The social functioning of primary grade students identified as learning disabled (LD; n=16), low achieving (LA; n=27), or average/high achieving (AHA; n=21) was assessed at the beginning and end of the school year. Students with LD were less well liked, more frequently rejected, and had lower academic self-concept scores. However, LD students…

Videotaped 1- to 6-year-olds' day care routines and adults' work after extensive consultation on the Storycrafting method to study children's thoughts and collaborative behavior. Found that children's viewpoints are elicited when they play an active role and when educational work is directed by telling stories, playing, and doing research. Noted…

This workshop presents information on mentoring relationships within child care settings. Articles are: (1) "Mentoring Teachers...A Partnership in Learning" (Patricia Scallan-Berl); (2) "The Potential Gains of Peer Mentoring among Children" (Leslie Moguil); (3) "Mentoring Advocates in the Context of Early Childhood…

Two studies examined children's perceptions of popular and unpopular peers. Findings indicated that fourth- through eighth-graders viewed "liked others" as prosocial and "disliked others" as antisocial, but associated perceived popularity with both prosocial and antisocial behavior. Children described popular peers as…

Examined how elementary educators conceptualized time with respect to their work, particularly professional development activities. Interviews with teachers and staff found eight dimensions of time and three underlying themes (connections between life-worlds and teaching, school as a time-based economy, and strategies for using time according to…

A program taught three students (ages 10-18) social interaction skills to enhance their abilities to interact with three students with deaf-blindness and had them teach the same skills to friends (secondary peers). As a result of the peer instruction, the secondary peers spent more time with students with deaf-blindness. (CR)

Followed 150 children over four years who were classified according to cluster analysis of teacher ratings into four types of social withdrawal: unsociable, passive-anxious, active-isolate, and sad-depressed. Found that unsociable children had elevated sociometric neglect rates, active-isolates had higher levels of rejection, and sad-depressed had…

Two studies examined children's and adolescents' attitudes toward aggression. Found that boys viewed physical aggression as more hurtful than social aggression and girls rated social aggression as more hurtful. Girls rated an aggressor as more angry than did boys. Middle and high school participants viewed social aggression as indicating more…

Investigates the relationship between name-calling and peer beliefs and how it is associated with students' grade level. Analysis of 48 second graders' and 70 sixth graders' responses suggests that name-calling frequency declined with age. However, the more names children reported having been called in the past, the more negative their beliefs…

IMPROVE, a method for teaching mathematics in heterogeneous classrooms based on social cognition theories, was developed and tested in studies involving 247 and 265 seventh graders. IMPROVE uses metacognitive activities, peer interaction, and feedback-corrective enrichment. Results of both studies showed that IMPROVE students significantly…

Examined attitudes of 19 British university students concerning plagiarism and cheating. Found strong moral basis for student perceptions, focusing on values such as friendship, trust, and good learning; lack of clarity concerning what constitutes plagiarism; and influence of factors such as alienation from the institution, large classes, and…

Evaluates how competing philosophies have shaped American adolescents' time use, focusing on peer interaction--particularly partying, sports, and other organized youth activities. Considers implications of free time use for adolescent well-being and development. Finds that there are few or no data to support the idea that abundant unstructured…

Peer self-concept scores from 86 students (ages 8-18) in four different schools indicate students with identified special needs had significantly lower self-concept scores than did their peers. Measures of teacher negativity (n=40) toward inclusion indicate secondary teachers were more negative toward full inclusion on some measures. (Contains…

Offers 10 annotated references on the topic of peer mentorship in community colleges. Describes peer mentorship programs as an effective way to promote academic and transfer success and assist underrepresented and developmental students. Provides citations of research on peer mentorship and effective programs that may be implemented at two-year…

Investigated the effectiveness of a violence prevention program within a rural middle school. Data collected from students at pre-test, post-test, and follow-up indicated that at follow-up, participants had significantly lower approval of violent behavior, more peer support for nonviolent behavior, less peer pressure to use drugs, greater…