Research indicates that social support plays a protective role among adolescents, but little research has explicitly evaluated its function among youth involved in bullying. Accordingly, this study examined relations among social support, bully/victim status, and psychological distress in a sample of 784 ethnically diverse youth. We assessed…

Teaching has long been considered an isolated profession with little opportunity for collaboration. A major task for school leaders is to create improvement from within the school. Teachers are a valuable resource and each one possesses expertise in strategies and methodologies that can be a benefit to others. This action research explored the…

The transition from high school to college can be very difficult for many students. At the University of Pittsburgh School of Engineering, we have developed a freshmen seminar and concurrent system of mentoring that addresses the changes and difficulties students experience during this transitional time. All first-year University of Pittsburgh…

Beginning with Lev Vygotsky's long-established assertion that the play of children always involves both imaginary play and rules of behavior, this article argues for a theoretical framework that connects such play with the construction of social identities in kindergarten peer groups. It begins with a discussion of Ivy Schousboe's model of the…

This study presents the results of an evaluation of a peer-based HIV/AIDS education program, the BASE program, as implemented in a suburban high school setting. The participants were 132 high school students who participated in an "AIDS Awareness Day" as a part of the BASE program in their high school. Each student completed preintervention and…

Highly mobile students experience schools and learning in different ways than their more stable peers. Repeated transfers result in discontinuity of instruction and relationships with teachers and peers. Interviews with transient urban students in grades 9-12 reveal the issues they face upon their arrival and afterward. Mobile students give…

Each year thousands of students with limited English proficiency enter international schools around the world. This enrollment brings the challenge of meeting students' educational needs in such a way that students gain a working knowledge of the English language and are able to use that knowledge in other academic and social settings. The process…

This dissertation explores the perceptions and experiences of international students from China and Hong Kong with diversity courses. Using theoretical frameworks that examine the diversity classroom, informal interactional diversity, a diversity typology used to categorize diversity courses, intergroup peer relationships and student…

One of the major aims for the inclusion of pupils with special educational needs (SEN) within the mainstream classroom is to reduce prejudice and increase social interaction among children. Nevertheless, research has consistently shown that pupils with SEN remain less accepted by and may experience greater loneliness than their non-SEN peers. This…

The widespread belief that peer influence is the primary cause of adolescent smoking initiation is examined and called into question. Correlational and longitudinal studies purporting to demonstrate peer influence are analyzed, and their limitations described. Qualitative interview studies of adolescent smoking initiation are presented as…

From the small numbers of youths involved in the programs surveyed, it appears that the peer jury can handle more serious offenses and second offenders as effectively as the traditional system. The positive impact of the initial evaluation warrants more research. (LHW)

The correlation between the ordinal ranking given a student by his peer group and the ranking given by his teacher, given the same input, was found to be statistically significant. (SA)

This study explores the influence of peer relationships on alternative school students? school-related behaviors, attitudes, and intentions (BAIs). School-based peer group status, relationship qualities, and BAIs were measured in relation to experiences at traditional (Survey I, retrospective accounts) and alternative high schools (Survey II,…

The aim of this study was to ascertain whether collaborative group work on a computer, facilitated by an adult, could provide a means for a primary schoolboy with Asperger's Syndrome (AS) -- moderately-highly affected in all areas of the "triad of impairments" -- to develop appropriate task-related interactions with his peers. Data were gathered…

The aim of the present research was to investigate how Saudi college students would respond to peer response techniques introduced in composition classrooms. The study was conducted over two consecutive semesters, namely the Fall 2005 and Spring 2006. Throughout the two semesters students were grouped in small groups of three, required to look at…