problem solving social emotional learning

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SEL Problem Solving: How to Teach Students to be Problem Solvers in 2024

If you are an elementary teacher looking to learn how to help your students solve problems independently, then you found the right place! Problem solving skills prepare kids to face dilemmas and obstacles with confidence. Students who have problem solving skills are more independent than students who do not. In this post, we’ll go into detail about what problem solving skills are and why they are important. In addition, we’ll share tips and ideas for how to teach problem solving skills in an elementary classroom setting. Read all about helping students solve problems in and out of the classroom below!

What Does Solving Problems Mean?

Solving problems means brainstorming solutions to the problem after identifying and analyzing the problem and why it occurred. It is important to brainstorm different solutions by looking at all angles of the problem and creating a list of possible solutions. Then you can pick the solution that fits the best.

Why is it Important for Kids to Solve Problems?

It is important for kids to solve problems by brainstorming different solutions so that they can pick the best solution. This teaches them that there can be many different solutions to a problem and they vary in effectiveness. Teaching kids to solve problems helps them be independent in making choices. 

How Do I Know If I Need to Teach Problem Solving in My Classroom?

The students in your 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th or 5th grade classroom would benefit from problem solving lessons and activities if any of these statements are true:

• Student confidence is lacking.
• Students are getting into conflicts with each other.
• They come to you to solve problems they could have solved on their own.
• Students are becoming easily frustrated.
• Recess is a hard time for your class.

5 Reasons To Promote Problem Solving In Your Elementary Classroom

Below are 5 reasons to promote problem solving in your elementary classroom.

1. Problem solving builds confidence 

Students’ confidence will grow as they learn problem solving skills because they will believe in their own abilities to solve problems. The more experience they have using their problem solving skills, the more confident they will become. Instead of going to others to solve problems for them, they will look inside themselves at their own abilities. 

2. Problem solving creates stronger friendships

Students who can problem solve create stronger friendships because they won’t let arguments or running into issues stop them from being friends with a person. Instead they work with their friend to get through their problem together and get through the bump in the road, instead of giving up on the friendship. 

3. Problem solving skills increase emotional intelligence 

Having emotional intelligence is incredibly helpful when solving problems. As students learn problem solving skills, they will use emotional intelligence to think about the feelings of others involved in the conflict. They will also think about how the problem is affecting others. 

4. Problem solving skills create more independent kids

Students who can problem solve become more independent than kids who cannot because they will try to solve their problems first instead of going to an adult. They won’t look at adults as being the only people who can solve their problems. They will be equipped with the skill set to tackle the problems they are experiencing by themselves or with peers. However, it is important to make the distinction with kids between problems they can solve on their own and problems they need an adult for. 

5. Teaching problem solving skills causes students to be more reflective 

Reflecting is part of the problem solving process. Students need to reflect on the problem and what caused it when deciding how to solve the problem. Once students choose the best solution to their problem, they need to reflect on whether or not the solution was effective. 

5 Tips and Ideas for Teaching Problem Solving Skills 

Below are tips and ideas for teaching problem solving.

1. Read Aloud Picture Books about Problem Solving Skills 

Picture books are a great way to introduce and teach an SEL topic. It gets students thinking about the topic and activating their background knowledge. Check out this list of picture books for teaching problem solving skills !

2. Watch Videos about Problem Solving Skills 

There are tons of free online videos out there that promote social emotional learning. It’s a fun and engaging way to teach SEL skills that your students will enjoy. Check out these videos for teaching problem solving skills !

3. Explicitly Teach Vocabulary Related to Problem Solving Skills 

Vocabulary words can help students develop understanding of problem solving and create connections through related words. Our problem solving SEL unit includes ten vocabulary cards with words related to the SEL topic. It is important for students to be able to see, hear, and use relevant vocabulary while learning. One idea for how to use them is to create an SEL word wall as students learn the words.

4. Provide Practice Opportunities

When learning any skill, students need time to practice. Social emotional learning skills are no different! Our problem solving SEL unit includes scenario cards, discussion cards, choice boards, games, and much more. These provide students with opportunities to practice the skills independently, with partners or small groups, or as a whole class.

5. Integrate Other Content Areas

Integrating other content areas with this topic is a great way to approach this SEL topic. Our problem solving SEL unit includes reading, writing, and art activities.

Skills Related to Problem Solving

Problem-solving, in the context of social emotional learning (SEL) or character education, refers to the process of identifying, analyzing, and resolving challenges or obstacles in a thoughtful and effective manner. While “problem-solving” is the commonly used term, there are other words and phrases that can convey a similar meaning. These alternative words highlight different aspects of finding solutions, critical thinking, and decision-making. Here are some other words used in the context of problem-solving:

• Troubleshooting: Identifying and resolving problems or difficulties by analyzing their root causes.
• Critical thinking: Applying logical and analytical reasoning to evaluate and solve problems.
• Decision-making: Considering options and making choices to address and solve problems effectively.
• Analytical problem-solving: Using data, evidence, and systematic thinking to address challenges and find solutions.
• Creative problem-solving: Generating innovative ideas and approaches to overcome obstacles and find solutions.
• Resourcefulness: Finding effective solutions using available resources and thinking outside the box.
• Solution-oriented: Focusing on identifying and implementing solutions rather than dwelling on problems.
• Adaptability: Adjusting strategies and approaches to fit changing circumstances and overcome challenges.
• Strategic thinking: Planning and organizing actions to achieve desired outcomes and resolve problems.
• Systems thinking: Considering the interconnectedness and relationships between different elements when solving problems.

These terms encompass the concept of problem-solving and reflect the qualities of critical thinking, decision-making, and finding effective solutions within the context of social emotional learning (SEL) or character education.

Download the SEL Activities

Click an image below to either get this individual problem solving unit or get ALL 30 SEL units

In closing, we hope you found this information about teaching problem solving skills helpful! If you did, then you may also be interested in these posts.

• SEL Best Practices for Elementary Teachers
• Social Emotional Learning Activities
• 75+ SEL Videos for Elementary Teachers
• Teaching SEL Skills with Picture Books
• How to Create a Social Emotional Learning Environment
• Read more about: ELEMENTARY TEACHING , SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING IN THE CLASSROOM

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Pave the Way for Self-regulation and Problem-solving With Social-emotional Learning

Posted: April 3, 2024

Problem-solving is a social-emotional learning (SEL) skill children need for lifelong success. Effective problem-solving skills support children's ability to self-regulate, focus on tasks, think flexibly and creatively, work with others, and generate multiple ways to solve problems. When young children develop and build these skills, it positively impacts their interactions with others, grows their capacity to manage challenges, and boosts a sense of competence.

A group of school-age children are stacking plastic blocks with an educator.

The foundation for effective social problem-solving is grounded in self-regulation, or the ability to regulate emotions when interacting with others. It is easier to focus on one's feelings and the feelings and perspectives of others and to work cooperatively toward solutions when a child can self-regulate and calm down. Children develop self-regulation skills over time, with practice and with adult guidance. Equally important is how an adult models emotion regulation and co-regulation. 

"Caregivers play a key role in cultivating the development of emotion regulation through co-regulation, or the processes by which they provide external support or scaffolding as children navigate their emotional experiences" (Paley & Hajal, 2022, p. 1).

When adults model calm and self-regulated approaches to problem-solving, it shows children how to approach problems constructively. For example, an educator says, "I'm going to take a breath and calm down so I can think better." This model helps children see and hear a strategy to support self-regulation.

Problem-solving skills help children resolve conflicts and interact with others as partners and collaborators. Developing problem-solving skills helps children learn and grow empathy for others, stand up for themselves, and build resilience and competence to work through challenges in their world. 

Eight strategies to support problem-solving 

• Teach about emotions and use feeling words throughout the day. When children have more words to express themselves and their feelings, it is easier to address and talk about challenges when they arise. 
• Recognize and acknowledge children's feelings throughout the day. For example, when children enter the classroom during circle time, mealtime, and outside time, ask them how they feel. Always acknowledge children's feelings, both comfortable and uncomfortable, to support an understanding that all feelings are OK to experience.  
• Differentiate between feelings and behaviors. By differentiating feelings from behaviors, educators contribute to children’s understanding that all feelings are OK, but not all behaviors are OK. For example, an educator says, "It looks like you may be feeling mad because you want the red blocks, and Nila is playing with them. It's OK to feel mad but not OK to knock over your friend’s blocks."
• Support children's efforts to calm down. When children are self-regulated, they can think more clearly. For example, practice taking a breath with children as a self-regulation technique during calm moments. Then, when challenges arise, children have a strategy they have practiced many times and can use to calm down before problem-solving begins.  
• Encourage children's efforts to voice the problem and their feelings after they are calm. For example, when a challenge arises, encourage children to use the phrase, "The problem is_______, and I feel______." This process sets the stage to begin problem-solving.
• Acknowledge children's efforts to think about varied ways to solve problems. For example, an educator says, "It looks like you and Nila are trying to work out how to share the blocks. What do you think might work so you can both play with them? Do you have some other ideas about how you could share?"
• Champion children's efforts as they problem-solve. For example, "You and Nila thought about two ways you could share. One way is to divide the red blocks so you can each build, and the other is to build a tower together. Great thinking, friends!"
• Create opportunities for activities and play that offer problem-solving practice. For example, when children play together in the block area, it provides opportunities to negotiate plans for play and role-play, build perspective, talk about feelings, and share. The skills children learn during play, along with adult support, enhance children’s ability to solve more complex and challenging social problems and conflicts when they occur in and out of the early learning setting.

References: 

Paley, B., & Hajal, N. J. (2022). Conceptualizing emotion regulation and coregulation as family-level phenomena. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review ,  25 (1), 19-43.

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Teaching SEL

Social Emotional Learning Lessons for Teachers and Counselors

Social Decision Making and Problem Solving

Enhancing social-emotional skills and academic performance.

The approach known as Social Decision Making and Social Problem Solving (SDM/SPS) has been utilized since the late 1970s to promote the development of social-emotional skills in students, which is now also being applied in academic settings. This approach is rooted in the work of John Dewey (1933) and has been extensively studied and implemented by Rutgers University in collaboration with teachers, administrators, and parents in public schools in New Jersey over several decades.

SDM/SPS focuses on developing a set of skills related to social competence, peer acceptance, self-management, social awareness, group participation, and critical thinking.

The curriculum units are structured around systematic skill-building procedures, which include the following components:

• Introducing the skill concept and motivation for learning; presentation of the skill in concrete behavioral components
• Modeling behavioral components and clarifying the concept by descriptions and behavioral examples of not using the skill
• Offering opportunities for practice of the skill in “student-tested,” enjoyable activities, providing corrective feedback and reinforcement until skill mastery is approached
• Labeling the skill with a prompt or cue, to establish a “shared language” that can be used for future situations
• Assigning skill practice outside of structured lessons
• Providing follow-through activities and integrating prompts in academic content areas and everyday interpersonal situations

Connection to Academics

Integrating SDM/SPS into students’ academic work enhances their social-emotional skills while enriching their academic performance. Research consistently supports the benefits of social-emotional learning (SEL) instruction.

Readiness for Decision Making

This aspect of SDM/SPS targets the development of skills necessary for effective social decision making and interpersonal behavior across various contexts. It encompasses self-management and social awareness. A self-management unit focuses on skills such as listening, following directions, remembering, taking turns, and maintaining composure in the classroom. These skills help students regulate their emotions, control impulsivity, and develop social literacy. Students learn to recognize physical cues and situations that may trigger high-arousal, fight-or-flight reactions or dysregulated behavior. Skills taught in this domain should include strategies to regain control and engage clear thinking, such as breathing exercises, mindfulness, or techniques that activate the parasympathetic nervous system.

A social awareness unit emphasizes positive peer relationships and the skills necessary for building healthy connections. Students learn to respond positively to peers who offer praise, compliments, and express positive emotions and appreciation. Skills in this unit also include recognizing when peers need help, understanding when they should seek help from others, and learning how to ask for help themselves. Students should develop the ability to provide and receive constructive criticism and collaborate effectively with diverse peers in group settings.

Decision Making Framework – FIG TESPN

To equip students with a problem-solving framework, SDM/SPS introduces the acronym FIG TESPN. This framework guides students when faced with problems or decisions and aims to help them internalize responsible decision making. The goal is for students to apply this framework academically and personally, even in challenging and stressful situations. 

FIG TESPN stands for:

• (F)eelings are my cue to problem solve.    
• (I) have a problem.
• (G)oals guide my actions.
• (T)hink of many possible things to do.
• (E)nvision the outcomes of each solution.
• (S)elect your best solution, based on your goal.
• (P)lan, practice, anticipate pitfalls, and pursue your best solution.
• (N)ext time, what will you do – the same thing or something different?

Integration of FIG TESPN into academics

Once students have become familiar with the FIG TESPN framework, there are limitless opportunities for them to apply and practice these skills. Many of the texts students read involve characters who make decisions, face conflicts, deal with intense emotions, and navigate complex interpersonal situations. By applying the readiness skills and FIG TESPN framework to these assignments, students can meet both academic and social-emotional learning (SEL) state standards. 

Teachers and staff play a crucial role in modeling readiness skills and the use of FIG TESPN. They can incorporate these skills into their questioning techniques, encouraging individual students and groups to think critically when confronted with problems. This approach helps students internalize the problem-solving framework and develop their decision-making abilities.

By integrating social decision making and problem-solving skills into academic subjects such as social studies, social justice, ethics, and creative writing, students gain a deeper understanding of the FIG TESPN framework. The framework becomes an integral part of their learning experience and supports their growth in both academic and social-emotional domains.

SDM/SPS Applied to Literature Analysis

• Think of an event in the section of the book assigned. When and where did it happen? Put the event into words as a problem. 
• Who were the people that were involved in the problem? What were their different feelings and points of view about the problem? Why did they feel as they did? Try to put their goals into words. 
• For each person or group of people, what are some different decisions or solutions to the problem that he,she, or they thought of that might help in reaching their goals?
• For each of these ideas or options, what are all of the things that might happen next? Envision and write both short- and long-term consequences.
• What were the final decisions? How were they made? By whom? Why? Do you agree or disagree? Why?
• How was the solution carried out? What was the plan? What obstacles were met? How well was the problem solved? What did you read that supports your point of view?
• Notice what happened and rethink it. What would you have chosen to do? Why?
• What questions do you have, based on what you read? What questions would you like to be able to ask one or more of the characters? The author? Why are these questions important to you?

a simplified version…

• I will write about this character…
• My character’s problem is…
• How did your character get into this problem?
• How does the character feel?
• What does the character want to happen?
• What questions would you like to be able to ask the character you picked, one of the other characters, or the author?

SDM/SPS Applied to Social Studies 

• What is the event that you are thinking about? When and where is it happening? Put the event into words as a problem, choice, or decision.
• What people or groups were involved in the problem? What are their different feelings? What are their points of view about the problem?
• What do each of these people or groups want to have happen? Try to put their goals into words.
• For each person or group, name some different options or solutions to the problem that they think might help them reach their goals. Add any ideas that you think might help them that they might not have thought of. 
• For each option or solution you listed, picture all the things that might happen next. Envision long- and short-term consequences. 
• What do you think the final decision should be? How should it be made? By whom? Why?
• Imagine a plan to help you carry out your solution. What could you do or think of to make your solution work? What obstacles or roadblocks might keep your solution from working? Who might disagree with your ideas? Why? What else could you do?
• Rethink it. Is there another way of looking at the problem that might be better? Are there other groups, goals, or plans that come to mind?

Applying FIG TESPN to Emigration

• What countries were they leaving?
• How did they feel about leaving their countries?
• What problems were going on that made them want to leave?
• What problems would leaving the country bring about?
• What would have been their goals in leaving or staying?
• What were their options and how did they envision the results of each possibility?
• What plans did they have to make? What kinds of things got in their way at the last minute? How did they overcome the roadblocks? 
• Once they arrived in a new country, how did they feel? What problems did they encounter at the beginning? What were their first goals?

Adapted from: Fostering Social-Emotional Learning in the Classroom

How to Apply Social-Emotional Learning Activities in Education

Now in the classroom, you face the challenge of implementing social-emotional learning (SEL) to help children build the social-emotional skills needed to be “ready to learn.”

But how can you embed SEL skill building into existing classroom routines and lesson plans with efficiency? How do you know if your efforts are working? How do you make adjustments?

We all want to support student learning from a position of safety, responsiveness, inclusion, and connectedness. Strong social-emotional skills, including our own, provide the foundation.

In this article, we will navigate through the skills that we as teachers need, social-emotional learning activities that can make a difference, and assessments that can show if we are on track.

Before you continue, we thought you might like to download our three Emotional Intelligence Exercises for free . These science-based exercises will enhance your ability to understand and work with your emotions and give you the tools to foster the emotional intelligence of your clients, students, or employees.

This Article Contains

• 3 Interventions & Skills for Teachers in the Classroom

8 SEL Activities, Worksheets, and Games for Kids

5 online games and sel activities for virtual classes.

• Best Assessments: 3 Questionnaires & Questions for Students

Building an SEL Curriculum and Lesson Plans: 3 Tools

Ideas for social emotional learning activities for adults, resources from positivepsychology.com, a take-home message, frequently asked questions, 3 interventions & skills for teachers in the classroom.

For a refresher on SEL theory, the five core competencies of social emotional learning, examples of evidence-based SEL curricula, and training and certification opportunities, check out our article What Is Social-Emotional Learning? + Training Courses by educator Dr. Tiffany Sauber Millacci.

In your classroom, you are the driver of SEL. This is true whether you are implementing an SEL program selected by your state or school district, or independently integrating SEL into your lesson plans.

The Social, Emotional, and Ethical (SEE) Learning (2019) framework encourages teachers to approach learning experiences with a three-role mindset. You are a facilitator, you are a model for students, and you are also a learner.

1. Build your own social-emotional competence

Your interactions with students are one of the most powerful contexts in which SEL skills develop. Use the strength of your own social-emotional competence to create an emotionally healthy classroom for students.

Start by reflecting on your own SEL skills. Identify your strengths and challenges with this Personal Assessment and Reflection Tool developed by the Collaborative for Academic and Social Emotional Learning.

Complete the tool individually for self-reflection or with a group of colleagues to discover school-level patterns and attitudes that may influence interactions with students.

Brainstorm ways to model your strengths for students throughout the day. Analyze how your strengths can be leveraged to solve specific challenges in the classroom. Continually problem-solve your own self-care practices as you deepen relationships with students.

If you’d like to start out more gently, listen to this Audio-Guided Mindfulness Practice from Panorama designed specifically for educators focused on self-compassion and building relationship skills.

2. Build trauma-informed skills

Early childhood adversity in the form of poverty, racism, psychological maltreatment, parental depression and addiction, and exposure to violence can cause excessive activation of the stress system that interferes with learning (National Scientific Council on the Developing Child, 2020).

Schools and educators play a vital role in supporting children who face adversity, from identifying children in need who may otherwise be overlooked to creating healthy classroom environments where children feel connected and safe.

Extending trauma-informed practices into schools is part of a multi-tiered system of support for children (Chafouleas et al., 2016; Thomas et al., 2019). Intentionally building schools into trauma-sensitive and trauma-informed environments is one way to address the effects of adversity on learning and long-term health.

Trauma-informed training may also alleviate teacher burnout and stress associated with chronic behavior problems in the classroom. Teachers who received trauma-informed training alongside a mindfulness-based SEL program reported feeling more capable of meeting the demands of students who have experienced trauma and had more favorable attitudes about managing their own personal wellness in order to help their students (Kim et al., 2021).

Take a moment to watch this TED talk by educator Syndey Jenson as she describes the powerful role teachers play in the lives of their students and the secondary trauma teachers may experience.

Find actionable steps to support children experiencing trauma in the Trauma Toolkit for Educators available for download by the National Education Association. To build your trauma-informed skills, review these 11 trauma-informed practices used by educators .

Keep SAMSA’s Understanding Childhood Trauma handout readily available to recognize the signs of trauma in children of different ages and how to respond supportively to a child in the moment.

3. Build an SEL community of practice

Communities of practice (CoPs) are groups of people who share a common interest and choose to learn together on a regular basis as they pursue that interest (Merriam, 2017).

Connect with like-minded colleagues with a shared passion for using SEL in the classroom. Dedicate a set meeting time and set objectives. CoPs are rich resources for encouragement and team-oriented problem-solving about social-emotional learning activities that benefit the entire group.

As a start, download this CASEL playbook designed to support teams in building and sustaining powerful SEL-focused CoPs.

Download this CASEL Circle Discussion Guide to create a safe space for collaboration in initial team meetings.

To identify colleagues who share your interests or to ensure everyone in your CoP shares the same understanding of SEL, consider enrolling in the free Introduction to SEL course from CASEL.

What is the purpose of the activity? Is there a challenge in the classroom you would like to address by building SEL skills in your students?

Identify the specific SEL skills you want to target in order to meet your purpose. Operationalize them to communicate them to students and measure them. To get you started, this video describes the five key competencies common to SEL along with specific SEL skills you may choose to target.

Transparency

What do you want students to know about your purpose or about the SEL skills you are targeting?

Determine who is the focus of the activity. Student-to-student interaction, pairs, triads, teacher-to-student interaction, an independent activity, or a mix?

Based on the results of the PATT method, consider these SEL activities as potential starting points:

• Wish, outcome, obstacles, plan (WOOP) This method helps to build self-control in kids to achieve personal goals. Students specify a wish , identify and imagine the best outcome , identify potential obstacles , and form a plan . Watch the WOOP video introduction and download the educator facilitation guide, exercise templates, and social-emotional learning activities from Character Lab .
• Emotions and feelings games Use this crossword puzzle, pairing emotion words to their definitions. Also from Better Kids , use this word search to introduce new emotional words, followed by a circle-time discussion about different intensities of particular emotions.
• Emogometer In this embodied activity, children identify an emotion they are feeling, how big they are feeling the emotion, and demonstrate to others the emotion they are feeling. It is an ideal activity to start the day. Watch a video demonstration of the emogometer from Move This World .
• Flower worksheet Children identify people in their lives who support them and describe how they feel supported. Each petal of the flower represents a person in their support system. Learn more about the benefits to children of knowing who to count on, along with activity instructions and a downloadable flower worksheet from Better Kids .
• Community-building circle Circle discussions provide a physical setting and a structured process to improve communication and build community among students in the classroom. Step-by-step instructions for opening the circle, doing the work, and closing the circle along with sample scripts are provided by CASEL .
• Focusing on me and you Children engage in mindfulness practice, active listening , and perspective-taking exercises to learn to appreciate differences in others and build empathy. Educator instructions and presentation slides are available from Soar with Wings .
• Problem, options, outcomes, choices (POOCH) protocol The POOCH protocol is a method for walking through the steps of making tough decisions that require judgment, assessing risk, or may not have an answer that benefits everyone equally.
• Time to play Children explore responsible decision-making in the context of building a board game with others. Educator instructions and presentation slides are available for download from Soar with Wings .

As you select, facilitate, and adapt SEL activities to meet the needs of your students, use four characteristics of effective and evidence-based approaches to SEL that align with the acronym “SAFE” (Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning, n.d.).

• Sequenced Connect and coordinate multiple social-emotional learning activities to strengthen targeted skills.
• Active Keep learning active with physical movement, conversation, and learning materials.
• Focused Establish dedicated time and attention for developing social-emotional skills.
• Explicit Communicate to students the specific SEL skills you are teaching as you are teaching them.

Download 3 Free Emotional Intelligence Exercises (PDF)

These detailed, science-based exercises will help you or your clients understand and use emotions advantageously.

Download 3 Free Emotional Intelligence Tools Pack (PDF)

By filling out your name and email address below.

You can also teach SEL skills in virtual classes with online games and apps. Options range from simple SEL games played in small groups to interactive games with avatars and built-in SEL assessment tools for teachers.

1. How we feel

Track emotions throughout the day, find the words and feelings to describe emotions, and try strategies to help regulate emotions. This app was developed by researchers at the Yale University Center for Emotional Intelligence .

Available on iOS .

2. Wisdom: The World of Emotions

3. MyPeekaville

Available on Google Play .

4. Classcraft

Available on iOS and Google Play .

5. Virtual read-alouds

Use video call software for interactive class read-alouds . Pause to allow students to identify, imitate, and predict character emotions, propose solutions to social problems, and take different perspectives. Recommended SEL-focused books:

• The Dot : Self-awareness for pre-kindergarten to fourth grade
• Decibella and Her 6-inch Voice : Self-management for kindergarten to fifth grade
• All Are Welcome : Social awareness for pre-kindergarten to second grade
• Enemy Pie : Relationship skills for kindergarten to third grade
• The Empty Pot ; Responsible decision-making for kindergarten to third grade

Best Assessments: 3 Questionnaires & Questions for Students

The best student assessments are selected with purpose. To guide your selection, ask yourself:

• Is the assessment informational to track student progress?
• Is the assessment going to be used to communicate with parents, other teachers, or school administrators?
• Will the assessment be used to track accountability required of your school, district, or funding organization?

Ideally, an assessment should be selected before implementing the activity or intervention to ensure you are measuring the student skill or outcome you intend to improve.

1. Panorama Social-Emotional Learning Survey

Questions for students in grades 3–5 and 6–12 to assess:

• Competencies and skills (e.g., grit, growth mindset, self-regulation, self-efficacy)
• Student support and environment (e.g., sense of belonging, school safety, engagement)
• Student wellbeing (e.g., positive feelings, supportive relationships)

Response format is Likert scale and free-response.

Access the survey here .

2. EPOCH Measure of Adolescent Wellbeing

This is a free student report assessment of five positive characteristics that support higher levels of wellbeing in adolescents: engagement, perseverance, optimism, connectedness, happiness.

Modified from Seligman’s (2018) five-pillar PERMA model of adult wellbeing, this assessment can be used as a before-and-after intervention measure of adolescent wellbeing and happiness (Kern et al., 2016).

Access the assessment here .

Use prompts, questions, and check-ins individually or in a group setting as an informal assessment of social-emotional competence and student wellbeing.

• Describe a time when you felt really proud of yourself.
• Describe a behavior you are working to improve.
• What is something you take for granted that someone else may not have?
• Where is a place you would love to visit?
• If you could have any superpower, what would you choose?
• What is something that calms you down?
• How have you been sleeping lately?
• How included in class did you feel today?
• What emotion are you feeling the most today?
• What would you be known for if you were famous?
• If you could travel back in time to X grade, what advice would you give yourself?
• If you could make one rule everyone at school had to follow, what would it be?
• What does a typical morning look like for you?

For additional assessments of SEL and student wellbeing by grade and outcome, review this comprehensive SEL assessment toolbox from the American Institutes for Research.

1. CASEL Program Guide

The Collaborative for Academic and Social Emotional Learning (CASEL) provides a comprehensive program guide to walk you through the selection of an effective SEL program from start to finish.

All CASEL-recommended SEL programs are evidence-based. The end-to-end tool involves three steps:

• Identify your SEL goals.
• Identify features of SEL programs you want to prioritize to meet your goals.
• Explore SEL programs and compare your top selections.

Filter programs by approach (such as free-standing lesson, integrated lessons, or classroom management), outcome (such as improved academic performance, social behaviors, reduced problem behaviors, or reduced emotional distress), student characteristics (such as low-income, multi-race, Hispanic/Latinx), school characteristics (such as urban, suburban, or Midwest) program support offered, and training offered.

Download the Quickstart Guide for a summary of the CASEL tool.

2. Navigating SEL From the Inside Out

This comprehensive SEL guide (Jones et al., 2021) includes an evaluation of 33 evidence-based programs for kindergarten through elementary school-aged children. Get a birds-eye view of each program individually and collectively on three metrics in easy-to-read tables.

Once you have a few programs in mind, dig into the snapshot summary of each program, which describes program effectiveness, grade range, duration of program, and unique features.

3. Explore SEL

Explore SEL is an evidence-based interactive tool to navigate widely used nonacademic frameworks of SEL. Begin by browsing through the different SEL frameworks to see which you recognize. Get a feel for the complexity of SEL that comes from differences in how we define, teach, and measure it.

Next, use the tool to select the framework that will guide your SEL work and reduce the complexity.

• Compare frameworks across different domains of learning (e.g., cognitive, emotions, social, values, perspective, identity).
• Compare SEL skills targeted by different frameworks (e.g., overlapping SEL skills targeted by the CASEL framework vs. P21’s 21st Century Learning framework).
• Identify related SEL skills used across frameworks,

Play! Games and group SEL activities are rich contexts for adults to practice a wide range of social-emotional skills. Most involve some form of active learning about yourself and others, embodied action, social interaction, competitiveness, and creativity.

1. We’re Not Really Strangers

We’re Not Really Strangers is a multiplayer card game to learn about yourself, strengthen your relationships, and get to know new people. Check out versions for first dates, couples, families, and self-awareness.

2. The Hygge Game

This multiplayer card game has interesting and entertaining questions to bring more joy to your life based on the Danish concept hygge.

3. Organized group activities

Get involved with a group that meets regularly for a specific purpose. For example, join a choir, knitting group, running club, book club, dance group, volunteer group, or recreational sports league. For older adults, participating in choir and group exercise predicts positive emotional wellbeing (Maury et al., 2022).

4. Self-reflection

As adults, we may not be aware of the SEL skills we already use to nurture relationships, calm ourselves, and manage emotions. Bring awareness to your own SEL strengths and challenges with this Personal SEL Reflection tool. Use individually or as a community of practice activity.

17 Exercises To Develop Emotional Intelligence

These 17 Emotional Intelligence Exercises [PDF] will help others strengthen their relationships, lower stress, and enhance their wellbeing through improved EQ.

Created by Experts. 100% Science-based.

We have a variety of resources that can supplement your academic learning, all well worth checking out.

As a start, you may be interested in our article filled with training resources: Social Skills Training for Kids .

You can also identify SEL strengths and weaknesses through self-awareness. Check out our blog on How to Increase Self-Awareness: 16 Activities and Tools .

Prompting children with more self-reflection questions is made easier with our article, Learning Through Reflection: Questions to Inspire Others .

Another brilliant article filled with activities and games: 16 Activities to Stimulate Emotional Development in Children .

Besides our blog articles, here are two worksheets that can be used in the classroom.

Increase awareness of the different emotions experienced throughout the day through simple observation with our Emotional Awareness worksheet .

Use this Conflict at School worksheet with children to bring awareness to different relationships they have at school and difficulties they have with individual friends.

If you’re looking for more science-based ways to help others develop emotional intelligence (EI), check out this collection of 17 validated EI tools . Use them to help others understand and use their emotions to their advantage.

So much of academic learning relies on feeling safe and accepted at school, recognizing and managing emotions, cooperating and working well with others, resolving conflict, and understanding emotions and perspectives of classmates.

The classroom is rich with opportunities to build and actively practice these SEL skills, and they go hand in hand with academic learning.

Academic mastery alone cannot lead to “student success”. We must be brave enough to believe that for each child, lifelong success is a unique combination of social, emotional, cognitive, and academic skills.

We hope you enjoyed reading this article. Don’t forget to download our three Emotional Intelligence Exercises for free .

Examples of social-emotional learning activities include brain breaks, daily teacher–student greetings, journal writing, partner work, emotion check-ins, class agreements, and gratitude lists.

Activities that can help child development include pretend play, labeling emotions in self and others, joint book reading, perspective taking, mindfulness, asking for help, offering help to others, and identifying goals.

Yes, SEL can be implemented outside the classroom. Adults, parents, and caregivers can embed SEL into after-school programs, organized sports, during dinner, and at the grocery store.

• Chafouleas, S. M., Johnson, A. H., Overstreet, S., & Santos, N. M. (2016). Toward a blueprint for trauma-informed service delivery in schools. School Mental Health , 8 , 144–162.
• Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning. (n.d.). Adopt an evidence-based program for SEL . https://schoolguide.casel.org/focus-area-3/school/adopt-an-evidence-based-program-for-sel/.
• Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning. (2019). Social emotional learning: 3 Signature practices playbook . https://casel.org/casel_sel-3-signature-practices-playbook-v3/
• Jones, S. M., Brush, K., Bailey, R., Brion-Meisels, G., McIntyre, J., Kahn, J., & Stickle, L. (2021). Navigating SEL from the inside out: Looking inside and across 25 leading SEL programs: A practical resource for schools and OST providers. Preschool and elementary focus  (2nd ed.). The Wallace Foundation.
• Kern, M. L., Benson, L., Steinberg. E. A., & Steinberg, L. (2016). The EPOCH Measure of Adolescent Well-being. Psychological Assessment , 28 (5), 586–597.
• Kim, S., Crooks, C. V., Bax, K., & Shokoohi, M. (2021). Impact of trauma-informed training and mindfulness-based social–emotional learning program on teacher attitudes and burnout: A mixed-methods study. School Mental Health , 13 , 5–68.
• Maury, S., Vella-Brodrick, D., Davidson, J., & Rickard, N. (2022). Socio-emotional benefits associated with choir participation for older adults related to both activity characteristics and motivation factors. Music & Science , 5 .
• Merriam, S. B. (2017). Theories of adult learning: Evolution and future directions. PAACE Journal of Lifelong Learning , 26 , 21–37.
• National Scientific Council on the Developing Child. (2020). Connecting the brain to the rest of the body: Early childhood development and lifelong health are deeply intertwined . https://developingchild.harvard.edu/resources/connecting-the-brain-to-the-rest-of-the-body-early-childhood-development-and-lifelong-health-are-deeply-intertwined/
• SEE Learning. (2019). The SEE Learning companion: Social, Emotional, and Ethical Learning . Emory University.
• Seligman, M. (2018). PERMA and the building blocks of well-being. The Journal of Positive Psychology , 13 (4), 333–335.
• Thomas, M. S., Crosby, S., & Vanderhaar, J. (2019). Trauma-informed practices in schools across two decades: An interdisciplinary review of research. Review of Research in Education , 43 (1), 422–452.

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Transformative SEL

CASEL is committed to advancing equity and excellence in education through social and emotional learning (SEL).

SEL is founded on the premise that every c hild can receive an education that fully supports their learning and development so they can achieve their goals and contribute to their communities. 

Unfortunately, some students are not currently experiencing opportunities and environments that maximize their learning potential. Patterns across all types of educational data show differences in students’ learning experiences and outcomes based on students’ socioeconomic status , race , zip code , home language , disability status , and other factors. 

Given these gaps, CASEL has been working with educators, families, and researchers to identify and study innovative SEL strategies that better support every students’ strengths and aspirations; deepen partnerships among families, schools, and communities; and help close long-standing gaps in educational opportunities and outcomes. We describe these efforts as “transformative SEL.” 

CASEL does not prescribe any specific form of SEL but encourages schools, families, and communities to work together to decide how best to implement, teach, and assess SEL based on the priorities, strengths, and needs of their local schools and communities. We describe various forms of SEL implementation to help communities make these informed decisions: 

• Personally responsible SEL focuses on developing skills for risk prevention, individual success, and personal well-being.
• Participatory SEL focuses on both skills for individual success and well-being, as well as for interpersonal relations and community-building.
• Transformative SEL focuses on skills for individual success, interpersonal relations, and community-building, as well as skills needed to ensure democratic, fair, and inclusive communities.   

Because the majority of current SEL programs and practices promote personally responsible and participatory SEL, our research-practice partnerships focus on meeting the growing demand in many local communities for innovation and transformative SEL.

• What is transformative SEL?

“Transformative SEL” is a form of SEL implementation where young people and adults build strong, respectful, and lasting relationships to engage in co-learning. It facilitates critical examination of individual and contextual factors that contribute to inequities and collaborative solutions that lead to personal, community, and societal well-being. 

Through tSEL, students and adults develop social and emotional skills needed for school and community engagement, with a focus on rights and responsibilities for creating learning environments that are caring and just. This includes a focus on: 

• Identity, a core part of self-awareness, which refers to how students (and adults) view themselves as individuals and as part of the world around them. Having a healthy sense of identity buffers against negative or traumatic experiences and contributes to positive academic, social, and emotional outcomes.
• Agency, part of self-management, or feeling empowered to make choices and take actions that produce a positive difference. Agency helps young people make choices about learning and career goals, overcome personal challenges, and shape the course of their lives.
• Belonging, part of social awareness, the experience of acceptance, respect, and inclusion within a group or community. Having a sense of belonging is critical to well-being, motivation, and achievement.
• Collaborative Problem-Solving, part of relationship skills, the ability to build shared understanding and work together to come to solutions by pooling knowledge, skills, and efforts.
• Curiosity, part of responsible decision-making, which leads to the pursuit of knowledge and different perspectives and contributes to attention, engagement, and learning.
• Transformative SEL: Toward SEL in Service of Educational Equity and Excellence (2019) . This article first introduced transformative SEL with a focus on race and ethnicity.
• Equity and Social and Emotional Learning: A Cultural Analysis (2018) . This brief explored the alignment between equity and SEL, eventually informing the updated definition of SEL in 2020.
• Transformative Social and Emotional Learning: In Pursuit of Educational Equity and Excellence. This article describes the focal constructs of identity, agency, belonging, collaborative problem-solving, and curiosity.
• What does transformative SEL look like in practice?

Transformative SEL grew out of developmental science and research on student’s engagement, well-being, academic achievement, and long-term success. But, in practice, there are currently limited options for evidence-based programs and implementation models for transformative SEL.

To address this need, CASEL is leading collaborative efforts with partner organizations to learn alongside students, families, schools, and districts how specific practices, policies, and processes can best be implemented to achieve the goals of transformative SEL.  

Practices that we are learning about include:

• Opportunities for adults and young people to practice curiosity by teaching and learning from one another. 
• Instruction that honors and makes connections to students’ lived experiences and identities and scaffolds learning to build an understanding of others’ lived experiences.
• Culturally responsive education and youth-guided approaches, such as  project-based learning and youth participatory action research.
• Developmentally appropriate learning opportunities that engage students and adults in examining current and historical events; social norms; prejudices and biases; and how issues of race, class, and culture impact our society.
• Opportunities for youth to use their voice and skills to examine inequities and create solutions for social change.
• Authentic partnering among families, schools, and communities to share power and decision-making.  
• Individual and collective analysis, reflection, and sense-making around relevant data.
• Professional learning and collaboration opportunities that prioritize adult well-being and build capacity to partner and co-create with students, caregivers, and colleagues.
• Building Authentic School-Family Partnerships Through the Lens of Social and Emotional Learning (2023). This report focuses on the conditions and guiding actions to foster authentic school-family partnerships, featuring four case studies.
• Rising Up Together: Spotlighting Transformative SEL in Practice With Latinx Youth (2021) . This research brief is part of our initial efforts to illustrate transformative SEL in practice based on surveys with youth, interviews with teachers, and observations during dedicated SEL instruction time in a predominantly Latinx school in a large urban district.
• Emerging Insights on Advancing SEL as a Lever for Equity and Excellence” (2020) . This report provides five key, emerging insights from our partner school districts working to leverage SEL in service of equity.
• Equity and SEL: Districts Share Strategies and Best Practices (2018) . This webinar features two CASEL partner districts, Chicago Public Schools and Tulsa Public Schools, on their efforts to integrate SEL and equity in their community.
• District-Level Learnings From the Field: What Needs to be True When Redesigning School District Systems and Structures for Human Thriving? (2022) . This brief from the BELE learning series focuses on designing systems and structures that center the humanity of students and educators.
• Cultivating and Communicating Commitment
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• Elevating Student Voices and Vision
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SEL competencies: The importance of social-emotional learning and the CASEL framework

December 2, 2021

Dr. Nathaniel von der Embse, NCSP

Dr. Abram Jimenez

For many years, the focus within classrooms has been centered on high-stakes assessments. How students were performing on state exams was supposed to tell the story of student achievement—or, at least, most of the story.

However, the number of research studies has increased on this topic and the evidence for why social-emotional learning is important—indeed, essential—for student success is overwhelming. Let’s explore this point.

What is social-emotional learning (SEL)?

A common social-emotional learning definition states that SEL is the process of developing the…

• Self-awareness;
• Self-control; and
• Interpersonal skills

…that are vital for school, work, and life success. This social and emotional learning definition encompasses skills like:

• Developing healthy identities
• Managing emotions
• Achieving personal and collective goals
• Feeling and showing empathy for others
• Establishing and maintaining supportive relationships
• Making responsible and caring decisions

Why is social-emotional learning so important?

Studies have shown that many risky behaviors—including drug use, bullying, and absenteeism—are often linked to poor social and emotional skills. What’s more, SEL has been linked to actual performance within the classroom and on assessments, solidifying why it is so important.

According to Roger P. Weissberg, the editor of the Handbook of Social and Emotional Learning: Research and Practice , citing Durlak et al.: “SEL not only improves achievement by an average of 11 percentile points, but it also increases prosocial behaviors and reduces depression and stress among students.”

With new insights and ongoing research, many schools are now strengthening their efforts to properly develop and assess a teaching methodology that will account for social-emotional learning concepts and skill sets.

How does social-emotional learning impact education overall?

This approach towards the overall health of children and their mindset to embrace learning is critical. When educators approach SEL from a perspective of equity and wanting to ensure that the conditions of a school are appropriate for healthy learning, students will be given the best chance to succeed in their education and in life.

When did SEL become a priority?

In 2001, Congress passed the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) to establish greater accountability for student achievement. Its plan was to measure academic performance through state standards and assessments, with a special focus on boosting the performance of certain groups of students such as Emerging Bilinguals (EBs) and socio-economically disadvantaged students.

Schools were required to meet Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), which would result in rewarding schools that did well and providing sanctions for schools that didn’t. Sanctions included possible student transfers and potential loss of federal Title I money.

What happened over the next decade and a half was a gradual realization of the limitations surrounding NCLB. Complaints soon surfaced about its narrow focus on testing, and that it failed to compensate for other social factors like behavior and attendance.

In 2013, several California districts received waivers from penalties under NCLB. This freed districts from key sanctions and provided additional funding for school improvement. The California Office to Reform Education (CORE) also proposed reducing the number of students within a subgroup from 100 or more to 20 or more, which would account for another 150,000 students who were left unrepresented in the CORE districts under NCLB.

Under CORE, students would be measured not only by state assessments but also by a more holistic view of SEL and engagement:

• 60%: Scores on state exams and high school graduation rates
• 20%: Parent and teacher surveys (perception data)
• 20%: SEL factors like chronic absenteeism, suspensions, and expulsions

These changes have resulted in at least two critical outcomes:

• There is greater insight into the academics of specific student groups, which has sparked conversations around issues of disproportionality (especially among Black and Latinx students).
• New initiatives are being introduced to teach soft skills as part of educating the whole child .

What is the goal of SEL?

The goal of social-emotional learning in education is to promote and improve students’ attitudes and beliefs about themselves, their relationships with others, and their education.

The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) has identified five areas of social-emotional learning (SEL) competence that support students’ development and well-being—known as the CASEL framework . These five SEL competencies are intended to cultivate skills that advance students’ learning and development:

These sets of competencies are related to one another in various degrees and involve multiple cognitive and behavioral skills. All of these skills can and must be developed within the school and home environments.

What are the CASEL 5 core competencies of social-emotional learning?

The SEL core competencies are:

Self-management: Managing one’s emotions, thoughts, and behaviors effectively in different situations and achieving goals and aspirations. This includes the capacity to manage stress and maintain motivation and agency to accomplish personal and collective goals.

Examples: Identifying and using stress management strategies, keeping materials organized, and being on time.

Responsible decision making: Making caring and constructive choices about personal behavior and social interactions across situations. This includes the capacity to consider ethical standards and safety concerns and to evaluate the benefits and consequences of various actions for personal and collective well-being.

Examples: Completing homework on time, studying, and anticipating and evaluating the consequences of one’s actions.

Relationship skills: Establishing and maintaining healthy and supportive relationships and effectively navigating settings with diverse individuals and groups. This includes the capacities to communicate clearly, listen actively, work collaboratively to problem solve and negotiate conflict constructively, navigate settings with differing social and cultural demands and opportunities, provide leadership, and seek or offer help when needed.

Examples: Cooperating with peers, developing positive relationships, demonstrating cultural competency, practicing teamwork, and collaborative problem-solving.

Social awareness: Understanding the perspectives of and empathizing with others, including those from diverse backgrounds, cultures, and contexts. This includes the capacity to feel compassion for others, understand broader historical and social norms for behavior in different settings, and recognize family, school, and community resources and support.

Examples: Being polite to others, demonstrating empathy and compassion, identifying diverse social norms, and understanding and expressing gratitude.

Self-awareness: Understanding one’s own emotions, thoughts, and values and how they influence behavior across contexts. This includes capacities to recognize one’s strengths and limitations with a well-grounded sense of confidence and purpose.

Examples: Identifying one’s emotions, demonstrating honesty and integrity, linking feelings, values, and thoughts, examining prejudices and biases, and having a growth mindset.

Social-emotional learning (SEL) is directly linked to student achievement, equity, and long-term well-being. One study found that students who participate in SEL programs have, on average, an 11-point gain in academic achievement, as noted earlier. SEL has also been linked to the development of important study skills, such as homework completion and engagement.

Supporting SEL in schools

Explore SAEBRS, Renaissance’s social-emotional behavior (SEB) assessment suite.

The importance of supporting the 5 SEL competencies: research on the pandemic’s effect on students’ social, emotional, and mental well-being

Although providing resources to support students’ well-being was already a top priority for many districts, the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the need . Research conducted by the Center on Reinventing Public Education ( CRPE ) summarizes what is currently known about the pandemic’s impact on students’ social-emotional well-being:

• A significant portion of young people have experienced negative impacts on their mental or social-emotional health during the pandemic.
• Students who learned remotely for long periods of time and historically marginalized students were more likely to experience negative effects.
• Rates of anxiety and attempted suicides, already on the rise pre-pandemic, appear to have increased among all students, especially among girls.
• While some students fared well initially—or even fared better—when learning remotely than they did in person, these positive effects did not last. Negative effects for students increased over time.
• Schools and districts, especially in rural areas without a strong social-service infrastructure, lacked systems to track student well-being or strategies to address and improve it.
• A report from the Centers for Disease Control reinforces the need for mental health resources. In 2020, there was a 24 percent increase in emergency room visits related to mental health for children ages 5 through 11, and a more than 30 percent increase in visits for those between 12 and 17 years old.

In addition to these impacts, the pandemic is also affecting some students’ growth in core subject areas, including math and reading. The latest iteration of the Nation’s Report Card also revealed a growing gap between high- and low-performing students—a “matter for national concern.”

So, how can schools help to mitigate these impacts and effectively bolster student success? Let’s return to our discussion of the five SEL competencies.

How should we approach the SEL 5 competencies?

Understanding the various elements and standards that constitute SEL is just the first step in the process. The next step is to determine how to build an effective implementation of a system-wide SEL program. This requires a three-pronged approach: professional learning, curriculum, and measurement.

#1: Professional learning

Critical to the success of any new initiative is ongoing, job-embedded professional learning for teachers and staff. SEL programs are no different. Educator teams need support to understand what SEL is and to implement evidence-based SEL practices and programs.

They also need training on how to validly administer SEB assessments, how to interpret the results of screening , and how to take action on the data.

High-quality professional learning increases team buy-in and accelerates the effective system-wide implementation of SEL curriculum and screening tools. But most importantly, it amplifies the impact of your programs, ensuring that the benefits of integrated SEL programs are fully realized.

#2: Curriculum

Social-emotional skills can be taught, and there are many SEL curricula and programs available to support the development of social-emotional competencies. As with math and reading, students need explicit social-emotional instruction using an evidence-based program.

Various SEL programs take different approaches. Some focus on teaching core competencies such as self-awareness and responsible decision making, while others focus on the development of specific SEL skills such as setting and achieving goals and developing positive relationships.

When selecting a curriculum or program, it’s important to identify your SEL goals so you can determine whether the curricula you’re evaluating have the content and support to help you meet those goals.

Context is also an important factor to consider. Curricula that take into account different cultural backgrounds, beliefs, and social settings when designing their lesson plans will be more effective with a broader range of students.

While an SEL curriculum plays an important role in a school-wide program, SEL should not be relegated to a specific time, class, or stand-alone lesson. Rather, incorporate SEL into the fabric of the school day, from a morning check-in on how students are feeling to pointing out a character’s social-emotional skills when reading a book.

Integrating SEL into every part of students’ educational experience provides opportunities for them to practice and build their skills.

#3: Measurement

While curriculum is a key component of an effective SEL program, too often districts choose a curriculum before identifying which SEL skills their students are strong in and which they may need instruction and practice to develop.

Prior to selecting and implementing an SEL curriculum, educators should first select a social-emotional behavior screener and measure their students’ social-emotional skills. With this data, educators will have insight into where to focus instructional efforts in order to best address the specific needs of their students.

Similar to how we monitor students’ academic progress to gauge the effectiveness of core curricular programs and teacher professional learning, social-emotional screeners provide insight into the effectiveness of school-wide SEL efforts.

Other considerations when approaching SEL competency data for student success

What other key points should we consider?

First, we need to understand that every student comes into the classroom with various outside factors that could affect their learning ability. If students are dealing with issues like family dysfunction or peer pressure, they won’t be as prepared or focused on learning. For this reason, it’s essential to come up with ways to identify those problems and address them early on.

Second, we need to apply our efforts in figuring out a student’s beliefs towards education. How willing are they to learn? What are their motivations for school? What things actually support, enhance, or reinforce their beliefs about education?

Addressing their purpose within the classroom and helping to define their “why” is crucial in getting students to participate as much as they can in their own education.

When we consider these two points, we’ll be more equipped to educate the whole child. A resource that could be helpful in this process is an MTSS collaboration and management solution. Having a system that will measure, track, and analyze data in regard to student behavior and performance will allow educators to keep a pulse on student progress and identify any red flags along the way.

Facilitate early intervention and prevention efforts using the five SEL competencies with SAEBRS

Today, districts are launching robust initiatives to help students build solid SEL foundations necessary to prevent long-term mental health problems. To find success in these efforts, districts should leverage evidence-based SEL resources and supports to help students succeed socially, emotionally, and academically.

Universal screening is an efficient, research-proven way to address social-emotional behavior (SEB) concerns and support early intervention efforts and SEL programming. Screening can inform educators where to target universal and prevention efforts including:

• Selecting an SEL curriculum that matches students’ specific and unique needs
• Pinpointing social-emotional needs in the classroom
• Identifying students in need of more intensive support

Aligned with the CASEL 5, Renaissance’s Social, Academic, and Emotional Behavior Risk Screener (SAEBRS) helps you facilitate early intervention and prevention efforts. To learn more, reach out to talk to an expert.

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The Five Social Emotional Learning (SEL) Core Competencies [+ Teaching Lessons]

In terms of teaching SEL to both children and adults, this is centered around improving your ability to access and use 5 essential core competencies. Although the competencies are all linked, they can be worked on in a variety of ways, with socio-emotional learning curricula providing the tools with which to hone these competencies.

What are Social Emotional Learning Competencies?

The five core competencies of social-emotional learning are designed to provide a clear framework from which to teach skills that will benefit students throughout their lives in situations ranging from school and work to families and other communities.

These competencies were selected for their ability to accurately pinpoint the skills required to succeed in multiple areas of life, ranging from achieving academic goals to feeling more confident in social interactions.

Nurturing these core competencies within individual students through social and emotional learning is a healthy and rewarding process that can subsequently have a positive effect on the groups of people that these students belong to.

The 5 core SEL competencies

• Self-Awareness
• Self-Management
• Responsible Decision Making
• Social Awareness
• Relationship Skills

These competencies each focus on abilities vital to the social-emotional learning (SEL) , and can be worked on through a variety of methods.

1. Self-Awareness

Self awareness is the ability to consider and understand your own emotions, thoughts, values, and experiences, and how these can influence your actions. Improving your self-awareness can allow you to more effectively identify your individual strengths and weaknesses in a range of areas, and therefore potentially improve your decision making and self management (two other core competencies).

Recognizing how your thoughts and feelings impact your behavior can encourage you to make positive changes in your life, and take the perspective that will provide new insight into your own decisions, interests and actions. Within the five core competencies, self awareness is essential as it not only fosters optimism and responsible decision-making, but it also provides a foundation to establish and maintain healthy relationships with others.

Self-Awareness Lesson: Be Honest With Yourself

Positive Action teaches self-awareness through an underlying philosophy that runs through seven units as the basis of all materials. The philosophy, which is taught in Unit 1, is that you feel good about yourself when you do positive actions.

This is brought to a conscious and practical level through a Thoughts-Actions-Feelings about Self- Circle which depicts how thoughts lead to actions and actions to feelings about yourself and then back to thoughts.

The Self-Awareness competency is instructed specifically in Unit 5, where students learn by being honest with themselves , they can accurately assess one’s strengths and limitations.

2. Self-Management

The self-management core competency focuses on an individual's ability to regulate and control their emotions, thoughts and behaviors. For example, this can mean improving areas like stress management, organizational skills, goal-setting abilities, impulse control, and self-discipline.

As well as leading to more responsible decision-making and a greater awareness of safety concerns, improving your self-management can enhance your academic performance, work productivity, and relationships.

Utilizing a positive self-management strategy within an SEL teaching framework can take many forms, and is usually about self-reflection and undertaking a realistic evaluation of yourself so you can then take further actions (including those outlined in other competencies) constructively and positively.

Self-Management Lesson: Develop Impulse Control

The seven units that form the Positive Action SEL curricula all teach self-management. There are also specific units that apply directly to the self-management:

Unit 1 - Intrinsic motivation is taught through the philosophy and the Thoughts-Actions-Feelings Circle: you feel good about yourself when you do positive actions which assumes correctly that you want to feel good about yourself.

Unit 3 - Is specifically termed “Self-Management” and teaches that there are personal resources we all have to manage to feel good about ourselves, including our thoughts, actions, feelings (anger, fear, worry, jealousy, loneliness, anxiety and others).

This helps students address impulse control. Improvement in self-management and impulse control is a key link to positive academic and social-emotional success for students, and a highly functioning classroom environment .

Students are also taught that by managing other resources like their time, energy, money, possessions and talents, they will feel good about themselves and feel like they have more control over what happens to them in school and life.

Unit 6 - Lessons teach setting short- and long-term goals for your intellectual (academic) and personal goals for physical, social-emotional selves. The unit also teaches that you reach your goals by believing in your potential, having courage to try , turning problems into opportunities, and persisting (grit).

Grit, goals, perseverance, and a growth mindset help turn student dreams and wants into reality. All seven units are about managing yourself by using positive actions for your whole self and are taught through multiple methodologies to illustrate and reinforce self-management concepts.

3. Responsible Decision Making

Responsible decision-making is the ability required to make positive and constructive choices based on individual and social factors like personal and academic goals, ethical standards, safety concerns, and social norms. It requires you to consider the consequences of different potential actions, understand your strengths and limitations, and know when to ask for more help when needed in making certain important decisions.

As people navigate day-to-day life, they are required to make decisions both large and small in a broad variety of different situations, that all need attention and consideration for a positive outcome.

This may relate to how you choose to pursue your own personal goals, for example achieving certain school grades based on your strengths and limitations or improving your overall attitude, or it may pertain to social situations like choosing to take the perspective of another person or actively putting more time and energy into maintaining healthy relationships.

Responsible Decision-Making Lesson: Make Positive Decisions

Responsible decision-making is both explicitly taught in Unit 2 and implicitly emphasized across all seven units. This includes learning how to distinguish between positive and negative choices and recognizing them in various aspects of oneself, such as the physical, intellectual, social, and emotional domains. In Unit 2 students in select grade levels are also taught how to use “The Problem-Solving, Decision-Making Checklist”.

4. Social Awareness

The social awareness competency is about improving skills like your ability to empathize with others, your ability to take the perspective of those in different situations to you, your awareness of other diverse individuals and groups, and your ability to make sure you are treating others fairly.

This can help you to establish and maintain healthy relationships and social interactions, and therefore have a positive impact on your family, school, and community, especially when undertaking social-emotional learning within these groups.

With regards to equity and diversity, greater social awareness can assist your ability to understand the perspective of and empathize with other individuals , particularly surrounding characteristics like gender, race, religion, age, culture, class, and financial circumstances, and will ensure that your ability to make decisions in social settings like school takes diversity into account.

Social Awareness Lesson: Relating to Others

Unit 4 teaches students the ability to take perspective and empathize with others from diverse backgrounds and cultures. Positive interactions are based on competencies that are promoted by SEL, like empathy, respect, kindness, listening actively, cooperation, and fairness.

In this unit, Positive Action SEL also teaches understanding social and ethical norms for behavior by teaching the Golden Rule, an established norm for behavior, which is to treat others the way you would like to be treated.

In Unit 1 , students are taught through SEL to be aware of who influences and supports them in school, family, and community and to turn to them when they are in need. Beyond just social awareness in individual interactions, students learn to develop a social web of connections.

5. Relationship Skills

The relationship skills competency concerns your ability to make positive connections with others, as well as your ability to take their emotions into account in different situations and social interactions, in order to establish and maintain healthy, mutually rewarding relationships.

This encompasses a range of skills, such as active listening, clear and effective communication, discerning appropriate and inappropriate social conduct, willingness to compromise, capacity to acknowledge and respect the emotions, thoughts, and values of others, as well as the ability to view situations from another person's perspective and empathize with them.

As well as in personal situations with family and friends, relationship skills are important at school with peers and teachers , and in professional areas with colleagues and bosses. If you have the ability to make positive relationships with those you learn and work with, you are contributing to a more positive school or work environment.

Relationship Skills Lesson: Treating Others How You'd Like to Be Treated

The same principles that are taught in Unit 4 for social awareness are at work in building relationship skills. Teaching students to treat others the way they like to be treated is fundamental to building positive relationships. The focus is on the other person, instead of yourself, and how to treat them positively, and when that happens, relationships will work better.

Positive Action has a Conflict Resolution Plan , that supports SEL, integrated into Unit 4 that teaches students how to resolve conflicts by looking at some main ways they like to be treated and asking them if they are treating the others involved in the conflict that way i.e., are you being respectful to others, empathetic, kind, cooperative, fair and listening actively? If they find they are not, they try to correct it .

The five SEL competencies (self-awareness, self-management, responsible decision-making, social awareness, and relationship skills), are vital to the teaching and understanding of social and emotional learning at school. All these competencies are integrated into the Positive Action program to ensure students are equipped with the necessary skills to lead happy, fulfilling, and positive lives.

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Home » Blog » General » Developing Social Problem-Solving Skills: A Guide for Elementary Teachers

Developing Social Problem-Solving Skills: A Guide for Elementary Teachers

Teaching social problem-solving skills is an essential aspect of elementary education. These skills not only help students navigate social interactions effectively but also contribute to their overall social-emotional development. In this guide, we will explore the importance of social problem-solving skills and provide strategies for elementary teachers to incorporate them into their classrooms.

Understanding Social Problem-Solving Skills

Social problem-solving skills refer to the ability to identify, analyze, and resolve social conflicts or challenges. These skills enable students to navigate various social situations, make informed decisions, and develop positive relationships with their peers. The components of social problem-solving skills include:

• Identifying the problem: Students learn to recognize and define the social problem or conflict they are facing.
• Generating possible solutions: Students brainstorm and come up with multiple solutions to address the problem.
• Evaluating solutions: Students evaluate the pros and cons of each solution and consider the potential consequences.
• Implementing the chosen solution: Students put their chosen solution into action and monitor its effectiveness.
• Reflecting on the outcome: Students reflect on the outcome of their chosen solution and learn from their experiences.

Strategies for Teaching Social Problem-Solving Skills

To effectively teach social problem-solving skills, elementary teachers can implement the following strategies:

Creating a Positive and Supportive Classroom Environment

A positive and supportive classroom environment sets the foundation for developing social problem-solving skills. Teachers can create such an environment by:

• Establishing clear expectations and rules: Clearly communicate behavioral expectations and establish classroom rules that promote respectful and empathetic interactions.
• Encouraging empathy and understanding: Foster a sense of empathy by encouraging students to consider others’ perspectives and feelings.
• Promoting effective communication: Teach students active listening skills, assertive communication, and conflict resolution strategies.

Explicitly Teaching Problem-Solving Steps

Breaking down the problem-solving process into manageable steps helps students understand and apply the skills effectively. Teachers can do this by:

• Breaking down the problem-solving process: Introduce each step of the problem-solving process explicitly, providing examples and modeling the process.
• Providing guided practice opportunities: Offer opportunities for students to practice problem-solving skills in a structured and supportive environment.
• Offering feedback and reinforcement: Provide constructive feedback and reinforce positive problem-solving behaviors to encourage growth and improvement.

Incorporating Cooperative Learning Activities

Cooperative learning activities provide opportunities for students to collaborate, communicate, and solve problems together. Teachers can incorporate these activities by:

• Collaborative problem-solving tasks: Assign group projects or tasks that require students to work together to solve a problem.
• Group discussions and role-playing scenarios: Engage students in discussions and role-playing activities to practice problem-solving skills in different social contexts.
• Peer feedback and reflection: Encourage students to provide feedback to their peers and reflect on their problem-solving experiences.

Integrating Social Problem-Solving into the Curriculum

Integrating social problem-solving activities into various subjects helps students see the relevance and application of these skills in real-life situations. Teachers can do this by:

• Connecting problem-solving skills to real-life situations: Provide examples and scenarios that relate to students’ everyday lives to make problem-solving skills more relatable.
• Embedding problem-solving activities in various subjects: Incorporate problem-solving tasks and discussions into subjects such as language arts, social studies, and science.
• Encouraging critical thinking and creativity: Promote critical thinking skills by challenging students to think outside the box and come up with innovative solutions.

Assessing and Monitoring Social Problem-Solving Skills

Assessing and monitoring students’ social problem-solving skills is crucial to track their progress and provide targeted support. Teachers can use the following strategies:

Using Observation and Anecdotal Records

Observe students during social interactions and make anecdotal records of their problem-solving behaviors. This qualitative data can provide valuable insights into students’ strengths and areas for improvement.

Implementing Self-Assessment Tools

Provide students with self-assessment tools, such as checklists or rubrics, to evaluate their own problem-solving skills. This encourages self-reflection and empowers students to take ownership of their social-emotional growth.

Collaborating with Other Professionals and Parents

Collaborate with other professionals, such as school counselors or speech-language pathologists, to gain additional perspectives on students’ social problem-solving skills. Communicate with parents and caregivers to gather insights from different environments and support students consistently.

Supporting Students with Social Problem-Solving Difficulties

Identifying students who may need additional support in developing social problem-solving skills is essential. Teachers can provide targeted interventions and strategies by:

Identifying Students Who May Need Additional Support

Observe students who consistently struggle with social problem-solving skills or show signs of social-emotional difficulties. Collaborate with other professionals to assess and identify students who may benefit from targeted interventions.

Providing Targeted Interventions and Strategies

Offer individual or small-group interventions to support students with social problem-solving difficulties. These interventions may include explicit instruction, role-playing, social stories, or social skills groups.

Collaborating with Parents and Caregivers

Involve parents and caregivers in the process of supporting students’ social problem-solving skills. Share strategies, resources, and progress updates to ensure consistent support across home and school environments.

Teaching social problem-solving skills is a vital aspect of elementary education. By prioritizing social-emotional learning and incorporating strategies to develop these skills, teachers can empower students to navigate social challenges effectively and build positive relationships. Start your EverydaySpeech Free trial today to access a wide range of resources and activities designed to enhance social problem-solving skills in elementary students.

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Social and Emotional Learning and Internalizing Problems among Adolescents: The Mediating Role of Resilience

Aurora adina colomeischi.

1 Faculty of Educational Sciences, Ștefan cel Mare University of Suceava, 720229 Suceava, Romania

Andreea Ursu

Ionela bogdan, alina ionescu-corbu, romina bondor, elisabetta conte.

2 “Riccardo Massa” Department of Human Sciences for Education, University of Milano-Bicocca, 20126 Milan, Italy

Associated Data

Data supporting reported results can be requested from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

(1) Background: The high rates of mental disorders in adolescence presented in the literature often exclude internalizing problems. Although there is extensive data on the effectiveness of SEL skills in improving resilience, few studies included evidence in their reports on the relationship between SEL skills and internalizing problems. The present study aims to deepen the understanding of the relationship between SEL, resilience, and internalizing problems, by investigating the mediating effect of resilience between SEL components and internalizing problems. (2) Methods: Adolescents (N = 968 adolescents, aged between 11 and 18 years old; M = 13.30; SD = 1.92) from 30 schools from the NE region of Romania were invited to fill out questionnaires on social and emotional learning, internalizing problems, and resilience. (3) Results: The results show that resilience mediates the link between self-awareness and internalizing problems, between self-management and internalizing problems, between relationship skills and internalizing problems, and between responsible decision-making and internalizing problems. (4) Conclusions: These findings revealed the need for social and emotional learning interventions that include resilience-oriented approaches in order to decrease internalizing problems in adolescents. Moreover, we suggest that more culturally appropriate interventions are required to better investigate the interaction between SEL components, resilience, and internalizing problems.

1. Introduction

Adolescence is a vulnerable period in terms of development since, at this age, primary physical, psycho-social, and neurodevelopmental changes take place. Adolescents have the highest prevalence of mental disorders [ 1 , 2 ], which could lead to adverse outcomes in adulthood [ 3 ]. Extensive research uses the Achenbach’s classification of mental disorders, classifying them as internalizing and externalizing problems [ 4 , 5 ]. The internalizing problems include stress, anxiety, depression, social withdrawal, and psychosomatic symptoms, which can lead to eating disturbances, drug abuse or suicide attempts [ 6 , 7 ]. While externalizing problems have been intensively explored [ 8 , 9 ], less attention has been accorded to internalizing problems [ 10 ]. Internalizing problems can be more difficult to identify compared to the externalizing problems, which are more disruptive to the classroom and are the problems educators are more likely to address [ 11 ]. However, research consistently presents the magnitude of anxiety and depression among adolescents. For example, Barker and colleagues analyzed 37 studies of which 19 reported adolescents’ anxiety, and 36 reported adolescents’ depression [ 12 ]. Their results showed a prevalence of 19.1% for anxiety and 14.3% for depression, respectively. Moreover, the results of a recent study showed, in a large sample of 229,129 adolescents aged between 13 and 17 years, a prevalence of 17% for suicidal attempts, 48% being boys and 52% girls [ 13 ]. Past research also provided evidence for three categories of factors for internalizing problems: (a) individual factors such as poor self-esteem [ 14 ], low emotional intelligence [ 15 ], rumination [ 16 ], and low frustration tolerance [ 17 ]; (b) family factors such as the conflict between the parents, the absence of affection and support, as well as coercive authority [ 7 ]; and (c) contextual factors such as low income [ 18 ]. Nevertheless, the role of interpersonal and intrapersonal aspects, such as social and emotional learning (SEL), is often overlooked. Thus, we address this gap and explore the impact of SEL and its dimensions on internalizing problems.

1.1. SEL and Internalizing Problems

Social and emotional learning refers to the child’s ability to understand their emotions, to regulate them, and to engage in positive behaviors with their peers [ 19 ]. It is also a process through which children learn how to make good decisions and act responsibly [ 20 ]. These skills benefit young children even from the beginning of school as it helps them better accommodate school life and teachers. Such abilities are also linked to well-being in adult life [ 11 ]. School-life consists of social interactions with peers and teachers, emotional management, and developing a set of abilities that will help the children beyond the school ground [ 21 ]. Mental health is an important topic to be taken into consideration, especially because of the consequences of unaddressed mental health issues that can also lead to academic failure and difficulties in social and emotional interactions [ 11 ].

Social and emotional learning (SEL) comprises five core competencies as defined by The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) as self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making. Self-awareness is assessing one’s strengths and limitations by recognizing the emotions and thoughts that lead to behaviors [ 22 ]. Self-management encompasses the ability to work toward goals by managing emotions and thoughts. Social awareness is the ability to be empathic, to be aware of different perspectives, to understand social and ethical regulations in a social environment, and to know where to seek support. Relationship skills comprise creating and maintaining healthy relationships through conflict resolution, communication, and help-seeking abilities. The last component, responsible decision-making, pertains to making healthy personal and social choices, and understanding the consequences of one’s actions in promoting well-being in the self and in others. The self-management component of SEL is related to managing emotions, as well as fostering more positive emotions and thus, encouraging better engagement in the classroom [ 11 , 23 ]. Social- and self-awareness is linked to the children’s emotional knowledge [ 19 ]. Responsible decision-making is associated with prosocial behavior and fewer self-reported symptoms of internalizing and externalizing problems [ 24 ]. Overall, all the components of SEL are linked to better mental health and outcomes in school and adulthood. Social and emotional learning is linked to successful outcomes in school in both the short and long-term academically, socially, and emotionally [ 25 , 26 ]. Having SEL abilities predicts lower internalizing problems in children, as they have better social interactions with peers, and better non-confrontational problem-solving abilities [ 19 ]. Similar results show that SEL skills help children have a higher quality in-school life, a better relationship with teachers, a better school attendance, and fewer internalizing problems [ 27 , 28 ].

1.2. SEL and Resilience

A recent model incorporating experiential learning, adversity, and inherent factors states that individuals must experience adversities to build resilience, which helps them develop new skills, or adapt previously developed skills to the new situation’s requirements [ 29 ]. This results in more resilience in various personal and social domains by the interaction of intrinsic factors and experiential learning [ 29 , 30 ]. According to Luthar and colleagues, resilience consists of an individual’s attributes that incorporate various internal and external vulnerabilities and protective factors in dealing with an adverse context; this leads to positive adaptation [ 30 ]. Whether regarded as a skill or a personality trait, it is probable that both intrinsic and extrinsic factors of resilience would work along with SEL skills in reducing internalizing problems [ 31 , 32 ]. Extensive research has focused on SEL programs’ effectiveness in fostering resilience, promoting positive mental health, and overall positive cognitive, emotional, and behavioral outcomes [ 33 , 34 ], as well as on executive functioning in high- and low-risk groups [ 35 ].

1.3. Resilience and Internalizing Problems

Resilience plays an essential role in alleviating the development of internalizing and externalizing problems in adolescence, and maintaining good overall mental health [ 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 ]. More precisely, higher levels of resilience are associated with lower levels of depression [ 40 , 41 ]. Previous studies reported that resilience had a moderating effect between stress and anxiety, and stress and depression in an adult population [ 42 ]. These findings are consistent with other reports on adolescents, where resilience mediated the effects between personality traits and depression [ 43 ]. Moreover, according to Konaszewski and colleagues, resilience is essential in helping adolescents achieve well-being by reducing the focus on negative emotions [ 37 ]. Fritz and colleagues supported this assertion by showing that lower levels of resilience at an earlier age predicted higher distress later in adolescence [ 44 ]. Additionally, Hildebrand and colleagues reported more internalizing and externalizing problems in children and adolescents with lower levels of resilience [ 45 ]. Similarly, Aksoy and colleagues pointed out that adolescents exposed to parental violence exhibited lower internalization symptoms through resilience [ 46 ], while other studies showed that family-related resilience had a significant impact on preventing the development of internalizing problems [ 47 , 48 ]. Previous researchers have examined the mediating effect of resilience on internalizing and externalizing problems, and various other factors. For example, previous research showed resilience had a mediating effect between stressful life events and anxiety [ 49 ], between sleep and behavioral and emotional problems [ 50 ], and between trauma, and depression [ 51 ]. Previous studies reported beneficial outcomes facilitated by resilience on enhancing positive behaviors, healthy relationships with peers, and school-related outcomes in school children [ 35 ]. To our knowledge, no study has examined the mediating role of resilience between the SEL dimensions and internalizing problems.

There is a high prevalence of mental health problems in children (20–30%) [ 52 ], and many of them have multiple problems [ 53 ], which are inadequately treated or undetected [ 54 ]. Grazzani and colleagues recently showed that lower levels of resilience predicted higher levels of internalizing problems [ 55 ]. More specifically, resilience mediated the relationship between SEL and internalizing problems. Students with higher scores in SEL obtained higher scores in resilience, leading to fewer internalizing problems. Gulseven and colleagues found that higher prosocial skills in preschoolers were linked to better emotional regulation and thus, fewer internalizing problems. Prosocial behaviors facilitate emotional regulation in young children. The authors also describe resilience as a protective factor in children that learn prosocial behaviors, as they have fewer internalizing problems in the future [ 56 ]. Thus, our objective is to investigate the relationship between SEL and internalizing problems by analyzing the direct effect of each component of SEL on internalizing problems, and then assessing the mediating role of resilience in the relationship between each dimension of SEL and internalizing problems.

1.4. The Present Study

The present study aimed to deepen the understanding of the relationship between SEL and internalizing problems by testing whether resilience mediated the relation between the SEL dimensions (self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills and responsible decision-making) and internalizing problems. In order to test this mediation, we hypothesized that all SEL dimensions (self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills and responsible decision-making) will be positively associated with resilience (H1.1), and negatively associated with internalizing problems (H1.2); resilience will be negatively associated with internalizing problems (H.2); and resilience will mediate the relations between SEL dimensions: self-awareness (H3.1), self-management (H3.2), social awareness (H3.3), relationship skills (H3.4) and responsible decision-making (H3.5), and internalizing problems.

2. Materials and Methods

2.1. participants.

The initial sample of the present study consisted of 1108 adolescents. One hundred forty-two persons were excluded from the study because they had not completed the entire questionnaire (demographic questions and scales). Thus, the final sample consists of 968 adolescents (63.8% females), aged between 11 and 18 years old (M = 13.30; SD = 1.92) living in the Nord-Eastern part of Romania. Sixty percent ( n = 576; aged between 11 and 14 years old) were enrolled at secondary level, while forty percent ( n = 392; aged between 15 and 18 years old) were enrolled at high school level. In Romania, secondary level consists of the fifth to the eighth grades, while high school level consists of the ninth to the twelfth grades. The primary level, the secondary levels, and the ninth and tenth grades are part of compulsory general education. The participants were recruited from 30 schools from the NE region of Romania.

2.2. Procedure

Secondary and high school students were invited to complete the questionnaires presented below. All legal representatives (school directors and parents) consented to the students participating in this study. All study questionnaires were filled out online. The students and the legal representatives were informed that participation is voluntary, and that the participants had the right to withdraw at any time without justifying the decision.

2.3. Materials

Demographic questions. This section includes socio-demographic questions such as gender, age, and level of education.

Social and emotional learning. A Romanian translation of Social Skills Improvement System, Social Emotional Learning Edition Brief Scales—Student Form (SSIS-SELb-S) was used to assess the social and emotional learning skills of secondary and high school students [ 57 ]. Participants were asked to rate each item by thinking of themselves. This self-report scale was developed on the theoretical model of CASEL and consisted of 20 items organized into five dimensions: self-awareness (e.g., “I ask for help when I need it”), self-management (e.g., “I stay calm when dealing with problems”), social awareness (e.g., “I help my friends when they are having a problem”), relationship skills (e.g., “I worked well with my classmates”), and responsible decision-making (e.g., “I do the right thing without being told”). All items were rated on a 4-point Likert scale from 1 (not true) to 4 (very true). In the present study, Cronbach’s alphas indices were 0.49 for self-awareness, 0.56 for self-management, 0.62 for responsible decision-making, 0.70 for social-awareness, and 0.57 for relationship skills. For the composite scale, Cronbach’s alpha was 0.85.

Resilience. A Romanian translation of the Connor Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC 10) was used to measure adolescents’ resilience [ 58 ]. This self-report scale comprises ten items, rated on a 5-point Likert scale, from 1 (not true at all) to 5 (true nearly all the time). An example of one of the items is “I am able to adapt when changes occur”. The value of Cronbach’s alpha was 0.84.

Internalizing problems. A Romanian translation of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) was used to assess the students’ perceived strengths and difficulties [ 59 ]. This self-report scale consists of 25 items, organized in 5 dimensions, with five items in each dimension. There is the conduct problems scale, hyperactivity scale, emotional problems scale, peer relationships problems scale, and prosocial behavior scale. These five dimensions can be organized into three supra-ordinated factors: internalizing problems (10 items, addressing emotional symptoms with items such as “I worry a lot”, and peer relationship problems with items such as “I am usually on my own. I generally play alone or keep to myself”); externalizing problems (10 items, addressing conduct problems with items such as “I get very angry and often lose my temper,” and hyperactivity with items such as “I am restless, I cannot stay still for long”); and prosocial behavior scale (5 items, with items such as “I try to be nice to other people. I care about their feelings”). For the present study, only the internalizing problems dimension was used. All items were rated on a 3-point Likert scale from 1 (not true) to 3 (certainly true). In the present study, Cronbach’s alpha indices for the internalizing problems factor was 0.62.

2.4. Data Analytic Approach

First, we conducted preliminary analyses consisting of descriptive statistics and correlations between the study’s main variables using IBM SPSS 26. Then, the mediational analyses were conducted using the macro PROCESS 3.5 in SPSS, Model 4 with one predictor, one criteria, and one mediator. PROCESS is a free tool for SPSS and SAS that integrates several statistical approaches from validated statistical tools (e.g., SOBEL, MODMED). A mediation analysis aims to specify the degree to which one predictor/independent/causal variable influences one criteria/dependent variable via one or more mediator variables [ 60 ]. We used 5000 bootstrapped samples, and biases were corrected at 95% confidence intervals (CI) to calculate the indirect effect of the mediating variable on the relationship between the predictor and the criteria. If the CI of the indirect effect does not include zero, it indicates that the indirect effect is significant at p < 0.05 [ 61 ]. The total effect © shows the total influence of the predictor on the criteria, and the direct effect (c′) illustrates the influence of the predictor on the criteria when the effect of the mediating variable is controlled [ 60 ]. In our proposed models, the five dimensions of SEL were each considered, in turn, the predictors, while the internalizing problems constituted the criteria, and resilience the mediator.

3.1. Sample Characteristics

On average, the results depicted in Table 1 show that the participants obtained high scores on SEL dimensions and resilience, which suggests that the adolescents had high abilities to comprehend and manage their emotions, as well as to interact well with their peers. More precisely, they easily asked for and offered help, as well as communicated and collaborated with others. The high resilience score suggests their high adaptability when facing stressful events. However, the adolescents’ moderate scores on internalizing problems suggest they had difficulties in dealing with challenging emotions and situations.

Means and correlations between study’s variables.

Note: * p < 0.001.

3.2. Preliminary Analyses

Table 1 depicts the means, standard deviations, and correlations for the study’s variables. In general, the means were medium for SEL dimensions (self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making) and resilience, while for internalizing problems they were relatively low. All SEL dimensions (self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making) were positively associated with resilience. Four dimensions (self-awareness, self-management, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making) were negatively associated with internalizing problems. Resilience was negatively associated with internalizing problems.

3.3. Main Analyses

3.3.1. path analysis. the total effect of sel dimensions on internalizing problems.

SEL Self-awareness negatively correlated with internalizing problems (r = −0.21, p < 0.001), And the total effect of self-awareness on internalizing problems was also negative and statistically significant (c 1 = −0.15, p < 0.001).

SEL Self-management was negatively associated with internalizing problems (r = −0.29, p < 0.001) and its total effect on internalizing problems was also statistically significant (c 2 = −0.18, p < 0.001).

SEL Social awareness was statistically insignificant related to internalizing problems (r = 0.01, p = 0.77 > 0.05). The total effect of social awareness on internalizing problems was also statistically insignificant (c 3 = 0.006, p = 0.77 > 0.05). We chose to exclude social awareness from mediation analysis.

SEL Relationship skills negatively correlated with internalizing problems (r = −0.24, p < 0.001); its total effect on internalizing problems was significant and negative (c 4 = −0.15, p < 0.001).

Lastly, SEL Responsible decision-making was negatively related to internalizing problems (r = −0.20, p < 0.001) and its total effect on internalizing problems was negative and statistically significant (c 5 = −0.19, p < 0.001).

3.3.2. Path Analysis. The Direct Effect of SEL Dimensions on the Resilience and the Direct Effect of the Resilience on Internalizing Problems

The a 1 path from self-awareness to resilience was positive and significant (a 1 = 0.73, p < 0.001), and the b 1 path from resilience to internalizing problems was negative and statistically significant (b 1 = −0.15, p < 0.001).

The a 2 path from self-management to resilience was significantly positive (a 2 = 0.71, p < 0.001) and the b 2 path from resilience to internalizing problems was negative and significant statistically (b 2 = −0.13, p < 0.001).

The a 3 path from relationship skills to resilience was positive and significant (a 3 = 0.70, p < 0.01). The b 3 path from resilience to internalizing problems was negative and statistically significant (b 3 = −0.14, p < 0.001).

The a 4 path from responsible decision-making to resilience was positive and significant (a 4 = 0.61, p < 0.01). The b 4 path from resilience to internalizing problems was negative and statistically significant (b 4 = −0.15, p < 0.001).

3.3.3. Path Analysis. The Indirect Effect of SEL Dimensions on Internalizing Problems through Resilience

The indirect effect of SEL Self-awareness on internalizing problems through resilience was statistically significant (a 1 × b 1 = −0.11, CI [−0.1419; −0.0862] (see Figure 1 , subfigure a).

Mediating effects of resilience between SEL dimensions and internalizing problems.

The indirect effect of SEL Self-management on internalizing problems through resilience was statistically significant (a 2 × b 2 = −0.09, CI [−0.1190; −0.0695] (see Figure 1 , subfigure b).

The indirect effect of relationship skills on internalizing problems through resilience was statistically significant (a 3 × b 3 = −0.10, CI [−0.1320; −0.0714] (see Figure 1 , subfigure c).

The indirect effect of SEL Responsible decision-making on internalizing problems through resilience was statistically significant (a 4 × b 4 = −0.09, CI [−0.1200; −0.0667] (see Figure 1 , subfigure d).

Overall, the total indirect effect was significant statistically (a × b = −0.17, CI [−0.2140; −0.1246]. The direct effect was statistically insignificant (c′ = −0.06, p = 0.09 > 0.05), so there was a total mediation of resilience between SEL and internalizing problems (see Figure 2 ). Complete details about total, direct, and indirect effects are included in Table 2 and Table 3 .

The mediation effect of resilience between SEL and internalizing problems: estimate plot.

Path estimates.

Note: SEL 1 = SEL self-awareness, SEL 2 = SEL self-management, SEL 3 = SEL relationship skills, SEL 4 = SEL responsible decision-making, SEL = total score of SEL dimensions, REZ = resilience, INT = internalizing problems.

Direct, indirect, and total effects.

3.4. The Alternative Models

We tested the alternative models to exclude the other variants of mediation. The first alternative model comprised resilience as the predictor, SEL as the mediator, and internalizing problems as the criteria; it was statistically insignificant (a = 0.27, p < 0.001, b = −0.06, p = 0.08 > 0.05, a × b = −0.02, p = 0.09 > 0.05). The second alternative model used resilience as the predictor, internalizing problems as the mediator, and SEL as the criteria, and its indirect effect was also insignificant (a = −0.16, p < 0.001, b = −0.06, p = 0.08 > 0.05, a × b = 0.01, p = 0.09 > 0.05).

4. Discussion

Previous research on the effects of SEL interventions among adolescents showed a reduction in mental health problems such as depression, anxiety, and internalizing problems [ 62 ]. In addition, evidence from a large cross-sectional study showed a negative link between SEL skills and internalizing problems as well as resilience and internalizing problems, and a positive link between SEL skills and resilience [ 55 ]. Thus, the main aim of the present study was to deepen the understanding of the relationship between these variables by analyzing the links between all SEL dimensions, resilience, and internalizing problems. First, we hypothesized that all SEL dimensions (self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making) would be negatively associated with internalizing problems, and positively associated with resilience. The results indeed illustrated negative associations between each SEL dimension and internalizing problems (except for SEL Social awareness) and positive associations between all SEL dimensions and resilience, demonstrating that the first hypothesis was partially confirmed. Our findings on the associations between SEL skills and internalizing problems are consistent with previous research [ 19 , 55 ], though to our knowledge, few studies have explored this relationship. We found that self-management had a significant negative effect on internalizing problems. Previous research has shown that self-management reduces negative emotions, such as anxiety, as it is a protective factor from developing internalizing problems [ 23 ]. In addition, responsible decision making was negatively associated with symptoms of internalizing problems [ 24 ]. Self-management skills help reduce negative emotions, such as anxiety, as it is a protective factor from developing internalizing problems. The effect of SEL on internalizing problems is also evidenced in Durlak and colleagues’ meta-analysis [ 63 ]. Analyzing 213 studies involving 270,034 adolescents, they showed that higher levels of SEL determine lower levels of internalizing problems, such as social withdrawal, stress, anxiety, and depression. SEL skills determine personal growth through a gradual change in the source of thoughts and behaviors, from external and contextual factors to internalized thoughts and significance, assuming one’s own decisions and behavior [ 64 ].

Our results on social awareness and internalizing problems are intriguing, but somewhat consistent with previous literature. For example, Salavera and colleagues reported a negative association between internalizing problems and the emotional support facet, and no significant associations for the other components of social skills [ 65 ]. Nevertheless, these findings suggest that other characteristics which we did not consider in the present study might be underlying this relationship, thus further investigations are needed.

Concerning the positive association between SEL dimensions and resilience, Hromek & Roffey suggest that SEL dimensions are complementary, dynamic, and improve resilience [ 66 ]. Additionally, previous research on SEL-related programs showed a significant positive effect on resilience [ 67 ]. Furthermore, lifelong learning can have an essential effect on resilience, compelling people to cope with unfavorable circumstances [ 68 ].

According to the second hypothesis, our outcomes illustrate a negative association between resilience and internalizing problems. It is in line with the results of previous studies attesting that higher resilience predicts lower scores of depression, anxiety, and other internalizing problems [ 69 , 70 ]. Several investigations highlighted the importance of resilience in combating internalizing problems. Summarizing 49 studies, Dray and colleagues illustrated that resilience reduces internalizing problems, stress, and depressive symptomatology. and increases mental health [ 71 ]. The same authors suggest that an optimal level of resilience at the right age can improve interventions on internalizing problems.

However, mixed results are presented concerning the effect of SEL on internalizing problems over time. Cramer analyzed the impact of SEL on internalizing problems using a longitudinal study, and the results suggest that SEL increases resilience, but does not reduce the internalizing problems [ 72 ]. Instead, Siqueira and colleagues presented a negative effect of SEL on internalizing problems six months after an SEL intervention program ended [ 73 ].

The central hypothesis of the present study was that resilience mediates the relationship between SEL dimensions and internalizing problems. According to our findings, SEL dimensions were linked to resilience. Thus, self-awareness, self-management, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making were associated with the capacity to adequately adapt to negative contexts. In turn, resilience had an adverse association with adolescents’ internalizing problems such as stress, anxiety, depressive symptoms, somatic complaints, and social withdrawal. Similar reports were recently shown. Students with higher scores in SEL obtained higher scores in resilience, leading to fewer internalizing and externalizing problems [ 55 ]. The ability to respond adequately to adverse contexts explains the relationship between the capacities to recognize the emotions and thoughts that lead to behaviors, to work toward goals, to create and maintain healthy relationships, to make personal and social healthy choices, and to understand actions’ consequences, and internalizing problems such as stress, anxiety, depression, somatic disorders, and social withdrawal.

The findings of the present research have several practical implications. Previous research showed that the more frequently depression episodes emerged in adolescence, the more the chances of negative outcomes in adulthood increased [ 74 ]. Thus, the promising results of our study may prove that interventions aiming to improve SEL might prevent the onset of internalizing problems through resilience, which in turn could curb unfavorable developments later in adulthood. In addition, our results showed no link between the social awareness component of SEL and internalizing problems, which could suggest the need for more culturally sensitive approaches of SEL and resilience-oriented interventions. These data have potential implications for working towards more contextually-fit models of SEL and resilience in relation to internalizing problems. While other researchers found that SEL positively impacted resilience [ 75 ], but reported no significant results on internalizing problems [ 25 , 75 ], we found significant associations between SEL, resilience, and internalizing problems. Additionally, we found resilience totally mediated the relationship between SEL and internalizing problems, demonstrating the essential role resilience would play in future programs aimed at decreasing internalizing problems, hence advocating for considering resilience as a separate factor in future studies’ designs. Our findings also suggest it might be beneficial for school counselors and teachers to take into consideration the role resilience plays in the relationship between SEL components and internalizing problems, especially since the latter is generally less visible and reported.

These findings contribute to the adolescents’ mental health literature in several ways. First, the results of the current study brought additional knowledge by showing the associations between SEL dimensions, resilience, and internalizing problems. Second, we tested the mediating effect of resilience between four out of five SEL dimensions and internalizing adolescents’ problems. Third, we focused on one Eastern-European culture, Romania, for which there is no previous data. Fourth, we collected data from a large sample from the general population of adolescents.

In addition to its strengths, several limitations should be discussed. One of the most significant flaws is the cross-sectional design, which prevents us from knowing how these variables’ effects change over time, and from making causal assumptions [ 76 ]. Most research on SEL and internalizing problems is longitudinal and includes interventions to increase social and emotional skills. However, schools are a social and emotional environment, and learning is also a social process [ 20 ]. Despite having a cross-sectional design, we evidenced that the relationships between SEL dimensions and internalizing problems can be explained through resilience. Second, the instruments were self-administered, and desirability may have interfered. Future studies should collect data from various sources, like students, parents, and teachers.

5. Conclusions

The findings of the current study helped to establish resilience as a strong protective factor, especially in lowering levels of internalizing issues among adolescents. Although internalizing problems can be more challenging to identify compared to the externalizing problems that are more disruptive to the classroom, educators have the ability to address them.

Schools present essential social and emotional elements of learning [ 20 ]. Furthermore, Durlak and colleagues concluded in their meta-analysis that SEL programs could be efficiently integrated into regular school practices, as teachers are capable of implementing them, so that SEL can become an ingrained part of the school [ 63 ]. Thus, anxiety disorders, depressive disorders, social withdrawal, and somatic complaints among adolescents could be reduced in an inherent way [ 11 ]. SEL skills serve as a protective factor, making people more resilient and better equipped to deal with stressors and challenges throughout their lives [ 77 ]. Nevertheless, our mixed findings on the relationship between some SEL components and internalizing problems might signal the presence of other factors which we did not consider in the present paper. This may point to the need for more culturally-relevant evaluations of SEL and SEL interventions targeted to improve resilience and decrease internalizing problems.

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank to the School Inspectorate of Suceava County, the school principals and teachers who facilitated the collection of data, as well as to the students who participated in the study and to their parents who allowed their children to be part of the present study.

Funding Statement

This research was co-funded by the European Commission through ERASMUS + KA3 program of the European Union, project entitled PROMEHS Promoting Mental Health at Schools (Reference number 606689-EPP_2018-2-IT-PI-POLICY).

Author Contributions

All the authors had significant contributions to the development of present study. Conceptualization, A.A.C., A.U. and A.I.-C.; methodology, A.U. and A.A.C.; formal analysis, A.U. and I.B.; investigation, A.A.C.; resources, A.A.C.; data curation, A.U.; writing—original draft preparation, A.U., I.B., A.I.-C. and R.B.; writing—review and editing, A.A.C., A.U., I.B., A.I.-C. and R.B.; project administration, E.C. and A.A.C.; funding acquisition, E.C. and A.A.C. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Institutional Review Board Statement

This study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki, and approved by the Ethics Committee of Stefan cel Mare University from Suceava, Romania (protocol no 25/21.07.2020).

Informed Consent Statement

Informed consent was obtained from all participants and their legal representatives involved in the study.

Data Availability Statement

Conflicts of interest.

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript; or in the decision to publish the results.

Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

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Social and Emotional Learning and Mathematics

Teaching involves developing the whole child, not only as good mathematicians but as good people—friends, colleagues, innovators, and citizens. Problem-solving is not only a quantitative challenge but a human one. We can engage students in deeply understanding what resolving problems entails and what it feels like, which is satisfying for children and adults alike.

The Common Core State Standards for Mathematical Practice specify that students solve real-world and mathematical problems by working effectively with peers; formulating, communicating and critiquing arguments; and persevering through difficulty. As students internalize these mathematical practices, they engage interpersonal and intrapersonal skills, also known as social and emotional learning (SEL) competencies.

Here, you’ll find an explicit unpacking of the connections among the mathematical practices and SEL competencies, as well as supports for integrating them in your classroom instruction. These resources were created by panels of experts in mathematics education and in social and emotional learning, along with teams of educators serving as co-developers.

Integrating Social and Emotional Learning and the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics:  Making the Case  lays out the rationale for considering the strong connections among the Common Core State Standards for Mathematical Practice and key social and emotional learning competencies.

Integrating Social and Emotional Learning and the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics:  Describing an Ideal Classroom  provides a brief historical perspective on the culture of mathematics classrooms and describes the shift required by the Common Core State Standards for Mathematical Practice with regard to your classroom culture and collaboration with colleagues.

Practitioner Spotlight / Appendix to “Describing an Ideal Classroom”  Table 2: Provides commentary with video clips on teacher  Cathy Humphreys’s lesson  that describes the ways in which her students demonstrate social and emotional learning competencies as they engage with the Common Core State Standards for Mathematical Practice.

A Tool for SEL Evaluation:  A tool that can be used as an additional lens through which to evaluate materials in support of strong student learning. The purpose of the tool is to determine how well your mathematics instructional materials support students’ understanding and application of widely accepted social and emotional learning competencies.

Using Social and Emotional Learning to Develop Mathematically Proficient Students: Instructional Guides:  Each of these guides focuses on one of a series of problem solving activities developed by the Mathematics Assessment Resource Service (MARS) that call for students to engage in the Common Core State Standards for Mathematical Practice.

The instructional guides, which surface key social and emotional learning competencies needed for the mathematical task, are designed to support you as you monitor and encourage student engagement in competencies called for by the practices. Each instructional guide provides facilitation suggestions that promote students’ social and emotional learning competencies and support students’ engagement in the Standards for Mathematical Practice. (These MARS tasks can be found in the  performance assessment tasks  section of this site.)

• Instructional guide: “Conference Tables” task (grade 9)
• Instructional guide: “Printing Tickets” task (grade 9)
• Instructional guide: “Swimming Pool” task (grade 9)

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How st math’s problem solving process develops social emotional learning skills, want to help your students become well-rounded mathematical thinkers start practicing sel skills using the problem solving process. .

Many ST Math teachers have seen the benefits of incorporating social-emotional learning (SEL) lessons into their math instruction time. Students are more engaged in discussions, have greater empathy for their peers, and can better manage their emotions while persevering through challenging problems. 

Driving this personal growth is the ST Math Problem Solving process, which can be used to practice interrelated SEL skills outlined in CASEL’s SEL core competencies .

What is the Problem Solving Process? 

The Problem Solving Process was developed to make the perception-action cycle (see The Science of ST Math ) easier to bring into your classroom. The goal is to get students involved in learning, which requires noticing what is going on in an ST Math puzzle and then starting a cycle of predicting, testing, and analyzing. When the learning is successful, it's connected to what is already known and extends knowledge.

Empowering students to go through the Problem Solving Process when faced with a challenge can improve their problem-solving strategies, curb math anxiety , and hone the SEL skills they’ll need to be successful in future situations. 

Notice and Wonder - Getting Started

This first stage of the Problem Solving Process is all about focusing students’ thinking on the problem they’re facing. Start by asking questions like:

• What do you notice?
• What do you wonder?
• What question is the problem asking? 

Thinking about how to get started when tackling a problem can help with students’ self-awareness and self-management competencies. Students can pause to recognize their feelings, calm themselves, and focus their attention sufficiently so they can effectively participate in learning. Students can also take a moment to hone their goal-setting skills by committing to solve the problem.

To extend SEL during this initial step of the Problem Solving Process, you can use a chart like the one below to help students express how they may be feeling about this particular challenge or their math abilities in general.

Predict and Justify - Identifying and Testing Strategies

After awareness comes action. The Predict and Justify stage uncovers students’ thinking around how they plan to address the problem. Ask questions like:

• What is your prediction?
• What strategy will you use to test it?
• What do you think will happen when you test your prediction and why?

This second step will begin to touch on the responsible decision-making competency. Students must begin to use reasoning strategies to plan their choice of how to solve the problem. They’ll need to evaluate their options and make effective decisions.

It is crucial to emphasize that there are no mistakes in this stage, just critical thinking. Once an action plan is formed, a student may feel less anxious and even motivated to press on. This can help them be more receptive to the feedback they’re about to receive. 

Test and Observe - Learning from Feedback

In this stage of the Problem Solving Process, encourage students to observe and process the results of testing their hypotheses. Prompt them to:

• Test your hypothesis.
• Describe what happened.

The big moment has arrived. Students have noticed and wondered, predicted and justified, and now they’ll get to see what happens. Was their approach correct, or will it need to be adjusted? This is another great opportunity for self-awareness and self-management. As students watch the outcome of their problem-solving approach, they can choose a growth mindset and nurture their math self-beliefs and self-efficacy. They can also practice regulating their emotions and behaviors, show perseverance, and employ delayed gratification.

If students are testing and observing as a class, they may also be able to practice social awareness. While one student or group of students tests their hypothesis, the class can work to understand and observe important social norms, recognize there are diverse approaches to problem solving, and understand that the approaches of others can help to identify new and improved strategies for all. We’ll share an effective way to do this in the next step!

Analyze and Learn - Persevering

Now, facilitate students in analyzing the feedback and results of what they’ve just tested and observed. Ask questions like:

• How does this compare to what you thought would happen?
• What did you learn?
• How will you use what you learned?

You can continue to foster social awareness and incorporate relationship skills here by engaging the entire class in academic discourse. Hold a classroom discussion to encourage listening and communication skills. Students can summarize their learning out loud to try and understand what happened in the puzzle and if they were correct or will need to try again. Other students can chime in with differing perspectives and approaches. Exploring the Problem Solving Process through mathematical discourse can help students develop speaking and listening skills and the ability to collaborate to solve problems.

Consider using a Puzzle Talk ! This ST Math feature seamlessly allows your class to practice mathematical discourse and problem solving together.

Connect and Extend - Extending and Connecting

In this final step, stretch students’ thinking! Students are ready to be asked:

• How does what you learned support your understanding of [the concept]?
• What would happen if…?
• How would you apply this concept to [this] situation?

Here again, students can practice their responsible decision-making skills. They’ll need to use reasoning strategies to reflect on choices and goals in order to deepen their mathematical understanding. You can also continue to explore these questions as a class to reinforce those relation skills and social awareness competencies.

Finally, after going through the entire Problem Solving Process, students’ self-awareness and self-management skills will be strengthened if they have completed all of the steps thoughtfully and feel ready to do it all again.

Powerful Learners in All Aspects of Life

We hope this helps you identify different opportunities to practice SEL skills during your ST Math time. With consistent and intentional practice, your students will be on the path to becoming well-rounded critical thinkers who see themselves as capable problem solvers. 

For more examples of SEL in elementary mathematics instruction, we encourage you to explore this paper by the CASEL Collaborating States Initiative.

Want a reminder to implement an intentional SEL framework into your math class? Download our Problem Solving Process poster (available in English and Spanish ) and our Problem Solving Process bookmark . 

About the Author

Parker Erickson was MIND’s Content and Community Specialist. As a digital storyteller, Parker is passionate about building strong communities through technology and social media. Off the clock, you can find him buried in the latest issue of The New Yorker or experiencing different cultures through food.

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Social and Emotional Learning

Positive social and emotional development and learning in the early years provides an important foundation for lifelong learning and development, including mental health. Building social and emotional learning every day starts with relationships and supportive learning environments. Once in place, all children can learn social skills (such as friendship skills), emotional literacy, self-regulation, and problem-solving. Teaching social skills and fostering emotional literacy can also prevent behaviors that are challenging to adults. Explore the resources found on this page for more information about social and emotional development and learning. This page aims to provide equal access to resources and supports that can lead to positive social and emotional outcomes for all children and families.

The  Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework (ELOF): Ages Birth to Five  describes the skills, behaviors, and knowledge that programs must foster in all children. The Effective Practice Guides provide information about domain-specific teaching practices that support children’s development. Follow the links to explore the Approaches to Learning and Social and Emotional Development  ELOF domains in the Effective Practices Guides.

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National Center for Pyramid Model Innovations (NCPMI) NCPMI is funded by the Office of Special Education Programs to improve and support the capacity of state systems and local programs to implement an early childhood multi-tiered system of support to improve the social, emotional, and behavioral outcomes of young children with, and at risk for, developmental disabilities or delays. The goals of NCPMI are to assist states and programs in implementing sustainable systems to support the Pyramid Model for Supporting Social Emotional Competence in Infants and Young Children (Pyramid Model) within early intervention and early education programs with a focus on:

• Promoting the social, emotional, and behavioral outcomes of young children birth to 5
• Reducing the use of inappropriate discipline practices
• Promoting family engagement
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• Integrating early childhood and infant mental health consultation
• Fostering inclusion

Early Childhood Technical Assistance (ECTA) The ECTA Center supports state Part C and Section 619 programs in developing high-quality early intervention and preschool special education service systems, increasing local implementation of evidence-based practices, and enhancing outcomes for young children with disabilities and their families. The Practice Improvement Tools help education staff implement evidence-based practices. The Performance Checklists can be used for reflecting on practices and are available in English and Spanish.

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Practice Guides for Practitioners are one-page guides for educators in group settings. The guides provide strategies that strengthen social and emotional development and learning in young children.

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Last Updated: March 4, 2024

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Learning goal: Problem solving

The ability to quickly and effectively solve problems plays a major role in classroom, college, and career success. Help your students develop these essential skills using the FutureFit resources collected under the “Solve” domain. Skills highlighted in this domain include process acumen, computational thinking, and design thinking.

At the practical level, Solve focuses on skills and abilities that blend well with both core academic concepts and broader social-emotional learning goals articulated by standards organizations, states, and researchers. We’ve meshed the best and most relevant concepts and approaches into an accessible list of skills that is easy to understand and articulate to students, including:

• Computational thinking : The ability to effectively formulate and frame problem-solving strategies that can be applied and carried out by computers, machines, or humans
• Process acumen : The ability to clearly and effectively define and implement replicable processes, as well as to communicate the associated tasks, roles and details to others
• Design thinking : The ability to learn and apply techniques common in solving complex problems (i.e. in engineering and science) to disparate or tangential circumstances and situations
• Solicit assistance : The ability to ask for help, assistance and expertise when one’s own limits become an impediment to progress  

Social-Emotional Learning

November 17, 2023

Explore the impact of Social-Emotional Learning in schools: enhancing student behavior, well-being, and academic success.

Main, P. (2023, November 17). Social-Emotional Learning. Structural Learning. Retrieved from https://www.structural-learning.com/post/social-emotional-learning

What is Social-Emotional Learning?

Social-emotional learning (SEL) refers to the process of acquiring and applying social and emotional skills necessary for understanding and managing emotions, setting and achieving positive goals, feeling and showing empathy for others, maintaining positive relationships, and making responsible decisions. It plays a crucial role in modern education as it recognizes the importance of developing the whole child in order to succeed academically and in life.

SEL helps students develop a range of skills that are valuable not only in school but also in future careers and relationships. By fostering self-awareness, self-management , social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making, SEL equips students with the tools necessary to navigate through daily challenges and cope with stress and adversity.

Moreover, social-emotional learning facilitates the creation of a supportive and caring learning environment, where positive relationships are built between students and with teachers. This foundation of positive relationships is essential for effective learning to take place, as it enhances students' sense of belonging and connectedness to the school community .

In conclusion, social-emotional learning is a vital component of education in today's world. By focusing on the development of social and emotional skills, it equips students with the necessary tools to manage daily challenges, build positive relationships, and thrive both academically and personally.

Theoretical Underpinnings of Social-Emotional Learning (SEL)

Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) is a framework that promotes the development of emotional and social skills in individuals, and it is underpinned by several foundational theories and concepts. One theory that informs SEL practices is the social-cognitive theory, which emphasizes the reciprocal relationship between individuals and their social environment. This theory suggests that individuals learn social and emotional skills through observation, imitation, and reinforcement.

Another theory that informs SEL is the attachment theory, which highlights the importance of secure relationships in promoting healthy social and emotional development. According to this theory, children who have secure attachments with their caregivers are more likely to develop strong emotional regulation and interpersonal skills.

In education, several frameworks serve as the basis for SEL practices, such as Maslow's hierarchy of needs and Erikson's stages of psychosocial development. Maslow's hierarchy of needs suggests that individuals must have their basic physiological and safety needs met before they can focus on higher-level needs, including social belonging and self-esteem. Erikson's stages of psychosocial development emphasize the importance of social interaction and self-identity formation in different stages of life.

SEL is crucial in education and human development as it contributes to academic success, positive mental health, and overall well-being. It helps individuals develop key competencies and skills, such as self-awareness , self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making. These skills empower individuals to navigate their emotions, form positive relationships, and make responsible choices, enabling them to thrive in their personal and academic lives.

SEL in Early Childhood Education

Social-emotional learning (SEL) plays a crucial role in early childhood education settings as it helps young students develop the necessary skills to manage emotions, build positive relationships, and make responsible decisions. Educators employ a range of strategies to implement SEL effectively and provide numerous benefits to students.

One widely used strategy is the gradual integration of SEL practices into the curriculum. This involves incorporating SEL activities and lessons into daily routines, such as circle time where students learn to express their emotions and listen empathetically to others. By embedding SEL into regular activities, educators ensure consistent exposure and practice.

Creating calm spaces and mindfulness exercises are additional strategies used to promote SEL in early childhood education. Calm spaces , filled with soft lighting and comfortable seating, offer students a sanctuary to reflect and regulate their emotions. Mindfulness exercises , such as deep breathing techniques and guided relaxation, help students become more self-aware, focus their attention, and manage stress.

Another vital aspect of implementing SEL in early childhood education is the involvement of SEL development teams in professional learning communities. These teams consist of educators who collaborate to identify student needs, share effective practices, and continuously enhance their own SEL skills. By working together, educators can support one another in implementing SEL strategies and promote a positive school climate.

The benefits of SEL implementation in early childhood education are vast. Students who participate in SEL programs show improved social skills , enhanced self-control, and increased empathy. These skills not only promote better classroom management and engagement but also contribute to better academic and lifelong success.

Five Positive Ways SEL Education Impacts Academic Performance

Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) is not just a supplementary aspect of education but a core component that significantly influences academic learning and achievement. Here are five positive ways in which SEL education impacts academic performance:

• Enhanced Focus and Concentration : SEL programs help students develop better self-regulation skills. This improvement in self-management leads to enhanced focus and concentration in academic tasks. Students in elementary school, especially, benefit from this as they learn to navigate their attention and energies more effectively, leading to improved academic outcomes.
• Reduction in Emotional Distress : SEL education equips students with strategies to manage emotional distress. By learning how to handle stress and anxiety , students can better focus on academic learning. This emotional regulation is crucial during tests and exams, where high stress levels can negatively impact performance.
• Improved Social Skills and Peer Relationships : SEL fosters better social skills , enabling students to interact more positively with their peers. This positive social interaction creates a supportive learning environment, enhancing group activities and collaborative projects , which are integral parts of academic achievement.
• Development of a Well-Grounded Sense of Self : Through SEL, students develop a well-grounded sense of self. This self-awareness and self-esteem translate into a sense of confidence in their academic abilities. Confident students are more likely to participate in class, take on challenges, and persist in the face of academic difficulties .
• Building Emotional Competencies for Future Success : SEL helps in building emotional competencies that are essential for long-term academic and professional success. Skills like empathy, problem-solving, and decision-making not only aid in immediate academic performance but also prepare students for complex real-world situations they will encounter in the future.

Incorporating SEL into the curriculum is thus not just beneficial but essential for holistic education, directly impacting academic achievement and preparing students for a well-rounded future.

How SEL Impacts Positive Relationships between Peers and Teachers

SEL provides the necessary tools for individuals to form meaningful connections and build supportive relationships with their peers and teachers.

Numerous research studies have shown a strong correlation between SEL and improved relationships in schools. SEL interventions have been found to increase empathy and enhance communication skills among students. These skills are invaluable in building positive relationships, as they enable individuals to understand and respect the perspectives and feelings of others, leading to increased trust and cooperation.

There are several specific benefits of SEL on peer and teacher relationships. Firstly, SEL helps to reduce conflicts by equipping individuals with conflict resolution strategies . Students who have developed these skills are better able to manage conflicts constructively, thus minimizing the negative impact on their relationships. Additionally, SEL fosters improved collaboration, as it promotes effective communication , teamwork, and problem-solving skills. By creating a positive classroom climate that values collaboration and empathy, SEL provides a foundation for students and teachers to work together more cohesively.

In conclusion, SEL has a profound impact on positive relationships between peers and teachers. Through increased empathy, communication skills, reduced conflicts , and improved collaboration, SEL provides the necessary framework for individuals to form strong, supportive relationships in schools. By prioritizing SEL in educational settings, we can create a more inclusive and nurturing environment for all students.

Wider Benefits of Social-Emotional Learning

Social-emotional learning has been proven to have a multitude of wider benefits that positively impact students' academic, career, and lifelong success, as well as contribute to a just and thriving society.

SEL is crucial for career success as it cultivates essential skills such as self-awareness, social awareness, and responsible decision-making. These skills enable individuals to navigate the complexities of the workforce, effectively communicate , work collaboratively, and adapt to changing environments. As a result, SEL equips students with the skills needed to thrive in the professional world and pursue fulfilling careers.

In terms of lifelong success, SEL equips individuals with the necessary skills to navigate various life challenges and successfully manage their personal and professional relationships. By developing empathy, resilience, and problem-solving skills, individuals are better equipped to handle stress, build healthy relationships, and make ethical decisions.

Equity is a critical aspect of education, and SEL plays an important role in promoting equity and excellence. By providing all students with the opportunity to develop SEL skills, regardless of their background or circumstances, we can level the playing field and ensure that everyone has an equal chance to succeed. SEL fosters greater agency, well-being, and the ability to implement collaborative solutions, which are essential for creating a just and inclusive society .

9 Strategies for Integrating SEL into the Curriculum

Social-Emotional Learning integration within the curriculum is pivotal for fostering strong social-emotional skills in students. This integration is not just an add-on but a vital component of holistic education, particularly in elementary and middle school settings. Here are nine practical strategies:

• Emotion Vocabulary Lessons : Enhance students' ability to articulate their feelings by incorporating emotion words into language arts. This strategy helps in building a vocabulary that students can use to express personal behavior and emotions effectively.
• Role-Playing Scenarios : Implement role-play activities that simulate real-life situations. This method allows students to practice caring decisions and constructive choices in a controlled, reflective environment, fostering empathy and understanding.
• Group Projects with Collective Goals : Encourage students to work on projects with shared objectives. This approach promotes teamwork and understanding of collective goals , essential in developing cooperative skills and a sense of community.
• Reflection Journals : Use journals for students to reflect on their personal behavior and emotions. This practice aids in developing self-awareness and understanding the impact of their actions on others, contributing to healthy identities.
• Cultural Competency Activities : Integrate activities that celebrate and educate about different cultures. This strategy enhances cultural competency, helping students appreciate diversity and foster equitable learning environments.
• Committee for Children Initiatives : Leverage resources from organizations like the Committee for Children to implement structured SEL programs. These resources provide structured, research-based approaches to SEL, tailored for various age groups.
• Mindfulness and Relaxation Techniques : Incorporate mindfulness exercises into the school day. Techniques like deep breathing and guided imagery help students manage stress and maintain focus, crucial for middle school students navigating complex emotional landscapes.
• Service Learning Projects : Engage students in community service projects . This approach instills a sense of responsibility and empathy, encouraging students to make caring decisions and understand the impact of their actions in a broader context.
• Consistent Behavior Expectations : Establish and maintain consistent expectations for behavior across contexts. This consistency helps students understand and adhere to social norms, fostering an environment conducive to learning and personal growth .

Each of these strategies, when implemented thoughtfully, can significantly contribute to the development of strong social-emotional skills in students, preparing them for various life challenges.

Elements of a Supportive School Culture for Emotional Learning

A supportive school culture for emotional learning is crucial for the successful implementation of social emotional learning programs in schools. Research has shown that a positive school culture contributes to the overall well-being and academic success of students.

Positive relationships are a key element of a supportive school culture. When students feel valued and connected to their teachers and peers, they are more likely to feel safe and supported, which enhances their emotional well-being. Building positive relationships can be achieved through activities such as one-on-one meetings, peer mentoring programs, and team-building exercises .

Clear expectations also play a vital role in creating a supportive school culture. When students have a clear understanding of what is expected of them in terms of behavior and academic performance, they are better equipped to meet those expectations. Clear expectations promote a sense of structure and order, which provides a stable and supportive environment for emotional learning.

Collaborative decision-making is another important component of a supportive school culture. When students and staff are involved in the decision-making process, they feel empowered and valued. This sense of ownership creates a supportive environment where everyone's input is valued and considered, leading to greater overall buy-in and commitment to SEL programs.

Relationship Skills That Support Healthy Interactions with Others

Relationship skills are essential for fostering healthy interactions with others. Effective communication  is at the core of these skills, as it enables individuals to express themselves clearly and listen actively to others. Good communication promotes understanding and minimizes misunderstandings, laying the foundation for strong relationships.

Conflict resolution is another crucial skill that helps maintain healthy interactions. It involves finding mutually agreeable solutions to conflicts, rather than resorting to aggression or avoidance. By addressing conflicts in a respectful and constructive manner, relationships can grow stronger and trust can be built.

Empathy plays a significant role in creating healthy interactions. It involves understanding and sharing the feelings of others, allowing individuals to connect with others on a deeper level. Empathy helps build bridges of understanding and compassion, fostering harmonious relationships.

Understanding is closely linked to empathy and involves recognizing and appreciating others' experiences and perspectives. It requires individuals to put themselves in others' shoes, promoting inclusivity and respect.

Considering others' needs and perspectives is vital in maintaining healthy interactions. By actively considering others' feelings, desires, and perspectives, individuals demonstrate respect and create an environment where everyone feels valued and heard.

Engaging Parents in Social-Emotional Learning

For Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) to be truly effective, it requires a partnership between schools and families. Engaging parents in SEL not only reinforces the concepts being taught in school but also ensures a consistent and supportive environment for children at home. Here are seven practical ways schools can involve parents in SEL:

• Regular Communication and Updates : Schools should provide regular updates to parents about the SEL curriculum and activities. This can be done through newsletters, emails, or parent-teacher meetings. Clear communication helps parents understand what is being taught and how they can support learning at home.
• Parent Workshops and Training Sessions : Organize workshops or training sessions for parents . These sessions can cover key SEL concepts and strategies, empowering parents to reinforce these skills at home. Interactive sessions also provide a platform for parents to ask questions and share experiences.
• SEL Activities for Home : Create simple, engaging activities that parents and children can do together at home. These activities should be designed to reinforce the SEL skills being taught in school, such as empathy exercises, emotion identification games, or problem-solving challenges.
• Incorporate Parent Feedback in SEL Programs : Encourage parents to provide feedback on their child’s SEL progress and involve them in shaping the SEL curriculum. This approach ensures that the program is responsive to the specific needs of the children and their families.
• Use of Digital Tools and Resources : Leverage digital tools and online resources that parents can access at home. These can include apps, videos, and online games focused on SEL concepts, making learning fun and accessible outside the classroom.
• Parent Volunteer Opportunities : Offer opportunities for parents to volunteer in activities or events that promote SEL. This could be as classroom helpers, guest speakers, or facilitators in school-wide SEL events, allowing them to be actively involved in their child’s learning process.
• Home-Based SEL Challenges : Introduce weekly or monthly challenges that families can participate in at home, such as ‘Kindness Week’ or ‘Emotion Journaling’. These challenges encourage families to practice SEL skills together, fostering a supportive home environment.

What does the Research on SEL tell us?

Engaging children in social-emotional learning has been found to have a range of positive implications for their outcomes in school. Here are five studies highlighting these benefits:

• Reduction in Bullying and Violence : A study in the "Handbook of Youth Prevention Science" (2010) by Doll, Pfohl, and Yoon found that SEL can improve school outcomes by reducing bullying and violence.
• Positive Behavioral and Academic Outcomes : The Family SEAL program was shown to lead to better behavior, well-being, achievement, and social skills in a study by Ward (2012).
• Improvement in Motivation and Learning Strategies : Guay, Lessard, and Dubois (2016) found that SEL can enhance students' motivation , learning strategies, academic achievement, and school perseverance.
• Enhanced Academic Performance and Attitudes : Zins, Bloodworth, Weissberg, and Walberg (2007) demonstrated that SEL improves academic performance , lifelong learning, and school attitudes, behavior, and performance.
• Significant Gains in Achievement : Durlak, Weissberg, Dymnicki, Taylor, and Schellinger (2011) found that SEL leads to improved social and emotional skills , attitudes, behavior, and academic performance, with an 11-percentile-point gain in achievement.

These studies collectively show that engaging children in social-emotional learning not only improves their academic performance but also positively influences their behavior, social skills, and overall well-being.

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