Use of child reference groups in cultural-historical research

In this paper, we explore the implementation of child reference groups in cultural-historical research. Results are drawn from a series of focus groups done with middle school children in the winter and spring of 2019. Our analysis suggests that these groups assist researchers in defining the appropriateness of tasks, that social cooperation qualitatively alters responses, and that child reference groups represent meaningful activity for children and researchers. Future research with these groups can be coordinated around the refraction of the cultural environment in children’s statements and different stages of concept development.