First year students perceive their transition to college in a variety of ways. They may look at their first year as a new beginning or chapter in their lives; as either gaining or losing status; as confusing, challenging, or enlightening; or as a pleasant or unpleasant experience. Because these students are "simultaneously trying to adapt to…

Peer group supervision has had little attention in the research literature, although it is a common form of supervision utilised by psychologists in practice. The development and implementation of a structured peer supervision group (PSG) with nine trainee psychologists, within the training setting of university-based services, is described in…

Bioscience undergraduates, enrolled on a first-year microbiology module, participated in the introduction of peer-assisted learning (PAL) into the curriculum. The class of 122 students was divided into groups of six to ten, with one volunteer from each group assuming the role of group leader (peer tutor). Group leaders attended a compulsory…

Advocates of school choice reform in education believe that when parents are granted the right to choose their child's school, they will act rationally, in a goal-oriented fashion, to maximize their educational utility by finding the "best" school for their children. The current qualitative study aims to examine these basic assumptions…

Background: The "circle of friends" is an educational approach that facilitates the inclusion of children with disabilities into the school community by engaging their peer group in supporting the individual proactively. The present small-scale study examines the efficacy of this intervention in improving the communication (and ultimately social)…

This study concerns applying Web-based learning with learner controlled instructional materials in a geometry course. The experimental group learned in a Web-based learning environment, and the control group learned in a classroom. We observed that the learning method accounted for a total variation in learning effect of 19.1% in the 3rd grade and…

This paper argues the importance of examining the collective dimension of masculinities in the early school years through a description of a study into children's (young males') peer group relations. Specifically, the paper attends to the significance of the peer group in shaping behaviour, and in particular exaggerated "masculine"…

The aim of this small-scale study was to investigate the effect of pupil-generated ground rules on peer group learning in a class of 9-year-old boys. The study examined the type of talk used by participants working in a group before the introduction of ground rules and compared this with that used after the introduction of ground rules. It was…

In this study, the analytical educational experiences of 25 deaf adults are explored in relation to their identity. The qualitative analysis indicated that the most critical educational experiences for the participants' identity concerned their interactions with hearing or deaf peers and their language of communication with their peers at school.…

This report summarizes results of Austin Independent School District's 2006-2007 student climate survey, given to students in grades 3 through 11.

The purpose of this study was to investigate how Canadian adult students collaboratively learn with peers in both formal and non-formal adult literacy programs. A multisite case study research design was used involving several local literacy organizations. Data collection occurred over a four-month period and focused on nine different program…

This study applies the family--systems concept of differentiation (the balance of autonomy-granting and connectedness) to another primary system of adolescent development--school. This study assessed the relationships among levels of family and school differentiation to the externalizing and internalizing behaviors, peer group membership, and…

While it is generally accepted that people working in groups can accomplish more than people working individually, it is equally accepted that parasites will attempt to feed on the other group members. Group work has been called by several names--group learning, cooperative learning, collaborative learning--all of which carry slightly different…

It is difficult for a student to understand small group communication and the role communication plays in making an experience a positive or negative one until he or she is actually involved in small group experience. Such goes the argument for experiential learning in the classroom. By incorporating a service-learning component into the…

A review of research demonstrates that both oral and written language continue to develop through adulthood. Studies show that such skills as the abilities to interpret metacognitive verbs, to make word associations, and to understand syntax improve with age. Adolescents and adults use language that solidifies them with their peer group.…