• "Supportive behaviors from peers that can enhance children’s functioning and resilience to difficulties”

• Behaviors include feedback and guidance

• Outcomes include an increase in a child's motivation, attention span, school attitude, and achievements

•Peer social support is the primary indicator of a child's ability to adapt and their success in school through their elementary years

Peer Social Support

•  “Physical and emotional harms children receive from peers, such as being hit and teased”

• Outcomes include lack of engagement, low self-esteem, low academic success depression, and behavioral problems


Peer Victimization

• Children who have better/closer relationships with their teachers feel more supported by their peers

• Students who have conflicts with their teachers feel more peer victimization which leads to school avoidance, behavioral issues, and peer dislike

• Better behavior management leads to less peer victimization in the classroom

• "Teachers play a critical role in shaping children’s beliefs about their own strengths and weakness in social interactions and about the classroom social environment, which operates uniquely beyond the influence of children’s actual peer social interactions"

• A teacher's influence at the individual level is different from their influence at the classroom level

Teacher Influence

• Peer social relationships influence a student's motivation and, therefore, their academics

• Making students depend on each other for class assignments increases "social motivation for learning"

• Students can teach and explain concepts to each other using peer-assisted learning "interventions"

   • Interventions - interactions, feedback, and reinforcement

   • Most effective with young, urban, low-incom, minority kids

Social Influence on Academics

Social Learning 

• Children are learning/gaining skills on social interactions rather than concepts

• A child's perception of their social interactions is more important than the actual interaction

• Their perceptions influence their self-worth which influences their behaviors and how they are seen by fellow peers

• Peer social support vs peer victimization

• Influences academic learning

University of California, Davis

 “The acquisition of knowledge and skill through active help and support among status equals or matched companions”

Peer Learning

Chen, Jing, et al. “Influences of Teacher–Child Relationships and Classroom Social Management on Child-Perceived Peer Social Experiences during Early School Years.” Frontiers, Frontiers, 1 Jan. 1AD, https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.586991/full. 

Influences of Teacher–Child Relationships and Classroom Social Management on Child-Perceived Peer Social Experiences During Early School Years

Rohrbeck, Cynthia & Ginsburg-Block, Marika & Fantuzzo, John & Miller, Traci. (2003). Peer-assisted learning interventions with elementary school students: A meta-analytic review. Journal of Educational Psychology. 95. 240-257. 10.1037/0022-0663.95.2.240. 

Peer-assisted learning interventions with elementary school students: A meta-analytic review

• Tutors and tutees

• Tutor needs to be proficient in the subject as well as managing groups and group dynamics

• Power Distance

• Cognitive Congruence

• Social Congruence 

Peer Assisted Learning Roles

• Most often is supplemental instruction but is more effective when built into the course

• Keep with the pace of the class

• Metacognitive learning strategies are drawn from the tutor’s own experiences (mindmaps, diagrams, charts, exercises, writing notes)

• Tutees discussing and asking questions leads to more effective result


Peer Assisted Learning Strategies

• Tutees have an increase in academic performance

• Tutees gain friendship and experience attitude and behavior changes

• Peer tutors gained satisfaction from their tutees’ improved results and enhanced time management, planning, and communication skills 

• More self-confidence and satisfaction for both groups

Peer Assisted Learning Outcomes

• Effective in identifying the learner’s incomprehension

• Identifying the learner’s incomprehension allowed for peer learning

• Identifying incomprehension allows for people to teach each other 

Microtask Peer Assisted Learning

Peer Learning in Preschool and Elementary Education

• A teacher's peers include all other teachers in the same school that teach the same grade

• A teacher's performance is affected by the quality of their peers

• "changes in the quality of a teacher’s colleagues are associated with changes in" their, "students’ test score gains"

• A teacher's performance increases when the quality of their peers' increases

•Certified and licensed teachers are more responsive to their peers 

• Teachers share resources

• Less experienced teachers can learn from more experienced teachers and are, therefore, more responsive to peers

• Students can be affected by a teacher's past peers

Peer Learning in Administration (Teachers)

• Peer learning is most successful when it is built into a course rather than just being an add-on

• Peer learning needs to focus on course goals and learning outcomes

• One must consider the context of the course/lesson before implementing peer learning

•  One must make sure that the peer learning strategy that is chosen accomplishes the intended task

•  "considering resource implications"

•  Someone needs to manage the peer learning process

• The manager, students, and anyone else involved should be prepared and understand what their peer learning role entails (tutor or tutee)

• Tutors should practice how to interact with tutees in order to be cognitively and socially congruent

• Peer learning strategies should be introduced in the beginning and the process should be evaluated in the end to measure its effectiveness

•  Having/creating a positive learning climate (good attitude) also increases peer learning effectiveness


Designing Peer Learning

• Peer assisted learning

• Peer to peer learning

Learn Before

Related

Learn After