Prevention of prejudice in elementary school students

This study investigated the effects of cooperative group peer tutoring on the inter-ethnic relations of elementary school age children. Direct observations of social interactions on the playground and sociometric indices were used to measure inter-ethnic associations before and after the eight-week program. For first graders, inter-ethnic interactions and sociometric choices increased and improvements were found in arithmetic and reading grades. However, no significant changes were found among the third grade program children in either inter-ethnic associations or academic performance. These findings suggest that a cooperative peer tutoring classroom structure may improve the inter-ethnic relationships of first grade children who have experienced only a short history of competitive academic exercises and whose overt ethnic prejudice may be less ingrained.