Because the current studies addressed a relatively new line of research, more studies are needed to
replicate and extend the current findings. An important consideration is the fact that teacher strategies
and reasons for making seating arrangements were not measured. It could be that teachers placed
children next to each other when they thought the children liked each other. Or, teachers may have
placed well-liked students closer to the center of the classroom or to themselves because they also
prefer them. The question remains whether teachers consider developing new relationships or
improving existing relationships as an important goal when making seating arrangements. In general,
teachers do not place children in specific seats to reinforce existing friendships (Gest & Rodkin, 2011).
Instead, their strategies are often aimed at promoting academic diversity and separating students with
behavior problems. Moreover, teacher reports of children’s social relationships generally agree only
moderately with peer reports (Gest, 2006; Neal, Cappella, Wagner, & Atkins, 2011). Even if teachers
wanted to place children together when they thought the children were friends, they might not
always have correctly done so. Still, it would be interesting to examine whether the association
between physical proximity and children’s peer relationships is stronger when teachers’ goal is to foster
social relationships or cooperation.