Gender differences in response to computers have been widely reported. This study addresses the question of how far the context in which a computer task is presented carl affect girls' and boys' on-task performance. In an experimental study involving 60 ten and eleven year-olds, we examine the effects of differential contextualisation on girls' and boys' performance on a computer-based perceptual-motor skills task. Our findings illustrate that even with a single, standard piece of software, children's performance carl be substantially affected by the context in which that software is presented. The results suggest that gender differences in children's responses to computer tasks are relatively labile, and highly context sensitive. The implications and possible explanations for these findings are considered.