Balancing Friendship and Exploration: Grouping Strategies and Their Impact on Classroom Dynamics

Abstract

This article studies how group formation strategies affect friendship, collaboration, and academic reputation networks in high school classrooms. Using MRQAP models, it shows that affinity-based teams tend to collaborate inwardly with existing friends, while randomly assigned teams encourage outward collaborative ties across groups.

Javier Pulgar

Physics Department, Universidad del Bío Bío

Diego Ramirez

Ph.D. Candidate

Cristian Candia

Associate Professor and Head of CRiSS-LAB, School of Engineering and School of Government, Universidad del Desarrollo, Chile.

My research interests include collective behavior, collective and artificial intelligence, network science, and business analytics.