The purpose of the study was to ascertain whether students engaged in a peer-tutoring, collaborative environment would increase their self-esteem and decrease their dropout rate. The hypothesis reads as follows: "We hypothesize that a class based on a collaborative peer tutor teaching program would elicit greater positive changes than would classes based on traditional group leaning activities, or traditional individual learning activities. Specifically, participants were compared on measures of self-concept and school-based attitudes."
The independent variables included in the study are age, socioeconomic background, race, primary language, gender, and past educational performance. Sufficient efforts were made to assure that the two control groups had similar breakdowns in everything except academic achievement.
The dependent variables studied were student self-image, school attendance records, and dropout rates. Student attitude was subjectively accessed.
The definition of interpersonal collaboration used by the article is two coequal parties involved in shared decision making. Coequal for this study means having an equal influence on the outcome of competitions.
Self-Concept is defined as measured by the Piers_Harris Self-Concept Scale. Dropout likelihood was measured by the Demos D Scale. School attitudes were defined by school attendance and anecdotal evidence from both teachers and students.
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