Decades
of research indicate that peer interaction, where individuals discuss
or work on a task collaboratively, may be beneficial for children’s and
adolescents’ learning. Yet, we do not know which features of interaction
may be related to learning from peer interaction. This meta-analysis examined results from 62 articles with 71 studies into peer interaction,
involving a total of 7,103 participants aged 4 to 18 years. Peer
interaction was effective in promoting learning in comparison with other
types of learning conditions, Hedges’ g = 0.40, 95% confidence interval [CI: 0.27, 0.54], p
< .0001, across different gender and age groups. In contrast,
however, peer interaction was not more effective than child–adult dyadic
interaction. Moderator analyses also indicated that peer interaction is
more effective when children are specifically instructed to reach
consensus than when they are not. Findings extend theoretical
considerations by teasing apart the processes through which children
learn from peer interactions and offer practical implications for the
effective use of peer interaction techniques in the classroom.
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