Social–Emotional Learning

The appeal of esports in education is not declining in all likelihood. Beyond the opportunities esports participation creates for students, they also have new chances to compete, experience being part of a team, and even work on developing genuine career skills. They can also develop soft skills while competing, which commonly accelerates social-emotional development.

With SEL in the classroom, ensuring that every student feels heard, valued, respected, and advocated for are each among the biggest drivers as we all aim to collectively increase equity in education. When teachers meet these conditions, kids often feel more comfortable in their learning environments, which can spark added achievement when their emotional state is strong.

KidCitizen is an online resource that students can use to watch informative videos and episodes about political events, news, and also history. It helps them become more informed and interested in crucial political happenings as well as helping to spark ideas for how they can share their voices. Keep reading to learn more about using KidCitizen in the classroom.

Students have dealt with a slew of varying emotions and all-new stressors since learning went remote amid the pandemic and plenty are still working back from that. Infusing MakerEd tools into new types of instruction is one solution that could help children restore some of that emotional balance so they can keep learning, express ideas, and share feelings comfortably.

Starting with teaching skills like creative problem solving, persistence, and collaboration, merging these two key elements of education can really help students learn to enjoy the productive struggles they’ll likely face in a tech-driven world. So, we’re exploring how teachers can combine SEL, EdTech, and the right attitudes to help kids become well-rounded problem solvers.

Social-emotional learning is a process—and it’s arguably one that students never truly complete. Educators can, however, always help kids strengthen key emotional competencies and hands-on experiences in their classroom can play a large role, especially when they take part in STEAM or MakerEd initiatives that help them connect to their projects on an emotional level.

MakerEd is a technological and creative learning revolution that centers on a pedagogy designed to help children bolster significant skills like decision making, responsibility, relationship management, community engagement, creative thinking, problem solving, teamwork, and more through hands-on projects that create connections between their heads, hearts, and hands.

When educators can work to simultaneously engage their students’ heads, hearts, and hands in projects—something they could really accelerate with MakerEd tools—they often develop vital SEL skills more quickly while also preparing for future careers. So, what are these key social-emotional skills and what are some of the ways in which educators can teach them?

Access the full replay of our webinar with the Strawbees team, including all the noteworthy nuggets we shared about the versatile Strawbees invention kits, STEAM learning, and SEL. You’ll also learn about using the Strawbees hardware and content in SEL lessons, providing building materials for each student, and navigating Strawbees Classroom to extend STEAM projects.

The importance of SEL is highly touted and many educational leaders have created positions within their schools or districts to ensure that all students are appropriately managing and processing their various emotions. For this reason, we thought we’d take a look at the online social-emotional learning platform known as StrongMinded in this week’s Rising Resources post.