Poster #120 - Virtual Social and Emotional Learning Programming During the COVID-19 Pandemic for Elementary School Students

• In Event: Poster Session 06

Abstract

Approximately 50 million U.S. students (grades K-12) experienced school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic, where many were negatively impacted (Zviedrite et al., 2021). Students were stripped away from their school environment, the place where they could practice and achieve social and emotional skills, which are critical for healthy functioning (Chaabane et al., 2021; Imran et al., 2020). Lack of peer interactions, structure and routine can increase stress among young students and present greater risk for physical and mental health outcomes as well as learning loss (Bao et al., 2020; Skar & Heubner, 2021; Varghese & Natsuki, 2021). Thus, providing social and emotional learning (SEL) in school settings during the pandemic has been a priority for educators, families, and researchers (Kuhfeld et al., 2020; Zieher et al., 2021)
This study presents virtual SEL programming that was implemented and evaluated during the pandemic (Spring 2021) with six kindergarten and 1st grade classrooms at an elementary school in Northern California. Community-based participatory research was applied, and while collaborating closely with school leaders and six classroom teachers, key areas of social and emotional competencies (e.g., impulse control, emotion knowledge, perspective-taking, empathy) and implementational methods were established that were direct reflections of teaching and learning during the pandemic. To foster peer interactions and individualized attention–two major concerns raised by teachers–trained Psychology undergraduates (SEL Coaches) provided 12 weeks of multimodal SEL lessons (e.g., interactive readings, discussions, hands-on activities, and mindfulness practices), which were presented weekly in 30-40 min zoom breakout room sessions (4:1 student to SEL Coach ratio).
Due to school closures, evaluation of this virtual SEL programming was limited to data collected from teachers. Likert-scale questionnaires, utilized to examine the teacher's perspective on the impact of the program, were overwhelmingly positive (M = 4.94/5; SD = .02) (see Table 1). Among the 20 individual responses, from open-ended questions designed to gather qualitative data of teachers’ perspective of the virtual SEL, three major themes emerged: (1) the positive impact observed (32%), (2) contentment for virtual SEL (48%), and (3) desire for extension of the program (20%) (see Table 2). Positive interactions, hands-on activities, routine/structure, and inclusion of all learners were most mentioned as positive aspects of the program, while desire for extension of the program, such as inclusion of higher grades or longer duration of SEL, were shared as needs improvement.
A virtual SEL consisting of small group zoom sessions provided by externally trained personnel was implemented during COVID-19 pandemic (Spring 2021). Results from both quantitative and qualitative evaluations demonstrated a positive impact of virtual SEL, suggesting that such community participatory action research can be an effective way for supporting social and emotional health of young students in times of crisis (Afifi et al, 2020; Imran et al., 2020; NASP 2016; Varghese & Natsuki, 2021). As schools begin to reopen, many programs have turned to blended learning, therefore variations of online SEL can continue to support school systems and provide a chance to further explore the impact of online SEL among young students.

Authors

• Graciela Urias, San Francisco State University
  Presenting Author

• Jae Hee Paik, San Francisco State University

• Rita Rodriguez, San Francisco State University