It is great to see programs in schools that bring positive outcomes to students. However, most programs that happen at school stay at school. Petr Slovák and his team of researchers (2016) argue that utilizing technology could be the answer. He emphasizes the need to bridge the gap between social and emotional learning (SEL) at school and at home by creating consistency in learning and language.

This suggests that a technology tool that is used both at home and in school could offer some tangible benefits. Slovák suggests that an integrated SEL program using technology could decrease conflict and stress at home and increase quality time while increasing school engagement and decreasing school-related anxiety.

Moshi and Positive Family Outcomes

Moshi believes that quality programming can be used both at home and in the classroom. In fact, Moshi is working hard to create accessible school and classroom curriculums while maintaining an easy-to-use app for families. By offering programming that both teachers and parents can use and talk about, they are bringing an integrated SEL model into the discussion. Moshi also funds research to better understand the impact of this kind of curriculum. 

“One of the goals of our research team here at Moshi is to offer evidence for supporting learning for the whole child, not just the student or the son/daughter,” says Dr. Chanda Murphy, a lead researcher for Moshi. “We want to understand how mindfulness-based social and emotional learning can extend beyond the classroom and into the home.” Another benefit to using Moshi both in school and at home, she adds, is “so children can receive consistent messaging in tools for managing stress and emotions, as well as have access to the stories and characters they have been introduced to in either the classroom or at home.”

Download this free resource of SEL activities to do at home!

Reference

Slovák, P., Rowan, K., Frauenberger, C., Gilad-Bachrach, R., Doces, M., Smith, B., Kamb, R., & Fitzpatrick, G. (2016, February). Scaffolding the scaffolding: Supporting children’s social-emotional learning at home. In Proceedings of the 19th ACM Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work & Social Computing (pp. 1751-1765).

Allison Henry