Social and Emotional Learning in Schools

Posted by Beth DuBose on Dec 02, 2008

There are many researchers that feel that not only is the school curriculum important to a child’s development, but also the school environment. They feel schools should be a safe place where students feel comfortable expressing themselves and developing relationships. Some schools are moving away from the traditional model of individual classrooms to project based learning where students work in groups in creative ways to solve hard problems. 

Edutopia has a great video of an interview with Linda Darling-Hammond of Stanford University. She speaks about the transition of schools and teaching methods into the 21st century, and making schools not only an academic learning environment, but also a social and emotional learning environment. She feels that this will allow students to become socially, emotionally and intellectually capable, and learn how to be part of a community. In her interview she talks about a remodel of a high school in New York. The high school was designed so students stayed with the same team of teachers for two years, similar to looping in elementary schools. Most of the work is done in groups and assessed using authentic measures. The school has seen a higher graduation rate since the transition to the new model. You can view the video below:

Edutopia also has an entire piece of their webiste dedicated to social and emotional learning, with additional videos, interviews and resources. It is a very interesting topic, and worth researching more.