Performance on the Coordinate Reference System

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to explore gender differences in performance on Piagetian tasks of horizontality and verticality. By stratified random sampling, 192 Igbo students, equally represented by age/grade and sex, were randomly selected from primary schools (grades 3 and 5), secondary schools (grades 1, 3, and 5) and universities (aged eight to nineteen) in schools located in the Nsukka Local Government Area of Anambra State, Nigeria. Subjects were individually tested on the standard Water Level Task, the standard Vertical Task of drawing posts on a hill, and a newly devised African task of horizontality, the Balancing Task. All three tasks were equivalent in the number and angles of the internal references. General improvement in development was noted for both sexes on all three tasks. Males significantly outperformed females on the Water Level and Balancing Tasks, but not on the Vertical Task. Sex comparisons by age/ grade resulted in two significant comparisons, both on the horizontal tasks at about the onset of puberty. Finally, there was a significantly high correlation between performance on the two horizontal tasks and the vertical task for both males and females, suggesting an integrated cognitive style for both sexes. These results support as well as contradict previous findings on the reference tasks, thereby raising some puzzling questions and highlighting the need for further research.