“A learning environment will happen, whether intentional or not…so why not go about building a positive environment, intentionally.” – Rod Locero
Why Sociograms Are Valuable in Education
Research on social emotional learning suggests that students’ ability to learn is inextricably linked to the classroom environment. In order to feel comfortable trying new things and mastering new skills, kids must first feel safe and supported. A healthy classroom environment isn’t a neat bonus for kids. It’s essential for learning to occur.
So how can teachers nurture a healthy classroom environment?
In addition to observation and practical knowledge, formal data collection on classroom relationships can be instrumental in helping teachers create this positive classroom culture. Sociograms are one tool that can help teachers get valuable data about the class’s social relationships.
How to Create a Sociogram in a Classroom
To construct a class sociogram, ask each pupil to confidentially list two students to work with on an activity. The topic does not matter. In most cases, the social relationships will be relatively constant regardless of the activity. Make sure they put their own name on the top of the paper.
Write up this data as a chart. Different-sized circles, as in the diagram, give visual impact to these relationships and make it easy to discern the various degrees of popularity. This can be done either on a computer, or by hand tracing. Arrows indicate who is choosing whom.
How to Use a Sociogram to Improve Learning
Here are three patterns to look for when breaking down a class sociogram:
Isolates– One of the alerts a teacher gets from this is that there are both boys and girls – the isolates – who no one has chosen or who have only been chosen by another isolate. While it is wise to have a certain degree of philosophical skepticism in making initial assumptions about isolates, they are a cause for concern. You want to make sure they feel connected and supported in the classroom.
Gender– Another alert is the clear division between the boys and the girls. This may or may not be a cause for concern, but regardless, it’s valuable data.
Groups– There are several quite tight groups which may well merit some degree of skepticism. Are these groups “cliques” that exclude others?
If nothing else, the sociogram can be used as a guide for further, more focused, observation.
Beyond the Sociogram- Creating a Positive Environment
The social side of the classroom is perhaps equally 
important as, and inseparable from, the academic side. The school is the sea. The students are the fish. Only when the sea is healthy and at the right temperature can the fish thrive. Sociograms won’t necessarily give the teacher the answers to classroom social problems, but they can serve as a guide and a useful tool. They can help focus our awareness on students who may not feel connected and need extra attention. It’s simply another useful tool for teachers to use as they try to set up a supportive learning environment for every student.
Six Seconds is home to a treasure trove of resources for educators interested in social emotional learning. Check out the following links for education articles, social emotional learning lessons, and more.
Sample social emotional learning lessons
Six Seconds’ EQ Tools for Education course
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Alan Cooper BEd. BA. Dip Tchg. ANZIM, is a former teacher and principal, now education consultant specializing in Thinking Skills, Learning Styles, Multiple Intelligences, Habits of Mind, Emotional Learning, Professional Development Portfolios, Organisational Culture. He is based in New Zealand.
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Has any one else tried this or something similar? Would love to hear any comment or feedback, favourable or not!
I have used sociograms at the 1st grade level with a difficult class to collect data, identify students with possible social skill deficits, and to show progress in social skills groups. At that level, I administered the survey to each child. I thought it was very helpful and telling.
Thanks Jane. We used them at that level too but more just to note social relationships
I tried Sociogramming in Industrial Settings……specifically identifying Opinion Leaders – who are informal leaders. Sociograms tremendously help identifying (diagnosing) interpersonal as well as leadership abilities.
It is thoughtful application for classrooms. Congrats Alan.
Great article! Nice insight about the group dynamics. A lot of teachers forget to investigate ‘triangular’ relationships, where three (or more) classmates choose each other and form a ‘clique’ within the group. This can be a very disturbing factor in the total group cohesion.
I use an online tool for measuring the group dynamics of my classroom. it’s called Sometics (http://www.sometics.com) and a standard sociogram test is free!
This is such an insightful exercise for teachers. I am curious to know if the sociogram would be the same if you ask the students to instead list their two closest friends. Any differences between the two would be very revealing.
Yes, Smile it would. Generally though we found that they tended to pick according to social groups, but comparisons and trends are always of interest. Given an amount of time, say a semester or term as we say in New Zealand, if when the exercise is repeated and there are changes such changes need looking at carefully. There will be a cause for the change which could be of major significance..
I remember this from my grade 7 class in the 1970’s. What I also remember is that the teacher posted this on the classroom wall. Even as an 11-year-old I could see what a terrible thing this was to do and wondered who was teaching the teacher. What stood out to me is the teacher had just legitimized the popularity chart. It made me sad then; it makes me sad now.
Alas, not sure what “thinking interdependently” means
I think this techniques is very helpful for understanding the classroom environment. I wonder if it would also be effective for the teacher to create a chart to organize which students work best together and also note which students do not. This could help when making small groups or assigning partners.
Sociograms are powerful tools for working with groups. They were first developed by Jacob Moreno back in the 1920s and 30s. (Moreno also developed psychodrama, sociodrama and a number of other methods of working.) He used sociometry, the original theory from which sociograms come, to reduce absconding from a girls borstal by identifying and strengthening meaningful connections.
One way to focus the work of the sociogram is with adequate warm up. Some teachers or managers just ask participants who their two best friends are, which would be minimal warm up. Or you could introduce the idea that some people in the group would be better than others to help you with a specific task, say doing a math problem. This exercise is not a popularity pole but an opportunity for you to think about who would best help you to do this this math assignment.
You could repeat the exercise using different criteria. Someone who is an isolate on one criteria may be a star in another criteria.
The sociogram can also be done in action. You make your choice by placing your hand on the shoulder of the person you choose to help you with a math assignment. Then everyone gets to see and you allow time for each person to share with the person they have chosen something of their reason for the choice. Then you invite group members to make their second choice.
Conducting action sociograms is best done when you have had some training in the method, which is part of the psychodrama training curriculum in most countries. You need to be able to deal with the reactions of participants when they are over or under chosen and work with the group to appreciate the data that is being revealed.
Now I know how to create a sociogram but how do I use it to help the isolates break into the group and feel valued?
Wonderful question Elizabeth. One answer is to use the insight from the sociogram to find connectors, and engage those connectors via a direct request. For example, if Suzie is a person with a lot of connections in the group and Carol is isolated: “Suzie, I noticed Carol was alone at lunch yesterday. Would you be willing to invite her to join you today?”
I also encourage you to consider the overall emotional climate — how can you foster more connectedness in general? Here are a lot of ideas — http://www.6seconds.org/2017/10/18/expert-panel-developing-thriving-culture-schools/
There’s also a wonderful study where students told us what they want — it’s here: http://www.6seconds.org/2016/04/14/groundbreaking-education-research-aera/
One more… related topic… how are you using your power in the classroom?
http://www.6seconds.org/2012/02/29/power-eq/