Young Children Learnitrg with Turtles:An Analysis of Gender Effects

This study was designed to observe young children working with a turtle robot on five Logo tasks. Eighteen children (mean age 7 years 3 months) attempted the tasks individually and then in one of three gender pairs: boy-boy, girl-girl or boy-girl. The results of the study revealed that initially the boy-boy pairs completed the tasks using the least amount of moves, in less time and with fewer errors than the other gender pairs. However, by the final session, the boygirl pairs made the least amount of moves in order to complete the task and the girl-girl pairs made the fewest errors. Analysis of the interaction between pairs of children and the strategies that they deployed in order to complete the tasks were conducted in an attempt to gain information about the possible reasons for such an effect. The analyses suggest that the most successful pairs are characterised by certain styles of interaction, but as yet no single, suitable explanation has been found to account for the differences, or changes, in performance over the five sessions.