Why Every Math Classroom Should Include Social and Emotional Learning
When children learn and teachers teach, there is more that happens than just the transfer of content knowledge and information. Schools are dynamic and social environments in which both learners and teachers continuously interact, make decisions, and adapt to new circumstances. Developing the skills to successfully navigate school (and later, work and community) environments is a continuous and complex process that requires careful instruction and ongoing support for positive emotional, social, and behavioral skill development. A commonly used term for the development of these specific sets of skills is Social and Emotional Learning, or SEL.
To support SEL in the classroom, it is important to first establish what this umbrella term encompasses. A commonly referenced framework developed by CASEL (2017) categorizes SEL skills across five major competencies.
Teachers can support the development of these competencies through stand-alone programs as well as through SEL integration into content-area instruction. It is critical that teachers are supported by their districts as they not only learn best practices for supporting SEL in their students but also explore and develop their own social, emotional, and behavioral capacities. For more on integrating SEL into instruction, see:
💡 Research Spotlight: Additional research on the economic benefits of SEL integration into education has demonstrated that the benefits of such integration outweigh the initial investment costs, with a reported 11:1 return for every dollar spent on SEL instruction (Dusenbury & Weissberg, 2017). Meta-analyses (analyses of multiple research studies) have shown that this high return on investment is due to the significant improvements in outcomes across several factors, ranging from academic achievement to reductions in bullying to improved workforce readiness (Durlak, et al., 2011; Taylor, Oberle, Durlak, & Weissberg, 2017).
Why is SEL important in mathematics?
SEL in math boosts math positivity. As children move from the elementary grades into the middle and high school years, it becomes increasingly important to ensure that their interest, attitudes, and confidence in mathematics remain high (Wigfield, et al., 2006). Attending to students’ social and emotional learning, specifically in mathematics learning contexts, has been shown to help students improve their math self-efficacy and attitudes toward math (Jones, Jones, & Vermette, 2009). Jones et al. (2009) conveyed that when teachers create a socially and emotionally supportive learning environment, there is a positive impact on student attitudes, behaviors, and academic performance. An SEL-conducive climate makes space for students to work with a diverse group of individuals (DeLay et al., 2016; Jones et al., 2009) and allows time for reflection.
SEL improves math achievement. SEL interventions have also been shown to improve performance and achievement in mathematics (DeLay et al., 2016; Jones et al., 2009). DeLay and associates, for example, conducted a relationship-building intervention in which students participated in 21 total activities across topics such as diversity and inclusion, problem-solving, critical thinking, and peer relationships. This intervention supports social and emotional learning by strengthening more positive peer influences in the classroom, reinforcing prosocial problem-solving strategies, and encouraging the resolution of divergent views. Through this intervention, students were found to be a more socially skilled group, allowing for peers to have greater influence over their fellow students’ mathematical performance improvement. Using teacher- rated report grades from the first quarter (the pre-test measure) and the fourth quarter (the post-test measure), the authors found that as students developed skills by working together with others of varying ability levels, academic advances occurred.
How can educators incorporate SEL into math instruction?
By implementing effective SEL interventions in daily activities, teachers allow children the opportunity to experience SEL competencies in different contexts (McClelland, Tominey, Schmitt, & Duncan, 2017). For example, mindfulness is one technique used in SEL training in which students practice focusing on their breathing and attentive listening skills to improve their executive functions (cognitive control abilities that organize, sequence, and regulate behaviors). Student participants in a mindfulness intervention — previously shown in adults to increase self-awareness, empathy, regulation of emotions, and other social and emotional skills — showed improvement in self-reported measures of well-being as well as in math performance (Schonert-Reichl et al., 2015).
The teacher should also be ready with questions to prompt student thought and discussion of both the mathematics and the social and emotional aspects of learning (Charles A. Dana Center at The University of Texas at Austin & The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning, 2016). Jones et al. (2017) provide examples of ways in which social and emotional competency instruction can be incorporated into the classroom, such as discussions in pairs or small groups, writing, and drawing, as well as increasing problem-solving skills by introducing problems related to everyday life.
Many state and national standards make connections, both directly and indirectly, between mathematical practices and social and emotional learning competencies. As an example, the mathematical practice of making sense of problems and persevering in solving them is complemented by several of the SEL competencies. By asking students to be aware of their strengths and what they know (self-awareness), to resist impulses and regulate their thoughts and behaviors (self-management), and to manage their time and energy toward a goal while appraising their work (self-management), students can improve their problem-solving strategies and be more successful when grappling with challenging problems.
What does SEL look like in action in a math curriculum?
Social and emotional learning objectives are integrated into every Reveal Math lesson, embedding the following strategies and techniques to help teachers and students build their social and emotional competencies. For example, Math Is… Mindset prompts appear in the student and teacher materials, keeping social and emotional learning at the top of students’ minds as they interact and discuss throughout the lesson.
Integrate — Social and emotional learning competencies are called out to support students as they build an understanding of concepts and proficiency with skills. For example, teachers are provided with questions that help guide discussions and support students’ ability to justify their thinking. As another example, students are presented with exercises in which they are shown several ways fictional students solved a problem and asked to take on others’ perspectives, explaining how problems can be solved in different ways.
Instruct — The teacher edition of Reveal Math presents opportunities for teachers to provide explicit guidance and instruction in SEL competencies. Reveal Math provides teachers with support to encourage students to understand their strengths, stay motivated, be persistent, and develop organizational thoughts and strategies.
Reflect — Students reflect on their learning and think metacognitively at key points in lessons. For example, students might be instructed to write about if they were feeling frustrated and how they overcame that frustration. Teachers can encourage students to think back on their learning and ask questions pertaining to how they feel about the topic and the knowledge they’ve obtained as part of the self-management SEL competency.
For more background on the importance of instructional routines, and more examples of routines in Reveal Math K-5, see the full Reveal Math K-5 Research Foundations.
About the Authors
Lanette Trowery, Ph.D. is the Senior Director of the McGraw Hill Learning Research and Strategy Team.
Lanette was in public education for more than 25 years, working as a university professor, site-based mathematics coach, elementary and middle school teacher, mathematics consultant, and a professional learning consultant, before coming to McGraw Hill in 2014. She earned her Master’s and Doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania.
Lanette’s team, Learning Research and Strategy, serves as the center of excellence for teaching and learning best practices. Her team conducts market, effectiveness, and efficacy research into products to provide insights and recommendations to product development. They collaborate across internal teams, external experts, and customers to establish guiding principles and frameworks to move from theory to practice.
Margaret Bowman is an Academic Designer in the Mathematics Department at McGraw Hill. Margaret earned her Bachelor of Science in Education from Ashland University with a teaching license in Middle Grades Education, and her Master of Education from Tiffin University. She was a middle school Math and Language Arts teacher for six years before joining the middle school team at McGraw Hill in 2012, writing and designing print and digital curriculum.
Margaret is also a Research Associate in the Research Laboratory for Digital Learning at The Ohio State University. She is nearing completion of a PhD in Educational Studies with an emphasis in Learning Technologies. Her past research and journal publications have focused on teachers’ value for using technology in the classroom and technology’s impact on student learning. Her current research examines how students’ use of technology can improve the value they have for mathematics and their expectations that they can succeed.
References
Charles A. Dana Center at The University of Texas at Austin & The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning. (2016). Integrating social and emotional learning and the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics: Describing an ideal classroom. Retrieved from https://www.insidemathematics.org/common-core- resources/mathematical-practice-standards/social-and-emotional-mathematics- learning.
Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL). (2017) Five Core Competencies of Social and Emotional Learning. Chicago, Author. Retrieved from http://www.casel.org/.
DeLay, D., Zhang, L., Hanish, L., Miller, C., Fabes, R., Martin, C., Kochel, K., & Updegraff, K. (2016). Peer influence on academic performance. Prevention Science, 17(8), 903–913.
Dusenbury, L., & Weissberg, R. P. (2017). Social emotional learning in elementary school: preparation for success. Education Digest, 83(1), 36.
Durlak, J., Weissberg, R., Dymnicki, A., Taylor, R. & Schellinger, K. (2011). The impact of enhancing students’ social and emotional learning: A meta-analysis of school-based universal interventions. Child Development, 82(1), 405–432.
Jones, J., Jones, K., & Vermette, P. (2009). Using social and emotional learning to foster academic achievement in secondary mathematics. American Secondary Education, 37(3), 4–9.
McClelland, M., Tominey, S., Schmitt, S., & Duncan, R. (2017). SEL interventions in early childhood. The Future of Children, 27(1), 33–47.
Schonert-Reichl, K., Oberle, E., Lawlor, M., Abbott, D., Thomson, K., Oberlander, T., & Diamond, A. (2015). Enhancing cognitive and social-emotional development through a simple-to-administer mindfulness-based school program for elementary school children: A randomized controlled trial. Developmental Psychology, 51(1), 52–66.
Taylor, R., Oberle, E., Durlak, J., & Weissberg, R. (2017). Promoting positive youth development through school-based social and emotional learning interventions. Child Development, 88(4), 1156–1171.
Wigfield, A., Eccles, J., Schiefele, U., Roeser, R., & Davis-Kean, P. (2006). Development of achievement motivation. In N. Eisenberg, W. Damon, & R. M. Lernern (Eds.), Handbook of child psychology: Vol. 3. Social, emotional, and personality development (6th ed., pp. 933–1002). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
