Gender-specific cognitive skills and moderating role of reading comprehension in shaping science literacy

Children with advanced domain-general skills are associated with a better understanding of scientific concepts and articulation of scientific reasoning. However, research has found that not all individuals utilize these skills to respond to science literacy (SL) tasks, indicating the need for further identifying potential resources in early formal science education. Language-reading skills may help to enhance the informative analytic processes triggered by SL tasks, in which gender might be an important factor involved. Therefore, the present study explores the gendered relationships between domain-general skills (working memory, response inhibition) and language-reading skills (vocabulary, word reading (WR), and reading comprehension (RC)) in relation to SL in children. It aims to identify unique indicators of SL for both boys and girls and examines the moderating role of RC. Data from one hundred and ninety-three grade 2 learners (51% boys) show that both domain-general and language-reading skills are associated with boys’ SL, while only language-reading skills were associated with girls’ SL. Furthermore, in boys, response inhibition, WR, and interaction effect of response inhibition and RC can uniquely predict SL after considering vocabulary and RC as the control factors, implying that response inhibition becomes more favoured when coupled with a strong RC of the task-relevant materials. The findings of boys have not been disclosed in previous studies. Conversely, in girls, vocabulary is the only significant predictor. These findings provide insightful implications for tailored SL interventions, especially for enhancing girls’ engagement. Copyright © 2025 The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V.