GENDER, COMPUTER EXPERIENCE AND COMPUTER-BASED PROBLEM-SOLVING

This paper reports a study involving 65 children (31 boys and 34 girls ) aged between 10 and 11, which further examined the effect of softwar e type by comparing children's performance on a male stereotyped versi on of the software with their performance on a structurally identical, but female stereotyped version of the software. We found that girls p erformed worse than boys on both versions of the software and this eff ect persisted even when the effect of computer experience was removed. There was also a gender difference in the children's preference. Girl s preferred the female version more than the boys and there was also a significant relationshp between the girls' preferences and their perf ormance. There was no relationship between the boys' preferences and t heir performance. The implications and explanations for these findings will be discussed. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd