INTRODUCTION

        

                   Sociometry is quantitative methods for measuring social relationship it was developed by Jacob Merino and Jennings in 1945 in a class the children are ask to select those with whom would like to play or work. Each child makes his choice, and from this data, teacher can construct a social map which is known as Sociogram.Ethymologically sociometry means the way of measuring the degree of relatedness among people. It shows how an individual seen by his peers. It shows social acceptance or rejection among members of the social group. The sociogram is a type of seating chart. It sketches the pattern of rejection and attraction in the class by indicating which friend each child would prefer to have in next to seat as a companion in class, on the school bus, or as partner in the next class meeting that is organised.Sociogram will help the teacher to identify the stars,cliques,mutuals,isolates.Stars are those who are chosen by many, cliques are those who are chosen by exclusively by themselves,mutuals are unit of two individuals chosen reciprocally and isolates are those who are chosen by nobody.

                   Sociometry is based on the fact that people make choices in interpersonal relationships. Choices are made on the basis of some criteria. These criteria include linking or disliking of a person for another person in a group and knowing a person has or doesn’t have the skills required for accomplishing a group task. The choices of the group members show the inter-relatedness within the group. The diagrammatic representation showing the inter-relatedness within a group is called sociogram. It is a map representing student’s preferences and rejections for each other in a group.

                  In a sociogram, each group member is represented by a circle, with an arrow pointing the individual chosen by him. The member chosen by most number of members is called star. A group may contain one or more stars. The persons

not chosen by anyone are called isolates. Three or more persons who are more chosen by themselves as in a sub groups are called cliques. When two persons choose each other, it is called mutual pair. In its simplest form, a   sociogram is made by asking every member of a class to write down the name of one classmate whom he likes most.

MERITS

The social map directly helps the teachers in the management of the class activities.

v It will tell whether class is a well-knit or loosely knit group

v It will help to prevent social maladjustment in pupils and to promote social cohesion.

v It helps to measure social relationships.

v It helps build relationships.

v It shows the group dynamics.

v It ranks candidates on the basis of acceptability.

v It reduces conflicts.

v It facilitates better adjustment.

v It reveals the peer group dynamics.

Limitations;

          < Subjectivity

          < Low Validity and Reliability

                 A sociogram is sociometric instrument which diagrammatically indicates the information and changes of a group. It is a map of interpersonal relationships and interpersonal lines of communication. Wherever people aggregate, a sociogram occurs. Seating arrangements, although apparently randomly selected, are not usually happenstance occurrences. All people utilize some sociometric criterion or set of criteria when interacting with others. The criterion may be solely aesthetic. That is, they respond to and are either attracted to or repelled by colour, from, texture, or some other sensory cue. Other criteria may be dictated by the situation itself. For example, rooming, eating, studying, or working with another is predicted in the task about which one will be or has been engaged. Although sociometric choices take place among other animal forms, the current discussion is focused on the process of human interactions

              There are three major types of sociograms; the role diagram, the perceptual sociogram, and the more conventional sociogram of the moment. The techniques for administering a sociogram, no matter what type, are essentially same. They consist of five basic stages (a) criterion selection; (b) matrix formation ; (c) sociogram charting ;(d) analysis; and (e) application. The example which will be used in explaining these techniques is the conventionally used sociogram of the moment, the existential and very real situation as the participants in the sociogram react to stated action criterion.

               Is a graphic representation which serves to reveal and analyze the relationships of a personal with their family or social circle, or to visualize the relationships within the family or of certain members of the family with their external environment such as health and education services, leisure time activities, work, friends or place in the extended family.

        A sociogram is map representing student’s preference for each other as play partners or parents. In its simplest form, it is created by asking every members of a class to write down the name of one classmate in response to a question such as

“Whom do you most prefer to spend lunch hour with?”(There are variations on this simple procedure: see the postscripts at the bottom of this description.)The student’s choices can be displayed as a map that suggests mutual social preference, one-directional preferences, subgroups or cliques that may exist, and students who are isolated from all relationship. There are many examples of sociograms displayed on the internet; here is an example of a sociogram of a classroom of children (in this example, children were allowed to choose three classmates, not just one).    

 Social relationship in the classroom

                  The classroom climate  impacts how  students feel about both the learning situation and the learning experience .Instructors can facilitate a supportive classroom climate by implementing basic strategies which include: showing; acceptance ,respect and caring for students ; establishing a businesslike but nonthreatening atmosphere; communicating appropriate messages about the relevance of the subject matter; allowing students to experience some control in the classroom and learning environment ; and creating  a sense of community. A cooperative classroom environment (as opposed to a competitive classroom environment) will increase both student productivity and intrinsic motivation for learning. Creating a science of community in the classroom will increase student engagement and support learning.

SOCIOGRAM

3

4

2

7

16

8

9

12

10

11

1

5

14

13

19

6

15

18

17

 

Need for Relatedness

              All people have a need for social connection and the experience of secure connection, love, and respect with other individuals, or a need for relatedness is relevant for faculty, as it impacts human motivation. Students’ needs for motivation may impact their relationships with both their teachers and with their classroom peers. Relatedness needs may impact students by motivating them to choose social activities over academic work. Students may be concerned with what others think of them. Which can be expressed either by attempting to present a certain image or by supporting and helping peers in order to gain positive regard? relatedness needs are expressed in two main forms: need for affiliation and need for approval. Students with a high need for affiliation may focus on connecting with peers, which can interfere with the learning process.                                                  

Major divisions

·        Stars. Those points on a sociogram who have many choices are called stars when several children “positively” nominate the same person the many arrows all lead to that person thus emphasizing their “starkness”. They are the center or “hub of attraction.” We call them “stars.”

·        Isolates. Children who have not been “positively” nominated by anyone in the group are usually defined as “isolates”.

·        Mutual choices. These consist of pairs of children who chose each other.

·        Rejected. One who not selected by any one, but they select another persons.

·        Clique. Group of 3 persons, they have interrelation with each other, but no selection to the outside.

OBJECTIVES

Ø To learn interaction and the structure of a group.

Ø To discover where exactly an individual exists in that group.

Ø To elicit social relationship and the organization type of a group through analyzing attitudes & aptitudes of group members among each other.

Ø To identify subgroups, leaders and cliques of a group.

Ø To obtain objective information about the real structure of a group and group integrity.

Ø To enables us to learn about the group dynamics and evaluate socialization levels of students after some social activities and their effects on reaching the intended goal.

Ø To help the school administration, teachers and counseling department by providing detailed information about the general structure & social relationships of the group by preparing social plans & programs to develop them in a better way and to find solutions to the problems.

Ø Sociometry also gives us a chance to identify the distance/closeness of the group members with each other and the interaction net among them.  

REPORT OF SOCIOGRAM

        Classroom climate remains an interesting and intriguing concept in understanding hoe the art of teaching and learning occur. Although classroom climate also encompasses the physical environment of a classroom. It is the “emotional” climate that is typically of high interest. Classroom climate describes the interactive emotional environment in which teachers teach and children learn, but it may also reflect subjective feelings of individual students. Alternately defined as a sense of belongingness, learning community, etc, the concept refers to the notion of an overall comfort level that children feel in class, the extent they feel connected and cared for, and whether they can accept as part of the community of learners. Though research on this topic is not definitive, it seems reasonable to believe that the overall emotional environment can have a significant impact on children’s motion to learn and subsequent achievement.

          As our revised B.Ed curriculum we are try to be practice different mode of evaluation for psychology. A method for this purpose from social psychology is called Sociometry. So we made a practical study of sociogram conducted at SNM VHSS Vannnappuram. For preparing the sociometrix I selected class IX. In this class there were 19 students including both boys and girls. Sociometry is based on the fact that people make choices in interpersonal relationships. In this I observed that the star got 5 points, including first choice and four second choices. The star of the class is number17 .Numer17is a girl.

      Sociometry is based on the fact that people make choices in interpersonal relationships. So he got the highest score from entire class. That is why she became the star of the class. In this class I observed two popular. And there were one clique. From our studies we seen that there is a student is isolated.

CONCLUSION

                Friendships are crucial to a child’s emotional development not only because they provide social reinforcement but because they provide a buffer for handling stressors. Friendships also affect the learning climate for individual students that impact the child’s overall sense of self –efficacy and ultimately classroom achievement and motivation. This paper discussed a tool for school psychologists, in collaboration with teachers that can be used to asses friendship status in the classroom – an aspect of classroom climate. This information could be invaluable to identify children in need of additional support and attention for in –classroom interventions or referrals outside the classroom. Reviewing the overall patterns can provide teachers with a view of the classroom’s social climate for possible classroom-wide interventions by the school psychologist. Moreover, sociograms can be used to assess effectiveness of interventions (i.e.as pre and post measures).Since sociograms are quick and simple to use; it can be used regularly to assess a classroom’s social climate. It is particularly useful in classrooms where there is a high turnover of students or when new students are fitting in. ultimately, we believe that sociogram data can supplement teacher observation to help establish the type of classrooms that maximally supports student learning.

        According to study it can concluded that the Social relation in the IX A we observed that some of the students are rejected. Teacher should concentrate on these students to remove the marginalization of these students by appreciating the success of these students in front of their classmates, conduct group activities in which these students can perform and help others to complete that, very well. BY these ways we can make them as well being part of the class room. The important and good thing in this classroom relation is no isolated present.