Gender differences in early childhood mathematics: boys’ and girls’ responses to changing pattern task difficulty

This paper presents a part of a study with 206 kindergarten children regarding repeating and growing patterns tasks. This part of the study examines the gender-based differences in children’s responses to various tasks related to a particular pattern. The children were given a repeating pattern comprising red circles and yellow squares and were instructed to continue it. For each task, the children were given a set of shapes and had to choose the appropriate ones to complete the task. One set included only the necessary shapes, while the others had additional shapes and colors. The results of the study indicate a significant relationship between gender and performance concerning both correct responses and common errors.