This article describes the development and assessment of teaching strategies to enhance student professional identity development by shifting the pedagogical focus from content knowledge to the practice of interpersonal and conflict resolution skills, and reflection to create awareness, observe growth, and find meaning.

Professional training plans play a pivotal role in higher education institutions, as they significantly impact employability, graduate performance, and meeting labour market demands. These aspects serve as crucial indicators in the selection processes for prospective candidates in higher education institutions and in accrediting the quality of…

Social and emotional learning (SEL) programs are increasingly embraced by the global humanitarian sector as a potential strategy for supporting refugee children's psychosocial adaptation and learning. However, little evidence is available on the effectiveness of such SEL programs in humanitarian settings. Even less is known about whether such SEL…

Designed by a leading public health administrator, the Violence Prevention Curriculum for Adolescents tries to raise teens' violence threshold by creating a nonviolent classroom ethos and extending students' repertoire of responses to anger. An ideal schoolwide program teaches social skills and features peer-mentoring and conflict resolution…

This document presents a critical analysis of two of the most popular types of programs that schools have implemented to prevent violence among students: (1) mediation programs, and (2) conflict resolution curricula. While both promote interpersonal skills necessary to prevent violence, their effectiveness has not been evaluated adequately. These…

This action research project examined the impact of a social skills curriculum on the behavior of targeted second, fourth, and fifth graders. Problems in student behavior were documented through an analysis of records of peer mediation, student referrals, and staff surveys. The intervention consisted of a social skills curriculum, "Second…

Concern for disruptive behavior in the classroom has been an ongoing issue at the local, state, and national level. This report describes a program for improving behavior and academic success through a caring classroom. The targeted population consisted of elementary students in growing rural and urban communities at three different elementary…

Many early childhood teachers report an increase in children's use of aggressive means to work out disputes, often as a result of such influences as the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fad. This article offers suggestions for helping children learn ways to resolve conflicts and for creating a conflict resolution curriculum. (LB)

Presents a case study of efforts by teachers in a large urban school district in Wisconsin to address problems of student violence by using peace-education strategies, describing district-wide initiatives, summarizing curricular reforms at the elementary and secondary levels, and explaining how urban teachers are teaching alternative…

Although the "what" of schooling has become clearer through a convergence of research findings, educators still do not understand the "hows" of effectively using that knowledge to make necessary changes. This paper's objectives are to argue the necessity of fundamental changes in the patterns of schooling (the "whys") and to present a conceptual…

This study implemented a physical education curriculum focusing on positive social skills in two urban elementary schools. Results showed an immediate increase in student leadership and independent conflict resolution, increased class time devoted to activity participation, and decreased time spent off task or on organizational tasks. Similar…

This book provides a multicultural curriculum that can be used alone or as a supplemental program for language arts and social studies instruction in kindergarten through grade 6. It uses the pluralistic values of the students' heritages to develop their social and problem-solving abilities. Each of the 30 units contains quotations that exemplify…

To increase the social skills of second graders, a 32-week peace education curriculum was taught. All 135 students were from the same ethnically diverse suburban school located in a mostly upper-middle class neighborhood. Pre-curriculum observations, interviews, and teacher questionnaires demonstrated that students did not show proper respect for…

Recent research has shown that school bullying is a pervasive phenomenon. With increasing awareness of the problem, schools are learning to address school bullying. A series of investigations in 23 schools over a 2.5 year period was conducted in Sheffield, England, one of the largest monitored interventions to date. This book examines the nature…

Intended for teachers working to improve social skills for young children K-3 who are moving from the self-centered period of early childhood into the other-centered world of the classroom, this book presents a curriculum of social skills, a teaching methodology, and specific lessons drawn from the experience of classroom teachers. The book is…