Promote Peer Interaction Research Articles

Training supervisors in a collaborative team approach to promote peer interaction of children with disabilities in integrated preschools.

Three supervisors of integrated preschools were trained in a collaborative team approach to encourage resource and classroom teachers to develop strategies that promote peer interaction of all children, including children with disabilities. The focus of classroom teachers' behaviors and the interactive play of children with disabilities were measured daily in both a training (indoor play period) and a generalization (outdoor play period) setting. In a multiple baseline design, supervisors were individually trained in a collaborative team approach using a manual, modeling, and role playing; then they implemented the approach with classroom and resource teachers. We found that after supervisor training, classroom teachers increased their behaviors directed towards children with disabilities and decreased their behaviors directed towards nondisabled children. Moreover, we found a doubling of the interactive play of children with disabilities and, for two of the three classes, an increase in the interactive play of comparison children, randomly selected by the classroom teachers. Changes in both teachers' and children's behaviors were also found in the generalization setting. The implications of the results for interventions in community settings are discussed.

Enhancing Peer Interaction and Learning in the Classroom Through Reciprocal Questioning

A guided reciprocal peer-questioning procedure was used by college students for learning expository material presented in classroom lectures. Students worked individually, using investigator-provided generic questions to guide them in generating their own task-specific questions. Following this self-questioning phase, they worked in small cooperative groups, taking turns posing their questions to each other and answering each other’s questions. This procedure was designed to promote the kind of verbal interaction that has been found to benefit learning in small groups, namely, giving elaborated explanations. Results indicated that students using this guided reciprocal peer-questioning procedure asked more critical thinking (vs. recall) questions, gave more explanations (vs. low-level elaboration responses), and demonstrated higher achievement than students using a discussion approach (Experiment 1) or those using an unguided reciprocal peer-questioning approach (Experiment 2). Guided reciprocal peer-questioning appears to promote peer interaction and learning in cooperative groups by controlling the quality of questioning, which in turn shapes peer responses.

Enhancing Peer Interaction and Learning in the Classroom Through Reciprocal Questioning

A guided reciprocal peer-questioning procedure was used by college students for learning expository material presented in classroom lectures. Students worked individually, using investigator-provided generic questions to guide them in generating their own task-specific questions. Following this self-questioning phase, they worked in small cooperative groups, taking turns posing their questions to each other and answering each other’s questions. This procedure was designed to promote the kind of verbal interaction that has been found to benefit learning in small groups, namely, giving elaborated explanations. Results indicated that students using this guided reciprocal peer-questioning procedure asked more critical thinking (vs. recall) questions, gave more explanations (vs. low-level elaboration responses), and demonstrated higher achievement than students using a discussion approach (Experiment 1) or those using an unguided reciprocal peer-questioning approach (Experiment 2). Guided reciprocal peer-questioning appears to promote peer interaction and learning in cooperative groups by controlling the quality of questioning, which in turn shapes peer responses.

A naturalistic study of the relation between preschool setting events and peer interaction in four activity contexts

The effect of preschool environmental factors, or “setting events,” on peer interaction has received little attention from investigators studying factors related to social competence. In this study, peer interactions and aspects of three setting events (teacher behavior, material use, and peer presence) were observed in four preschool activity contexts. Data on the frequency of occurrence of interaction and occurrence of specific setting event measures within activity contexts were obtained, and empirical probabilities were determined. Results indicate that the behavior of the preschool teacher is a potent setting event with regard to peer interaction. Teacher interaction with a child, in any activity context, retarded peer interaction by that child. The setting events of material use and peer presence had little effect on peer interaction. Results are discussed in terms of how teachers can alter their behavior to promote peer interaction.