Use of Peer-Mediation to Develop Instructional Behavior in Pre-Service Teachers

The investigators evaluated the effect of peer-mediated instruction on the development of specific teaching strategies (i.e., error correction, antecedent prompt and test, antecedent prompt and fade, most-to-least prompting, least-to-most prompting, constant time delay, progressive time delay, stimulus manipulations) by eight undergraduate pre-service teachers. Results indicated the procedure produced substantial and immediate effect. Comparable results occurred across students, demonstrating replication of the effects of peer-mediation. With added emphasis on improving outcomes in higher education, college instructors continually search for instructional procedures to improve student performance. Peer-mediated instruction has received considerable attention as a method for ameliorating skill deficits or developing new behaviors. In fact, some skills may be taught more effectively in group settings and may afford more learning opportunities (Morgan, Whorton, & Ficek, 1988). The most familiar and traditional peer-mediated paradigm involves an expert tutor instructing a tutee (Maxwell, 1990). Peer tutoring benefits both the tutee and tutor's academic and social skills (Kohler, & Greenwood, 1990). Peer tutoring provides practice of newly taught skills as well as opportunities for interaction and socialization with other learners (Greenwood, Carta, & Hall, 1988). For example, Parker and Sharpe (1995) noted the use of a peer-tutoring paradigm increased the frequency of instructional and social support of college athletes. Extensive evidence demonstrates that peer tutoring is effective in accomplishing a variety of goals, in a breadth of subjects and with a wide range of students (McKeachie, Pintrich, Lin, & Smith, 1986; Moust, & Schmidt, 1992). Another familiar form of peer-mediation is cooperative learning. Typically, cooperative learning involves arranging opportunities for small groups of students to work together to master material. (Moorman, 1994). Nattiv, Winitzky, and Drickey (1991) identify a number of successful cooperative learning strategies used in pre-service teacher education characterizing them as incorporating: individual accountability; group goals; support of task effort; and social skill development characterize cooperative learning lessons. Reported benefits of cooperative learning include: increased retention, use of higher level reasoning, better view and acceptance of others, positive attitude, higher self-esteem, greater social support, positive psychological adjustment, greater collaborative skills, and better behavior (Johnson, & Johnson, 1980; Slavin, 1991). A further example of peer-mediation is reciprocal peer tutoring. Reciprocal peer tutoring benefits from the strengths of both peer tutoring and cooperative learning (Beachler, & Glyer-Culver, 1998). For example, students in a college-level psychology course were paired with a partner. Prior to an examination, each partner created a test that measured competence on assigned material, administered it to the other partner, and provided explanations for questions answered incorrectly (Fantuzzo, Dimeff, & Fox, 1986). In this type of peer-mediated instruction, students assume both a tutor and tutee role. Peer-mediation has proven benefits. Yet, do these benefits extend to the development of teaching behavior? This study determined the effectiveness of peer-mediation in developing specific instructional behaviors in pre-service teachers. Method Participants and Settings During the 1997 fall semester, the researchers evaluated traditional college student (aged 18 to 24 years) performance in an introductory course in applied behavior analysis. At the beginning of the semester, the eight members of the class were given the opportunity to participate in the study. The students had not received prior instruction in the content of the study. During the course of the study, the students did not take parallel courses. …