A SWOT Analysis of Male and Female Students’ Performance in Chemistry: A Comparative Study

The purpose of this study was to do a SWOT analysis and compare performances of male and female students in chemistry. Four research questions and four null hypotheses guided the study.  Two boys’, two girls’ and two co-educational schools involving 1319 males and 1831 females, were selected by a stratified, deliberate sampling technique. A descriptive survey research design, percentages and means were used for answering research questions. The  z- and t- tests were used to test hypotheses at (p<0.05).  The SWOT of male and female performances were identified. Strengths, Opportunities and Weaknesses to the performances of males were higher than that of females. Threats to female performances were higher than males’. There is a significant difference in male and female performances in Chemistry, in favour of boys, generally; in urban ; co-educational schools; Strengths; Opportunities and Weaknesses but in favour of females in single sex schools  and in Threats to performances. It was concluded that males performed better than females. Recommendations include encouraging females to attend single –sex schools. Strengths and Opportunities to female performances in chemistry should be enhanced while their Weaknesses and Treats should be drastically reduced, as there can be no national or development without females. Keywords: SWOT Analysis; Male; Female; Performance; Chemistry; Comparative study; West African Secondary School Certificate Examination (WASSCE)

Management of Information and Communication Technology in Schools and the Teaching of Library and Information Science

The study investigated management of information and communication technology (ICT) in school and the quality of teaching and learning of library and information science. A descriptive survey design was adopted for the study. A sample of 100 students was adopted because most of the students were out of the institution to get their own tuition fee for the semester. Questionnaire on ICT in Educational Management containing items were the instrument for data collection. The instrument was validated by three experts, two from Educational Administration and Planning, one from Computer Education, all from University of Nigeria, Nsukka. The validated instrument was trial tested in Anambra State which is outside the study area. Cronbach Alpha method was used to determine the internal consistency of the instrument which gave the reliability coefficiency value of 0.91. Mean and standard deviation were used in data analysis. The study revealed that the provision and proper management of ICT in schools enhance the quality of teaching and learning of library and information science. Based on the findings, it was recommended among others that government should pay more attention to the funding of ICT for effective teaching of library and information science