Peer led focus groups, a qualitative social science research method, and their use with young people are examined. The paper outlines three developments that have contributed to their emergence, namely: traditional focus groups, peer education and participatory research. Drawing on a study in progress, the advantages and challenges associated with…

It was the purpose of this study to examine students' perspectives on three teaching strategies. Seventy middle school students were interviewed, and they rank ordered the strategies. A constant comparison process guided the interview data analysis, while the rank order data were analyzed via descriptive statistics and a Friedman Analysis of…

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) have become a serious health threat to university students. This study evaluated a peer-led intervention program with university students to increase knowledge and attitudes of HIV/AIDS infection and transmission. Subjects were students (n=41) from an undergraduate…

Peer coaching is a method for improving instructor effectiveness in which educators work together to implement experiential strategies or achieve individual educational goals through a systematic process of classroom observation and feedback. Peer coaching has two main goals: the improvement of experiential education and the development of an…

A study assessed the effectiveness of a peer tutoring intervention for sight-word acquisition, and determined whether any progress was matched by improvement in reading fluency. Four primary students were selected based upon teacher referral for poor reading fluency. Flashcards were used to determine accuracy of recognition of vocabulary words…

This study examined the success and failure of mentoring programs based on interviews with representatives of 228 U.S. colleges. The types of mentoring programs identified are faculty to faculty, faculty to student, student to student, staff and administrators, alumni, and middle school. The study compiled the characteristics of program types…

This review examined the literature on peer tutoring in reading with students with disabilities, using the methodology of best evidence synthesis. This approach combines positive aspects of meta analysis with traditional integrative review procedures. It requires all studies reviewed to meet stringent a priori standards. Analysis of the 11 studies…

The Peer Leader AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) Education Project was developed, implemented, and evaluated in a rural high school in Australia. Student peer leaders, identified by sociometric methods, volunteered to attend a 6-day training camp to learn about health and sexuality, develop social and interpersonal skills, and…

College students are often faced with a variety of writing assignments which might ask them to analyze data showing cause and effect, compose a sonnet, or creatively analyze a classic short story. To tackle these kinds of assignments, they must disregard traditional and often misleading definitions of analytical and creative writing which lead…

Wisconsin writer Marshal Cook's article, "Training Your Muse: Seven Steps to Creativity," (1986) provides a basis for creative activities which help students in a three-credit tutor training course understand both tutoring and the writing process. In the first activity student tutors are asked to bring in a picture that symbolizes a good…

This study compared obtrusive observers and self-reports to a criterion, unobtrusive observers, to assess how accurately they measured tutor performance. Unobtrusive observers were used as a criterion for comparison because it was assumed that their measures were free of biases. Participants were 55 college-level peer tutors. Course sections were…

The Tutorial Assistance Program (TAP) of the University of California (Irvine) is described and a new method of evaluation is illustrated through an analysis of the performance of students in six large introductory classes. This approach to evaluation starts with a multiple regression equation for predicting course grades of those not in tutoring…

The need to decrease the number of students repeatedly receiving after-school detentions was addressed by the implementation of the Peer Assisted Learning (PAL) program. The PAL program is based on the premise that students act out because they desire power. The program gave students power over tutoring situations by having input into planning for…

This paper presents a study that investigated academic achievement of students (total n=407) guided by student tutors compared with students guided by faculty tutors at the Law School of the University of Limburg, the Netherlands. Two methods of assessing students' achievement on end-of-course examinations were used: expert judgements and…

This practicum attempted to promote teacher and student sensitivity to seven mainstreamed, oral, elementary school children with hearing impairments. It also aimed to promote more social interaction between students with impaired hearing and those with normal hearing and to effect a more comfortable transition from a special school to the…