Having nonmajor general biology students teach each other in small groups helped improve student learning when compared to students in traditional lecture-based courses. This form of collaborative learning helped students with the lowest grades the most. (Contains 2 tables and 2 figures.)

This article examines the potential role of peer tutors and writing fellows in higher education in the United Kingdom. It argues that scepticism surrounding the use of peer tutors in writing is unfounded. In fact, the disciplinary nature of UK Higher Education suggests that undergraduate peer tutors and writing fellows may have an important role…

This study assessed the effect of peer tutoring on physical, instructional, and social interaction behaviors between elementary school age students with severe and multiple disabilities (SMD) and peers without disabilities. Additional measures addressed the activity time of students with SMD. The study was conducted in inclusive general physical…

The purpose of this paper is to consider the specific role of Peer Assisted Learning (PAL) in creative media production courses. We present a review of the pedagogical approaches that inform our "generic" understanding of PAL. We then consider both quantitative and qualitative data from students, leaders and tutors to gain insights into…

The authors suggest incorporating pedometers into the physical education curricula for schoolchildren, especially children with visual impairment, as a way to combat childhood obesity. The authors offer activity ideas to incorporate pedometers into physical education classes and to encourage children with visual impairment to participate more…

In many literacy classrooms, teachers provide instruction in comprehension by helping students to practice explicit comprehension strategy use when they encounter difficult texts. In many of those same literacy classrooms, students are placed in peer-led groups to discuss literary texts as a way to increase their engagement with difficult reading.…

We report the results of a study designed to investigate the effectiveness of peer-led, small-group discussions in a large (N greater than 400) general chemistry course usually taught in a traditional lecture format. The administrative structure, the training of the peer facilitators, and the achievement of students exposed to this environment…

Objective: This systematic review assesses the impact of peer education/counseling on nutrition and health outcomes among Latinos and identifies future research needs. Design: A systematic literature search was conducted by: (1) searching Internet databases; (2) conducting backward searches from reference lists of articles of interest; (3)…

We tested the hypothesis that peer instruction enhances student performance on qualitative problem-solving questions. To test this hypothesis, qualitative problems were included in a peer instruction format during our Physiology course. Each class of 90 min was divided into four to six short segments of 15 to 20 min each. Each short segment was…

The development of a coding scheme to identify the function of each conversational turn within episodes of conflict in a peer tutoring setting is described, and the scheme, based on Cohen's kappa analysis, is presented. Although 15 codes were developed for the initial effort, 7 codes were finally used to reflect each utterance as: (1) agreement;…

The guide presents materials to help the teacher set up a peer tutoring system in the classroom. Aspects discussed include the benefits of such a system, which materials adapt to such a system (criteria that can be applied to materials/tasks being considered for it), how to adapt and design materials for such a system (including format issues,…

The relationship between 45 high school students' attitudes and their involvment in peer-tutoring programs for "slow learners" was examined. Results showed that students' attitudes toward tutees were unrelated to peer-tutoring behavior, whereas there was a trend for their attitudes towards their own tutees to predict whether they met with them.…

Ten frequently cited reasons for ineffectiveness of peer tutoring with mainstreamed handicapped children are listed and alternatives to each are offered. Examples include incorporating social as well as academic goals to alleviate excessive noise and behavior problems. (CL)

Spinoffs of the traditional peer tutoring approach have been successful in individualizing classroom instruction of learning disabled (LD) elementary students. In the peer trio technique, groups of three LD or slow learning students work together on tasks and on making their own games. The approach teaches cooperation and increases motivation. (CL)

Reading disabled students can benefit from peer tutoring and learning situations in several ways: students can complete a specific assignment together, students can take the teacher's place to direct activities, and students can share by imitation and empathy. The teacher needs to set the limits and encourage communication. (DB)