This research was carried out to further the theoretical and practical understanding of peer assisted learning in undergraduate physiotherapy clinical education. A quasi-experimental study, with both a control group and an experimental group, was developed to examine the effects of peer assisted learning on the cognitive, psychomotor and affective components of clinical competence.On a more specific level, the main aim of the study was to investigate two models of clinical learning used in physiotherapy: the individualistic and reciprocal peer coaching models. Differences in history taking, physical examination and clinical reasoning were studied by having individual students, and pairs of students, complete an assessment of a simulated patient followed by a clinical reasoning test. A conceptual framework illustrates the main theoretical implications of this study. This framework incorporated current knowledge about clinical reasoning in medicine and the allied health sciences, in particular, reasoning from a novice practitioner's perspective. The conceptual framework, however, was expanded to demonstrate how peer assisted learning can influence the knowledge, cognitive and metacognitive aspects of clinical reasoning and performance.The main findings of the study were that reciprocal peer coaching led to statistically significant improvements in performance and clinical reasoning in the experimental group. In most cases, positive effect size differences appeared in favour of the experimental group. Most noteworthy differences were in the areas of physical examination and overall thoroughness of the patient encounter. Subjects in the experimental group also outperformed subjects in the control group on the overall clinical reasoning test to a statistically significant degree. A similar outcome was also noted in terms of patient management, that is, the planning and ++ / development of treatment interventions. Low achieving students in the reciprocal peer coaching group outperformed low achieving students who worked independently. Qualitative differences in the learning atmosphere of both models were also reported by subjects. While the actual clinical reasoning process did not appear to differ across both groups, practical differences in the actual learning experience did appear. Students in the experimental group reported being less anxious than students in the control group. The reciprocal peer coaching process was also an effective means of creating a supportive learning environment. These results are consistent with the major conclusions in the literature. Specifically, that peer assisted learning methods can increase achievement in learners (Goldschmid & Goldschmid, 1976; Johnson et al., 1998; Milson & Laatsch, 1996; Riggio et al., 1991; Riggio et al., 1994; Topping, 1996).

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of the PALS instructional approach on the decoding, fluency, and comprehension performance levels of elementary students with different disability labels (e.g. learning disability, other health impairment, and mental impairment) receiving services in a fifth grade self-contained cross-categorical classroom. An additional purpose of the current study was to examine student acceptability and satisfaction with the PALS intervention. Participants of the present study included 12 fifth grade students placed in a self-contained cross-categorical classroom who were three to four years below grade level in terms of reading performance. PALS was conducted in the experimental classroom three times per week for over 20 weeks. Reading decoding, fluency, and comprehension were measured before and after treatment utilizing assessments including the Dolch Sight Word List, DIBELS Nonsense Word Fluency (NWF), DIBELS Oral Reading Fluency (DORF), and the Reading subtest of the K-TEA, Brief Form. Decoding and fluency DIBELS NWF and ORF probes were utilized weekly for progress monitoring purposes in order to create graphs to compare student progress during baseline and intervention phases. In addition, a student satisfaction survey was administered as a posttest to determine student acceptability. Results indicate moderate gains on decoding, fluency, and comprehension measures for most students; however, the gains were not sufficient to bring students to grade level in terms of reading performance. Data obtained from the student satisfaction survey indicated that students enjoyed PALS overall and perceived a certain level of benefit from the intervention. Implications for future research and possible manipulations of PALS in special education settings are discussed.

No description available.

Doctor of Education / Department of Special Education, Counseling and Student Affairs / James M. Teagarden / Students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) have academic and behavioral deficits that impact their school success. For example, reading achievement of students with EBD is lower than typically developing peers and fails to improve over time without intervention. Despite this, the academic deficits of students with EBD often get overlooked and there are limited evidence-based practices for reading instruction to support them. This study sought to address this limitation by applying the Peer Assisted Learning Strategies (PALS), which has supportive evidence when applied to students with learning disabilities. The study involved eight 5th grade students, three were identified with EBD. The intervention, implemented by the classroom teacher, failed to result in gains in oral reading fluency, comprehension, and targeted social skills due to a variety of factors to be discussed. Limitations and future research are discussed, including considerations for future research.

No description available.

Peer tutoring has become well-established in higher education and, with growing interest in peer learning, has started to gain popularity at school level with evident success in a range of settings and subject areas. Specific implementations such as PALS have become commercial successes based on offering attainment gains and social outcomes while reducing teacher workload. However, the impact on children with special educational needs is variable and there remains a lack of consensus on how PALS can affect performance for such students. Similarly, while there are some studies in the Middle East, the supporting literature for peer-tutoring and PALS is highly Western-centric and relies on adoption of constructivist principles in the wider classroom. Such values are uncommon in the Middle East, with the dominance of traditional values presenting a significant barrier to pedagogical innovation in Saudi Arabia. This study is therefore a timely exploration of how peer-tutoring can integrate with a group’s existing traditional pedagogical beliefs, engaging them in more active learning. The study used a mixed methods design to look at three main aspects of the PALS provision: the effectiveness of teacher training as preparation for leading peer tutoring, how fully was the Maths PALS programme implemented, and the impact on students with special educational needs in terms of a range of mathematics attainment and social outcomes. A 3-month intervention model is used to generate comparisons between an intervention and control pupils, helping to locate this study in the context of other quantitative research from Western countries. This is supported by qualitative data looking at the experiences of staff and students to better understand the specific experience of trying such a novel approach in a Saudi Arabian context. It is argued that attainment progress was satisfactory when considered alongside the substantial social progress, suggesting that peer tutoring has the potential to be a long-term learning strategy and, perhaps more importantly, can open the door to Saudi Arabia developing more purposeful and collaborative learning environments. The age grouping common in Saudi Arabia, spanning a much greater age range than is common in other countries, also offers insight into what makes cross-age peer tutoring effective and suggests that measuring progress in such situations requires more advanced statistical techniques. It is also shown that trainee teachers can be efficiently trained in using PALS and highly rate its impact, indicating that teacher training could be a valuable launchpad for pedagogical innovation in Saudi Arabia.

In this mixed-methods study I report on a three-part investigation related to reading intervention at Grade 1 in one Ontario school board during the 2009-2010 school year. First, I report the results that Peer Assisted Learning Strategies (PALS) had on the reading outcomes for all Grade 1 students (n = 436) in terms of sex, aboriginal status, and at-risk status. Second, I use progress monitoring benchmark data to show how students unresponsive to instruction may have benefitted from additional instruction generated from monthly data-informed In-School Team meetings. Third, I report on educators’ perceptions of how monthly data-informed In-School Team meetings influenced their knowledge, confidence, and willingness to plan additional reading interventions for students persistently at-risk for reading failure. Findings indicate that compared to previous years, when PALS was not used, students in this study made significantly greater gains in reading scores. Boys made similar gains to girls, First Nations students made similar gains to non First Nations students, and at-risk students closed the achievement gap slightly with their typically-achieving peers. For students who did not make adequate progress in reading throughout the year a logistic regression analysis of the data indicates that the best predictor of at-risk status is not a student’s sex or First Nations status, but their letter sound fluency and word identification fluency scores at the beginning of the school year. Findings also indicate that the slope of improvement in reading scores for nonresponders begins to increase once In-School Team meetings begin. Educators’ perceptions of how the monthly In-School team meetings influenced practice differed according to the perceived role that each held of his or her position, and according to the level of involvement, training, and access that each had to the data used in this study. The more professional development that educators had in the theory, use, and application of progress monitoring data the more likely they were to report that they were willing to use it to inform their practice. Likewise, the more access that educators had to the data in terms of collecting, viewing, and interpreting it, the more likely they were in reporting knowledge, confidence, and willingness to use it to plan additional interventions for students. / Thesis (Ph.D, Education) -- Queen's University, 2011-09-13 10:03:09.664

The research reported in this thesis investigated staff-student collaboration in advanced undergraduate mathematics course design and delivery at a research-intensive UK university. Staff and students collaborated to redesign and deliver two courses: Vector Spaces and Complex Variables. The collaboration in the design of the two courses involved students who had completed the courses and then who worked as interns together with a small team of academic staff. The collaboration in the delivery of the two courses involved the implementation of a Peer Assisted Learning (PAL) scheme in which third-year students facilitated the learning of second-year students in optional scheduled sessions. The study employed a mixed-methods research strategy involving an ethnographic approach to the study of the course design process and PAL sessions followed by an observational study (a quasi-experimental design) to investigate the impact of PAL attendance on the achievement of PAL participants. This thesis reports findings from a three-phase research design. Phase one explored the nature of the collaborations in course design and its impact on staff teaching practices and on the student collaborators. Phase two investigated the characteristics of the PAL sessions for the advanced undergraduate mathematics courses and the roles played in those sessions. Phase two also explored the impact of PAL in qualitative terms on both PAL participants and PAL leaders. Phase three investigated the impact of PAL in quantitative terms on the achievement of students who participated as PAL participants. The study found that staff-student collaboration in course design and delivery led to emergent Communities of Practice in which staff and students engaged in mathematics practice which led to identity transformation of student collaborators, a deeper understanding of the mathematics on which the students worked and some change in staff teaching and course design practice. The also showed that staff-student collaboration in the delivery of course units via PAL resulted in a learning community in which PAL participants and PAL leaders engaged in mathematics practice which led to increased student achievement and enhanced affective outcomes for both PAL participants and PAL leaders.

This study launches a program of research that targets the unmet mental health needs of children living in urban poverty by infusing evidence-based practices and mental health promotion into peer-mediated recreational activities delivered in community-based after-school programs (ASP). We examined the feasibility and promise of a Peer-Assisted Social Learning (PASL) model to promote social competence among low-income, minority youth. In collaboration with our community partner, we developed and implemented a series of 21 recreational activities designed to generate natural opportunities for peer-facilitated problem solving. Socially skilled children were identified by ASP staff and paired with less-skilled peers to maximize opportunities for social learning and minimize the demands placed on staff. Thirty children at an Experimental site participated in PASL activities, while 31 children at a Comparison ASP participated in recreation-as-usual activities. Five Experimental staff received training and participated in 10 weekly supervision meetings to support PASL implementation. Feasibility was assessed using measures of child and staff attendance, participation, and engagement in PASL, as well as staff adherence to and competence with implementation. Promise was assessed pre- and post-PASL, using measures including staff-reported social skills, children’s problem-solving strategies, and peer reported social standing (i.e., likability ratings, peer nominations, and social network mapping). Strong evidence emerged for fidelity of implementation (adherence, competence) and broader feasibility (attendance, participation, enthusiasm). Promise effects were mixed; children who participated in PASL demonstrated improvements in problem behavior and social skills, but also exhibited increased reliance on aggressive strategies to solve problems and some declines in peer-reported social standing. Implications related to the capacity of ASPs to incorporate evidence-based practices for mental health promotion into natural routines are discussed.

The present review examined the effectiveness of three peer tutoring programs: cross-age peer tutoring, Classwide Peer Tutoring (CWPT), and Peer-Assisted Learning Strategies (PALS), for elementary students in the academic areas of math and reading. The research reviewed indicates students who participated in cross-age peer tutoring and CWPT had improved test scores on basic math facts as well as increased math scores on standardized assessments. Students also showed improvement in reading fluency, reading comprehension, spelling, and reading level after participating in cross-age peer tutoring and CWPT. High-, average-, and low-achieving students as well as students in special Ill education benefitted from these peer tutoring programs. In addition, both tutors and tutees received benefits from the tutoring programs, although fewer studies examined outcomes for tutors. Although cross-age peer tutoring, and CWPT resulted in mostly positive outcomes, this was not the case for the PALS program. Students participating in this program demonstrated little change from pre- to post-assessment. Since the PALS studies were better designed with tighter experimental control, it is less likely results were due to another variable. The cross-age and CWPT studies lacked the tight experimental control of the PALS studies.