knowledge is assumed to be absolute and students are viewed as passive recipients of information (Driver, 1987). In these circumstances, knowledge construction is reduced to factual knowledge production with little regard to critical thinking and problems solving. In teaching and learning of science, students’ metacognition needs to be developed, that is, ability to monitor one own’s knowledge about a topic of study and to activate appropriate strategies that will enhance students learning when faced with chemistry problems and other problem solving situations (Baker & Brown, 1984). Chemistry is the study of matter, its composition, structure and the reactions that change matter from one form to another. There are two broad areas in chemistry; first, the descriptive chemistry, which is the collection of data and discovery of information, secondly, there is the using of this information to form laws and theories which explain our observations, and the using of these laws and theories to predict the future behaviour of matter. The mathematics or abstract treatment of quantities is of paramount importance to chemistry teaching where we must measure matter, express our measurements in numbers and be able to manipulate these numbers to form conclusions or solve problems. There are many concepts in chemistry that involve chemical calculation. One of these is the mole concept. There are evidences that many students do not understand these concepts effectively well, hence, if chemistry problem solving skills are to improve, chemistry teachers need to spend much greater period of time on concept acquisition and how these concepts will be taught to the students using innovative and metacognitive pedagogical skills such as Problem Solving Approach and hand-onactivities (Novak, 1990). For viewing / downloading the full article, please access the following link: https://oapub.org/edu/index.php/ejes/article/view/1095 European Journal of Education Studies - Volume 2 │ Issue 10 │ 2016 53