Will it Sink or Float? No Gender Differences in Five- to Seven-year-old Children’s Persistence on a Science Task

Recent studies suggest that girls as young as four years of age in the US are affected by negative gender-science stereotypes and persist less than boys on science tasks. However, it is not clear whether these differences are found in the absence of specific contextual cues that amplify stereotype threat and, to date, no studies have tested the presumed link between stereotypes and science task persistence. The reported preregistered study tested whether there are gender differences among children on a physical sink-or-float science task and explored whether science task persistence is related to gender-science stereotyping at this age. One-hundred-and-nine 5- to 7-year-old children were recruited from a mid-sized suburban community in the Eastern United States (58% White, 9% Asian, 3% Latinx, 2% Black/African American, 28% mixed race/ethnicity; average socioeconomic status above the national average). No gender difference in persistence on the sink-or-float task was detected. A Bayesian analysis indicated moderate support for the null hypothesis of no gender effect. Instead, task accuracy and enjoyment predicted persistence. There was evidence that children held gender-STEM stereotypes; however, stereotyping was not related to persistence on the science task. Restricting the analysis to children who experienced failure early on in the task did not change the results. These findings are discussed in relation to previous studies, with specific recommendations for future research to understand when and why gender differences in science persistence emerge.