With time, an increasing level of importance has been given to social-emotional learning (SEL) and STEM education in schools across the world. As Hind Louali French School of Austin – Ecole Jean-Jacques Rousseau says, even though STEM and SEL seemingly have quite different areas of focus, they do go hand in hand to create a well-rounded learning experience for students. By incorporating STEM learning into the curriculum, education can even help students to develop valuable SEL skills like empathy, creativity, collaboration, critical thinking and a growth mindset.
Hind Louali discusses how STEM and SEL work together to support growth
Encouraging STEM education from a young age is vital to guide children’s explorations and discoveries of how the world works and providing them with the relevant vocabulary. There are numerous ways educators can teach STEM concepts to young children. For instance, teachers can use building blocks to encourage young children to build complex structures. They may even use pulleys to help them to learn how to solve problems using fundamental engineering and physics skills. However, such problem-solving skills truly shines when supported with social skills. Apart from gaining theoretical knowledge and practical skills, children also must learn to manage stress, practice impulse control, and work as a team while tackling STEM subjects, thereby making social emotional learning important to STEM education.
Social emotional learning, or SEL, implies to various interpersonal skills, ranging from conflict resolution and impulse control to responsibility and gratitude. Such qualities are vital to enable kids to build and maintain positive relationships.
STEM learning is technical in nature and allows kids to explore ideas while they make things. In the end, there would be some kind of concrete physical object or action, whether be it measuring the size of a football, or figuring out if rocks sink or float. On the other hand, social emotional skills are not always tangible or obvious. Rather, they can be observed in the behaviour and attitude of a child, like developing empathy for others, managing emotions, making responsible decisions, having healthy self-identity and so on. Teaching social emotional learning goes beyond creating any individual lesson plan or curriculum. Rather, it puts emphasis on modelling important social skills for children, supporting them to manage emotions and identify their feelings throughout the day in school.
SEL learning largely puts emphasis on five key competencies, which are self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, positive relationships and responsible decision making. As Hind Louali French School of Austin – Ecole Jean-Jacques Rousseau says, all of these elements are synergistic with skills, values, behaviours and attitudes important to STEM learning. For instance, having a sense of confidence, self-efficiency and growth mindset is vital for designing learning experiences that help young people develop a STEM-related identity. This is a STEM-specific way to think about self-awareness. Self-management, on the other hand, is critical to STEM learning as it impacts how a student decides how to respond to failure. To have a positive learning experience, they need to see failure as a learning opportunity.