Pretend play may be beneficial for young children's social development. However, empirical results to date are inconsistent and limited, which is partly due to a lack of psychometrically sound measures for children's social pretend play competence. The current study aimed to compare and validate different assessment methods for children's social…

Teaching students with externalising problem behaviours is difficult for teachers, as it challenges the relationship that teachers engage in with their students. In this study, effects of Key2Teach on externalising and social-emotional problem behaviours and the mediating role of conflict in the teacher-student relationship were studied using a…

Research Finding: The study aimed to explore the relations between the natural process of parents' and children's general and socio-emotional discourse during and following shared book reading (SBR) interactions at home and preschoolers' socio-emotional competence (causes of emotion; empathy; prosocial attitude; and social coherence). Results…

Schools can play a significant role in promoting timely access to mental health services by utilizing proactive approaches to identifying and supporting students' social, emotional, and behavioral needs. However, recent data suggest that few schools in the USA are taking such proactive approaches. Given that implementation of school-based programs…

Through the lenses of Invitational Education (Purkey & Novak, 2008, 2016) and social emotional learning (SEL) advocated by Elias et al., (2016), the researchers sought to answer an overarching question: 'How can schools create an environment that invites SEL into the suburban classroom?' The analyzed data identified challenges exist when…

There is growing national and international concern about the mental health of children and young people, and in countries such as England there is now a political and policy commitment to developing whole-school approaches to mental health. This paper presents new evidence on how pupils' mental health is being addressed in schools using learning…

The combination of verbal and nonverbal channels provided by the arts can offer valuable opportunities not only for students with language delays but also for English language learners. More generally, arts enrichment may help to bridge the gap that often separates home and school for children from racial and ethnic minority backgrounds. The arts…

Adolescents in Panama face multiple challenges to their sexual health, rights and well-being such as high rates of teenage pregnancy (~30% of all pregnancies), increased HIV infections and sexual violence. In the absence of sufficient evidence-based data and an ongoing debate in Panamanian society about how to approach "adolescents' health…

Responding to the social, relational and emotional needs of school students is now squarely within the purview of schools, teachers and school support staff. The everyday work of teachers may involve grappling with student disengagement, especially in regards to students who have experienced past trauma. It is a problem that presents ongoing…

Schools can play a significant role in promoting timely access to mental health services by utilizing proactive approaches to identifying and supporting students' social, emotional, and behavioral needs. However, recent data suggest that few schools in the United States are taking such proactive approaches. Given that implementation of…

As educators have become increasingly aware of the impact of trauma on the school success of children and youth, they have been investing in professional development about how to address childhood trauma in schools. However, evaluation to support evidence of impact are lacking. This Guide describes how to integrate trauma-informed approaches into…

When "Sesame Street" launched in 1969, it was the first show to attempt to teach young children school-readiness skills with catchy songs and playful Muppets. Not only did it revolutionize the children's media landscape, the program sparked a love of learning among generations of children all over the world. For "Revisiting the…

This ground-breaking book proves that Project Based Learning (PBL) does work in early childhood classrooms. Most common understandings of PBL in Pre-K through 2nd grade are rife with assumptions, misconceptions, and perceived barriers that have prevented its widespread implementation. "Implementing Project Based Learning in Early…

Learners from underserved backgrounds tend to show lower levels of college readiness (ACT, 2016a; ACT, 2018). In part to address these disparities, the authors investigated growth in social and emotional (SE) skills in a cohort of largely Hispanic, high-poverty students who participated in GEAR UP. GEAR UP is a discretionary federal grant program…

Guided by the school climate and social-emotional learning literature, this study explored math self-concept in relation to student-teacher relationships and students' sense of school belonging while accounting for sex differences. Participants included two random subsamples (Ns = 532; 558) of 15-year-old Canadian students who participated in the…