Collaborative Discussion and Its Potential to Support Social-Emotional Skills

The Covid-19 pandemic has significantly impacted all walks of our society, including the field of education. Its multifaceted effects have drawn educator and stakeholder attention to the importance of social-emotional learning (SEL). Yoder et al. (2020) highlight that 83.8% of US states indicate SEL as a higher priority since the Covid-19 outbreak. This finding demonstrates the necessity of a practical teaching strategy to support students\u27 SEL skills. The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) identifies five core SEL competencies: self-management, responsible decision-making, relationship skills, social awareness, and self-awareness. Furthermore, CASEL emphasizes classroom discussions as an interactive teaching practice that facilitates students’ social-emotional skill development. Collaborative Reasoning (CR) discussions are class discussion forms that include protocols and reflection prompts. In CR, students practice setting up goals; then reflect on their collaboration as a group. Additionally, CR norms align with SEL goals. Several studies have proven the effectiveness of CR in enhancing students’ critical thinking (Kim et al., 2007) and reasoning skills (Clark et al., 2003; Nguyen-Jahiel, et al., 2007; Sun et al. 2015). However, to our knowledge, there is no prior study exploring the potential of CR to support students\u27 social-emotional skills. This preliminary study involved forty-six fourth-grade students in northwestern Montana. Each student completed pre-and post-survey questionnaires assessing student perceptions of social-emotional learning and attitudes towards the categories of reading and writing; and science and social studies. This study specifically focused on identifying perceptions of group social awareness during a series of CR discussions. A paired sample t-test was conducted to compare student perceptions before and after their involvement in CR discussions. In addition to the quantitative analysis, eight discussion transcripts were observed to identify the students’ perceptions of the group social awareness. Based on CASEL indicators, students’ reflections regarding CR were also analyzed. From the initial quantitative findings, we found no evidence of a difference in students’ perceptions of social awareness before and after CR discussions (p \u3e .05, t = 1.27, df = 45). Furthermore, we are 95% confident (95% CI) that the true mean difference will be between -0.2912833 and 1.2912833, with the mean of differences 0.5. However, contrary to quantitative findings, thematic analyses indicated that CR helped students: reflect on and take others’ perspectives (3 occurrences), recognize strengths in others (6 occurrences), and demonstrate empathy and compassion (2 occurrences). This study is expected to lead to a better understanding of how to integrate SEL into classroom practices. A follow-up study will be conducted to examine how CR discussions can be utilized to facilitate the development of the five SEL competencies within students