Exploring the Impact of Demographic Variables Gender, Parental Education and Locality on Science Achievement at 8th and 9th Grades

Oct 15, 2026

Quality of science education is a central concern for educationists and researchers, and science achievement is used as an indicator of that quality because it reflects student performance and helps teachers evaluate instructional strategies. The study examines factors associated with science achievement in a Pakistani context. Survey data from 1,149 randomly selected students in grades 8 and 9 show significant effects of parental qualification and maternal job status, with female students outperforming male students and grade 8 students scoring higher than grade 9.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages14

Reading Time35 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Introduction

Science education and achievement as quality indicators

Prior research on gender differences in science achievement

Explanations for observed performance gaps

Exploring the Impact of Demographic Variables Gender, Parental Education and Locality on Science Achievement at 8th and 9th Grades Zubair Ahmad Shah *, Mushtaq Ahmad Malik ** and Javed Hassan Akhtar*** Abstract Quality of science education is under the consideration of educationists and researchers. Achievement in science subjects, which is one of the indicators of quality of science education, determines not only the students’ performance but it also helps the teachers to evaluate their teaching strategies. This study is an effort to explore the factors related to science achievement in Pakistani perspective. In this survey, science achievement scores ofthe students of 8th grade decide their entrance in science subjects at 9thgrade. Sample of 1149 students of 8th and 9th grade students of high and elementary government schools were taken randomly for data collection. Major results were that parental qualification and maternal job status effect significantly students’science achievement. Female students were significantly higher than male students, and 8thgrade students were significantly higher than 9th grade students in their science achievement scores. It is recommended that teachers of secondary schools and rural schools during parent teacher meeting may motivate the parents to supervise their children during studies at home and they themselves study books at home. Keywords: Science achievement, parental qualification and parental profession * Vice Principal, Quaid-E-Azam Academy for Education Development, Sargodha. Email: [zashah101@yahoo.com](zashah101@yahoo.com) **Assistant Professor, Education Department, University of Sargodha *** Assistant Professor, Education Department, Ghazi University Introduction In this modern age, scientific advances in all walks of life, [e.g. business](e.g. business), industry, and communication need all the commoners to have basic knowledge of science. Science education plays a key role in the economic and technological development of a country. That is why educationists are always concerned about the quality of science education. Concern about science education is increasing in the coming times as the students’ choose science subjects to enter into a profession (Association of American Universities, 2006) . The achievement scores of a student determine how effectively he /she has mastered the contents of that particular subject. Gaps in achievement of science will determine the profession with good pay and prestige (Hong, 2013) while it is predicted that most of the students will chose scientific profession in the coming decades (Lacey & Wright, 2009) . The achievement scores are directly and/or indirectly related to many factors including gender, grade, locality etc. The gender and achievement in science is the continuous focus of educationists. A number of evidences support the gender differences in science achievement. Some researches’ findings were in contradiction to these. In general, researches support the male students’ higher achievement in science subjects as compared to their counterparts (Quinn, David, & Coor, 2015; Kahle, 2004) . Further, DeBacker and Nelson (2000) and Eisenhart, Finkel, and Marion (1996) explained that one of the reasons of the girls’ low performance is traditional role in professions assigned to them. Similarly, female students do not get opportunities related to experiments of science subjects within the classrooms and other activities like visit to different places outside the classrooms. According to Greenfield (1996) low performance of female students is due to gender oriented biasness of the teachers. This difference of performance also results from variation in cognitive abilities as indicated by Baron-Cohen (2003) . National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) of USA has conducted researches to study the gender based differences in science achievement for 20 years and concluded that male students perform better than femal

FAQs

What does the study focus on regarding science achievement?

It explores how demographic variables—gender, parental education, and locality—relate to science achievement among students in grades 8 and 9 in Pakistan.

How was the data collected and who were the participants?

The study used a survey and randomly collected data from 1,149 students from 8th and 9th grades in high and elementary government schools.

Which factors showed significant effects on science achievement?

Parental qualification and maternal job status were reported to significantly affect students’ science achievement.

Oct 15, 2026

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