COMPARATIVE ANALYSES OF GENDER, SCHOOL LOCATION, SCHOOL TYPE AND STUDENTS AGE IN MATHEMATICS BASIC SKILLS SCALE FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Abstract

Basic mathematics skills are part of the math values which underpins a country's economic development. For their purposes, the continual achievement of such mathematics skills should be measured using a psychometrically validated scale. The Mathematics Value Scale (MaVscale) is one of these scales, and the Mathematics Basic Skills' Scale is a sub-scale with eight items. Every item requires a certain mathematical ability. The scale was applied to 2,000 senior secondary school students in Nigeria, of whom 1,984 survived. The study adopted a comparative research type alongside with a correlational research design. Results from an investigation using the independent sample t-test in SPSS showed that two (H01 and H02) the four null hypotheses were kept and two (H03 and H04) were rejected. Independent sample size Cohen's d was -.109 and .060 for H03 and H04 respectively. This indicated that the difference's effect magnitude was very low for H01 and H02. Likewise, the Cohen's d independent sample effect size for H03 and H04. were .075 and -.356 respectively. It indicates that the effect size differences were extremely small.