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Peer Groups and Children's Development considers the experiences of school-aged children with their peer groups. The book looks at the formal peer groups that children are placed in for teaching and learning, covering such topics as the class size debate, mixed-ability vs. ability-based teaching, gender and classroom dialogue, and dialogic teaching and cooperative learning. Howe also provides an in-depth examination of the nature, causes, and consequences of a child's informal peer relationships, including those associated with cliques, friendships, and adolescent gangs.
Evidence presented throughout reveals how formal and informal aspects of peer groups interrelate to a great extent in determining patterns of development. This has significant implications for research and theory, as well as for the practical concerns of parents, teachers, counselors, school psychologists, and policy makers.
Informed by the latest research and scholarship,
Peer Groups and Children's Development offers revelatory insights into the effects of peer relationships on a child's intellectual, personal and social development.
List of contents
Series Editor's Preface. Acknowledgments.
1. Peer Groups in a Cultural Context. Introduction.
Cultural Dependency.
Theoretical Framework.
Peer Groups and Children's Development.
2. Peer Groups and Classroom Structure. Introduction.
The Peer Group Structure of Classes.
The Structure of Classroom Subgroups.
Summary and Conclusions.
3. Performance and Cooperation in Classrooms. Introduction.
Whole-Class Interaction and the Performance Mode.
Subgroup Interaction and the Cooperative Mode.
Summary and Conclusions.
4. Cooperative Interaction and Curriculum Mastery. Introduction.
Piagetian Perspectives on Cooperative Interaction.
Assistance and Cooperative Interaction.
The Social Impact of Classroom Interaction.
5. Friendship, Status, and Centrality. Introduction.
Children's Friendships.
Peer Status in Formal Groups.
Status in Friendship Groups.
6. Individual Differences in Informal Experiences. Introduction.
Varying Experiences of Status.
Friendship and Status Compared.
Continuity and Change.
7. Social and Personal Adjustment. Introduction.
Peer Groups and Antisocial Behavior.
Peer Groups and Personal Adjustment.
Summary and Conclusions.
8. School Performance Revisited. Introduction.
Peer Groups and Educational Failure.
Diverse Consequences of Friendship.
Classroom Practice and Developmental Outcomes.
9. Implications for Practice and Future Research. Summary and Introduction.
Remedial Work with Individuals.
Qualified Endorsement of the Cooperative Approach.
Future Research and Theoretical Development.
References.
Index.
About the author
Christine Howe is Professor of Education at the University of Cambridge, and Fellow of Lucy Cavendish College. Previously she was Professor of Psychology at the University of Strathclyde. Her main research interests are peer interaction and conceptual growth, children's reasoning in mathematics and science, and communication and social relations among children. In addition to publishing seven books and over 100 journal articles, Christine was for many years co-editor of the journal
Social Development and has served as Chair of the British Psychological Society's Developmental Section.
Summary
Peer Groups and Children's Development considers the experiences of school-aged children with their peer groups - in both formal and informal settings - and the implications of these experiences for their social, personal and intellectual development.
