Situational Socio-Emotional Skills Among Finnish High School Students

• In Event: Investigating Optimal Learning Moment to Enhance Student Engagement and Social Emotional Leaning

Abstract

Objectives and Theoretical Framework
The present study examined students’ situational socio-emotional skills using the conceptualization from OECD socio-emotional skills framework (cooperation, resilience, curiosity, and grit) (Kankaras & Suarez-Alvarez, 2019; Martin & Marsh, 2008) in association with students’ situational confidence, optimal learning moments (OLM, e.g., experiences of skills, interest, and challenge; Schneider et al., 2016), and feelings of giving up.

Methods and Data Sources
The data was analyzed using multilevel modeling, and the associations were examined both at the situational (within) and individual student (between) level. There were 282 (3878 beeps, 63% female) Finnish high school students from the Helsinki metropolitan area. The data was collected using experience sampling method (ESM) during science classes. During this time, the preprogrammed randomized beep schedule was designed so that 3 beeps occurred during science classes (resulting in approximately 15 science beeps per person during the data gathering period).
The final model is presented in Figure 1. The results for the within-level showed, that students’ situational socio-emotional skills (e.g., collaboration, resilience, grit, and curiosity) were positively associated with students’ optimal learning moments and confidence while working in the classroom (Figure 1). Situational collaboration, grit, and curiosity were negatively associated with feelings of giving up; however on the other hand, situational resilience was positively associated with feelings of giving up. This may be explained by the fact that situational resilience was measured with the amount of effort students were putting in the task at hand; when students were putting a high effort in at task, they were probably starting to considere giving up at some point.

Results
The results for the between-level showed, that students who often collaborated with other students in science classrooms, often experienced high confidence in their own achievement, and seldom felt like giving up. Students who typically felt high resilience, grit, and curiosity also often experienced OLM in science classes. Moreover, students who typically experienced high grit, often felt confident in science classrooms, and students who often experienced high curiosity, seldom felt like giving up in science classrooms.

Significance
The present study was among the first to examine students’ key situational socio-emotional skills and their associations with students’ positive and negative learning experiences. The results stressed the importance of socio-emotional skills occurring directly during learning moments. In the future, it would be important to create interventions which would help in promoting students’ socio-emotional skills in different learning situations. The present findings focused on science classes, however, more studies would be needed to examine similar associations in other domains.

Authors

• Katja Upadyaya, University of Helsinki

• Katariina Salmela-Aro, Cicero Learning, University of Helsinki