Changing Peer Perceptions and Victimization through Classroom Arrangements: A Field Experiment

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of an experimental manipulation of distance between classmates on peer affiliations and classroom climate. Participants were 651 10-to-12 year-old children (48% boys) from 27 Grade 5 and Grade 6 classrooms of 23 schools, who were assigned to an experimental or a control condition. Peer affiliations were assessed with peer nominations and likeability ratings before and after the manipulation of distance. In the experimental condition, children who did not like each other were placed closer together for several weeks in order to promote more positive peer relations. The decrease in distance lead to higher likeability ratings for children who were perceived most negatively at the beginning of the school year. In addition, a reduction in peer-reported victimization and social withdrawal nominations was found. The results suggest that the classroom seating arrangement can be used as a tool to improve liking among peers and reduce peer-reported problem behaviors in the classroom.

Teacher attunement: Supporting early elementary students’ social integration and status

“…Van den Berg, Segers, and Cillessen (2011) re-arranged children's seat assignments based on students' peer nominations of one another. Students who nominated each other as "liked least" were seated close together in experimental classrooms; seating charts were not altered in control classrooms.…”

“…When teachers have an individualized attunement to students' peer group affiliates, they may tailor opportunities for specific student interaction and promote positive social connections among classmates. Specific practices that are based on a very precise attunement to student's individual peer group affiliates may more successfully support peer interactions that underlie students' social integration (Kindermann, 2011;Van den Berg et al, 2011).…”

“…Given early elementary teachers' limited and even inaccurate attunement, it may be important for professional development to help teachers to actively seek student input to rectify their misunderstandings or to corroborate their impressions of students' actual experiences. Results of a few studies have demonstrated benefits to students peer relations when teachers actively collected information about students' peer relationships, and used the information as the basis for decisions about seating charts and grouping assignments (Kindermann, 2011;Van den Berg et al, 2011). That is, if teachers learn to purposefully corroborate their own perceptions of students' social relationships with students' perspectives, they may develop greater attunement, and have more accurate information to draw on for their planning decisions, resulting in more positive contributions to students' affiliation patterns in the classroom (i.e., Gronlund, 1959).…”

An Overview of Classroom Composition Research on Social-Emotional Outcomes: Introduction to the Special Issue

“…By organizing seating positions, composing working groups, and establishing social rules, teachers contribute to the ways that peers interact with each other. These peer interactions in turn can have a direct impact on students' social-emotional outcomes (see also Farmer, Lines, & Hamm, 2011;van den Berg, Segers, & Cillessen, 2012).…”

Social networks within classroom ecologies: peer effects on students’ engagement in the context of relationships with teachers and parents

“…For example, studies have looked at students who take courses together (Crosnoe et al 2008) or who sit close to one another during class (van den Berg et al 2012). Social interactions also occur at lunch, in the schoolyard, and on the way to and from school.…”