SEE+: An effective socio-emotional training programme for primary-aged children

• In Event: Poster Session 12
  In Poster Session: PS 12 Topic - Social Cognition

Abstract

The ability to judge the emotional states and intensions of others is a critical life skill acquired during childhood. Without this skill children misjudge social interactions and can either fail to understand the context in which a situation is evolving or what an appropriate set of actions for them to take might be. Consequently, socio-emotional education is part of many national primary curricula (Durlak et al., 2011).

New technologies provide a novel way to deliver this curriculum. We explored the use of an interactive computerised, classroom-based learning activity, SEE+, in supporting and enhancing 7- to 10-year-olds socio-emotional and theory of mind judgements. SEE+ delivers components of the UK Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE) curriculum associated with the development of children’s self and others’ perspective taking (Saxe, Carey & Kanwisher, 2004). The effectiveness of SEE+ was evaluated through a randomised control trial with both “active” (Stop & Thing; S&T) – a math and science learning activity) and “teaching as usual” (TAU) control conditions.

In total, 5,620 children from Year 3 (7- to 8-year-olds) and Year 5 (9- to 10-year-olds) took part in the current study. SEE+ learning activities are structured into four phases of learning: (i) observation of an animation involving four virtual characters interacting in a social conflict or dilemma, (ii) comprehension of social actions and interactions between the characters using multiple choice questions, (iii) reflection on the characters’ emotions as they interact with each other, and (iv) observation of how the characters resolve the conflict or dilemma they find themselves in through prosocial behaviors. Teachers were asked to deliver SEE+ activities three times a week for 10 weeks. Each activity lasted 12 minutes and could be used as a springboard for further discussion if desired.
We compared post-intervention performance on pen-and-paper tasks with either cartoon faces as used in SEE+ or real faces, which required recognising emotions or theory of mind (ToM) between the three groups of children (SEE+, S&T or TAU). There was a significant main effect of intervention condition F(2, 5579) = 10.55, p < .001, p2 = .004, with children in SEE+ performing significantly better overall than children in the Control groups (Table 1). While there was no interaction with type of task (emotion recognition or ToM) the main effect of intervention was modulated by type of faces and Year, F(2, 5579) = 4.48, p = .011, p2 = .002. The three-way interaction indicated that children in SEE+ outperformed the two control groups for cartoon faces in both Years, while for real faces children in SEE+ outperformed children in S&T, but not TAU, in Year 3, and there was no difference between intervention groups in Year 5.

In summary, children who used the SEE+ activities showed better performance on socio-emotional judgments and theory of mind than controls. Some evidence of transfer to different face stimuli was observed in Year 3. These results suggest that SEE+ is an effective and economical way of delivering parts of the PSHE curriculum or equivalent socio-emotional training.

Group Authors

UnLocke Team

Authors

• Sveta Mayer, University College London (UCL)
  Presenting Author

• Hannah Wilkinson, Birkbeck University of London
  Non-Presenting Author

• Andrew Tolmie, UCL Institute of Education
  Non-Presenting Author

• Kaska Porayska-Pomsta, UCL Institute of Education
  Non-Presenting Author

• Iroise Dumontheil, Birkbeck University of London
  Non-Presenting Author

• Denis Mareschal, Birkbeck, Universty of London
  Non-Presenting Author