SEL & Mindfulness-Based Interventions with Technology

Summer 2022 | Social Emotional Development | Inspire innovation in the field of Applied Learning | 1. Connect creators to researchers 2. Build interdisciplinary capacity 3. Bridge industry to academia 4.Potential impact and effectiveness of a solution

Domain/Topic and (General) Learning Problem: We seek to address depression and anxiety in children (grades K-12) through an app that promotes socio-emotional learning with mindfulness-based interventions. Our stakeholder noted that depression and anxiety negatively impact academic achievement due to issues like stress and low self-esteem. Technologies have been found to engage today’s children with the advent and proliferation of mobile devices. Moreover, Chadi, Weisbaum, Vo, and Kohut (2020) claim that mindfulness can be faithfully replicated with the added benefit of increased access to services (p. 174). Unfortunately, at the present time, there does not exist a widespread integration of socio-emotional learning with mindfulness-based technological interventions in educational settings. Therefore, we propose the following problem question: How can technology be used in tandem with a mental health curriculum to promote student wellness and academic achievement?

Stakeholder: Dr. Tatum Stein, a high school counselor in New Jersey and adjunct professor at Rider University in Psychology, has served on the Child Study Team and worked with parents and guardians to bridge the gap between home and school in various districts. She has expertise in developing and implementing socio-emotional learning curricula (i.e., lowering students’ anxiety and depression through opportunities for self-awareness and empowerment in choices that effect lasting change); one such curriculum, HYPE (Helping Youth Process Emotions), used yoga, mindfulness and technology.

Learning phenomenon (i.e. observations): Students have experienced elevated levels of depression and anxiety in the U.S. during the pandemic, a nation that already has one of the highest rates for both. Commonly observed forms of anxiety in students include test anxiety; generalized anxiety was also observed in one study as impacting students as young as six years of age, according to our stakeholder. We also saw these students responding sullenly to stressful situations, becoming non verbal in response. Despite this, we observed students’ self-awareness grow when they could self-soothe; examples included practicing breathing exercises and positive self-talk learned in HYPE to lessen anxiety before a test.

Inferences (i.e., reasoned positions from stakeholder): Regarding academic performance, we inferred that depression could hinder concentration, while anxiety could limit a child’s ability to make clear decisions on tasks, like adding and subtracting, in states of elevated stress. Regarding socioemotional health, we inferred that observed elementary-school students struggle to identify and analyze emotions; hence, they struggle to respond appropriately to these feelings. We reached these inferences through educator observations that students would put their heads on desks, breathe rapidly during tests, and/or not respond to teacher attempts to intervene, along with student questionnaires confirming panic, giving up, or not knowing what they felt. With this in mind, we inferred that thoughtful technology integration could help students to lower anxiety, relay their feelings constructively, and raise academic achievement; we arrived at this based on the prevalence of and preoccupation with phone usage in children of all ages.

Characteristics of and constraints on intended audience: Students were impacted heavily by the pandemic and come from struggling families, with many facing both homelessness and food insecurity. Constraints include limited access to technology at home, aside from mobile devices, geographic location (i.e., zip code) that could impose associated stressors or traumas, and socioeconomic status that could limit students’ access to reliable internet service.

Learning Objectives: A user-centered design is used; the educator assesses each student’s needs using data from a pre-assessment. Learners must first identify and write about emotions, then use that awareness to choose appropriate strategies to address said emotions to lower anxiety and depression:

1. SWBAT describe and write about their emotions, anxiety, and depressive levels using an online journal at the start of each school day. (Engage - Contextualize: Have students watch media portraying a student journaling their feelings and choosing self -soothing strategies.)

2. SWBAT identify and utilize coping strategies to lower their anxiety and depressive levels. (See - Discernment: Compare and contrast journaling feelings versus internalizing feelings.)

Learning Goals & Outcomes: Students will learn how to identify and discuss emotions to become more self aware. We would like to use technology to assist students in this process of identifying their emotions. We would also like to support students by using technology as a communication tool with parents/caregivers to bridge the gap between home and school. Through this experience, students can:

● Engage (Interest): List, draw, or use emojis to depict emotions using a Web 2.0 application

● Say (Explanations): Ask classmates what they think would be good strategies for dealing with certain emotions, for example, taking deep breaths when angry

● See (familiarity): Review situations during school/home life that elicit high levels of anxiety

● Do (Skills): Select strategies that allow self-soothing of emotions with the help of technology.