Title: Individual differences in the effects of Social and Emotional Learning program
1Individual differences in the effects of Social
and Emotional Learning program
- Reizo Koizumi (Fukuoka University of
Education) - Nobuchika Tanaka (Wakamiya Elementary School)
- Fukuoka, JAPAN
- 29th Annual International School Psychology
Colloquium, Finland
2BACKGROUND PURPOSE OF THIS STUDY
3Background
- Behavioral problems among children
- -E.g., bullying, school refusal, violence,
substance abuse (including alcohol and tobacco),
delinquency, sexually transmitted diseases et al. - Decrease in childrens interpersonal-
relationships ability - Classroom disruption and chaos
- A distribution change in academic achievement
- -a trend of bipolarization
4Efforts in the Japanese schools
- Conducting preventive educational programs in
some schools - -short-term (e.g.,a few months to one year) and
pilot implementation - Trying to maximize the effects of the educational
programs - -little consideration of individual differences
in the results of the programs
5PURPOSE
- To develop a trial Japanese version of Social and
Emotional Learning (SEL) program for 5th and 6th
graders - To examine individual differences in the effects
of the SEL program - To obtain know-how to improve the SEL program for
Japanese schools
6METHOD
7Method
- A public elementary school in Fukuoka city
- 107 fifth-graders (3 classes)
- 121 sixth-graders (3 classes)
- Six classroom teachers
- June 2006 through February 2007
- Classroom teachers conducted 12 45-minute-long
exercises in each class.
8Target abilities of the SEL program
- (1) self-awareness
- (2) social awareness
- (3) self-management
- (4) relationship skills
- (5) responsible decision making
- (6) well-being-promotion and problem-
- prevention skills
- (7) coping skills and social support for
- transition and crises
- (8) contributory services
9Sample Exercises for 5th Graders
10Sample Exercises for 6th Graders
11The school in Fukuoka, Japan
12Stress management
13SEL classes with parents
14Evaluation
- Periods
- Before (May) and after (February) the
implementation - Teachers evaluation
- -6 Classroom teachers evaluated their
- children
- -SEL Scale
- 8 items with 4 rating points
- (8 target abilities of SEL)
- Students self-evaluation
- -SEL Students Scale (24 items)
15RESULTS
16Grouping of the students
- Three groups based on the first SEL
self-evaluation - H group children, n77
- M group children, n78
- L group children, n73
- (Fifth-graders and sixth-graders were combined.)
17 Fig. 1 Teachers evaluation
Mean Scores
18 Fig. 2 Students self-evaluation
Mean Scores
19Differences among the groups
20DISCUSSION
21Differences in the effects of SEL
- L group children got stronger merit in SEL
classes. - As the first-order treatment for students
success in the school, SEL classes may be more
effective for quasi at-risk Japanese children. - Learning with H M group children in SEL classes
created an optimal learning environment for L
group children (observational analyses).
22Length of the SEL program implementation
- The length of the implementation period was 8
months. - The longer the implementation period the more
effective the SEL program is for children. - Partnership between the kindergarten and the
elementary school, and between the elementary
school and the junior high school is essential
for the success of SEL.
23Frequency of the exercises
- Is one or two exercise per month is enough or not
for the success of the SEL? - The ideal frequency of the exercises is at least
one exercise per week. - Moral Education, Classroom Activities,
Comprehensive Studies, and Morning Meetings can
be integrated into SEL programs.
24The program coordinators role
- The second author played the role of the
program coordinator. - -Building a curriculum of the SEL program
- -Preparing the materials
- -Implementing the program in the existing
curriculum areas - -Training new classroom teachers
- -Coordinating classroom schedules
- -Proposing an evaluation system
25The training system for classroom teachers
- The teachers showed first a little perplexity.
- The coordinator ran two school-wide workshops
before and middle of the implementation. - A sub-coordinator in each grade may enhance
classroom teachers involvement into the
implementation.
26Issues in the future
- Experimental design should be applied to examine
the individual differences in the effects of SEL. - Behavioral outcomes, such as academic achievement
and adaptive behaviors in the school and at home,
need to be considered. - The whole environment around the children should
be collaborated with each other school, family,
community.