• 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

University of California, Davis

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

Peer Learning in Preschool and Elementary Education

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

• "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

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