• The Korean Journal of Elementary Counseling
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.151-165
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• 2011

This study aims to demonstrate how well SCM analysis, which indicates social cognitive map of categorizing peer subgroups of elementary school students, corresponds with that of teachers. To do this, the subject of this study includes two classes of the 3rd and the 5th grade students in D elementary school in B-gu, Busan city. Over 30 students of each gender in each grade were surveyed with social network questionnaires to collect data. The result of the social network survey was analyzed by SCM 4.0 program to categorize peer subgroups within each class. The categorized peer subgroups were reported to the class teacher. Based on the report, the class teachers observed peer subgroups in classes. After the teachers observed and categorized the students into several peer groups, an analysis was conducted to compare the peer subgrouping by students with that by teachers. The result showed the two were 80% correspondent to each other regardless of gender and grade. If interobserver reliability stays within the range of 80-100%, it is considered reliable. And this leads to the conclusion that peer subgrouping by students' cognition and that by teachers' observation can be regarded quite corresponding. In conclusion, peer subgrouping through SCM is significant when peer subgrouping Korean children, and it appears to be more significant when analyzed considering different variables including gender and grade. Peer subgrouping by girls is shown to be more accurate than that by boys.