Peer interaction and peer presence in computer-based problem solving: A research note

Presents a series of studies to suggest that the benefits of collaboration on a computer based planning task may be not only the result of peer interaction, but also due to peer presence. Peer presence effects have long been established in social psychology but have rarely been invoked to explain the benefits of child-child interaction. Researchers need to pay more attention to the emotional and motivational aspects of learning situations and to understand how these can affect learning outcome. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2007 APA, all rights reserved).