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Validating frameworks for understanding classroom processes that contribute to student learning and development is important to advance the scientific study of teaching. This article presents one such framework, Teaching through Interactions, which posits that teacher-student interactions are a central driver for student learning and organizes teacher-student interactions into three major domains. Results provide evidence that across 4,341 preschool to elementary classrooms (1) teacher-student classroom interactions comprise distinct emotional, organizational, and instructional domains; (2) the three-domain latent structure is a better fit to observational data than alternative one- and two-domain models of teacher-student classroom interactions; and (3) the three-domain structure is the best-fitting model across multiple data sets.

The present paper examines if developmental pathways for students at risk for academic failure can be improved through social and emotional learning (SEL). Specifically, we test this hypothesis by ...

Supportive classroom environments are associated with improved student outcomes, particularly during early adolescence (ages 10–14 years). Applying Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory to further investigate the microsystem of the school (Bronfenbrenner and Morris in The ecology of human development, Harvard University Press, Boston, 1998), we examined how student and teacher perceptions of classroom support relate to one another and identified which ecological characteristics impact student and teacher perceptions of support. Using data from 35 grade 5–6 classrooms, we examined parallel models of students’ and teachers’ perceptions of classroom support as a function of individual-, classroom- and school-level characteristics. Students’ perceptions varied substantially between students in the same classroom, and differences between schools accounted for important variability in students’ perceptions. In contrast, teachers’ perceptions showed no between-school variability; all variability in teachers’ perceptions could be attributed to varying experiences of teachers in the same school. Additionally, students’ perceptions of support were significantly and positively associated with teachers’ perceptions of support. Taken together, results suggest that educational interventions targeting classroom processes should be enacted at the school level and assessed by both teacher and student in an attempt to capture the breadth of perceptions and optimise outcomes among early adolescents.

We created the Recognizing Excellence in Learning and Teaching (RELATE) Tool for Special Education Classroom Observation to fill the need for a well-researched, observational tool that provides a m...

Students with Emotional and Behavioural Disorders (EBD) have the poorest academic and social outcomes across the general and special education student populations, and are among the most likely to ...

Despite teacher self-efficacy and burnout’s influence on student outcomes, little research has been conducted on teacher self-efficacy and burnout in residential treatment schools. This study attem...

Teacher–student interactions contribute to the quality of the classroom environment. Although numerous measures of these interactions exist, few target the affective expression and reception of interactions directly. To fill this need, we detail the piloting and psychometric validation a self-report measure, the Emotion-Focused Interactions (EFI) Scale. The EFI is reliable as a one-factor measure, with strong positive loadings and adequate internal consistency. Confirmatory factor analysis rendered the EFI valid, test–retest reliability was adequate, and concurrent validity was significant. Results suggest the EFI has good psychometric properties as a measure of affective exchanges among teachers and students. Implications for use and further study are discussed.

Medically underserved US immigrants are at an increased risk for death from preventable or curable cancers due to economic, cultural, and/or linguistic barriers to medical care. The purpose of this study was to describe the evaluation of the pilot study of the Healthy Eating for Life (HE4L) English as a second language curriculum. The Reach, Effectiveness Adoption, Implementation, Maintenance (RE-AIM) model was used to design a mixed-methods approach to the evaluation of the HE4L curriculum. Successful implementation was dependent upon enthusiastic teacher and manager support of the curriculum, teachers' ability to flexibly apply the curriculum to meet student needs, and researcher provision of curriculum workbooks. HE4L can be implemented successfully in various adult education settings to teach healthy eating behaviors and English language principles. Scale-up of HE4L may depend on the development of an online version of the curriculum to avoid the costs associated with printing and distributing curriculum materials.

How educators and students process and respond to emotions can either enhance or impede the development of the whole child. Social and emotional learning (SEL) refers to the processes of developing social and emotional competencies, which depend on individuals’ capacity to recognize, understand, and manage emotions (i.e., emotional intelligence or EI). Consensus across disciplines about the importance of EI highlights the need to advance the science of how to teach SEL. RULER, an evidence-based approach to teaching EI, provides an educational framework that encompasses a set of practices for comprehensive SEL integration across a school or district. In this article, we describe RULER, explain how it teaches EI, and summarize evidence of its effectiveness.

There is an absence of observation-based tools designed to evaluate teaching in special education classrooms. Evaluations derived from classroom observations are integral to the accountability process, adding value to understanding teaching and learning by providing a lens into the classroom that test scores cannot capture. The present paper systematically examined existing classroom observation tools, identifying constructs measured and noting elements unique to special education classrooms. Results demonstrate that most extant tools tap into three primary categories of teacher behaviours, but overlook the role paraprofessionals play as well as teacher professional behaviours. Taken together, results reflect the need for a tool designed specifically for special education classrooms. Limitations and implications for practice and policy are discussed.

Even the most junior Warfighters must effectively interact and negotiate with locals from communities that do not share their religious beliefs, social perspectives or customs. These cultural differences introduce a layer of uncertainty into chaotic operational contexts that are marked by moments of intense stress, and often contribute to strong emotional responses such as anxiety or anger. Unchecked, these emotional responses can escalate and lead Warfighters to make judgments and decisions they might not otherwise make. In high stakes situations, even the slightest mistake may have tragic consequences; thus, a need exists to equip Warfighters with skills that allow them to recognize/regulate their emotions. Emotional Intelligence (EI) “is the ability to monitor one's own and other's feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them and to use this information to guide one's thinking and actions” [1] . Learning effective strategies to manage our emotions is critical for laying a strong foundation for the development of positive relationships [2,3] . Being able to effectively build positive relationships in diverse settings is a key attribute of cross cultural competence that may be improved through EI training. By practicing emotion recognition/regulation strategies, individuals will begin to replace ineffective decision-making with productive responses to challenging situations. In order to understand how emotions can influence decision making and social judgment, various moderating factors need to be considered, including cultural, group, and individual differences in emotional recognition/regulation [4] . We provide a brief overview of the operational need, define the basic tenets of EI, and describe how this approach could be implemented within an existing military training setting. We describe how emotion recognition and regulation skills would be exercised and evaluated and list potential benefits of using immersive training for skill development. Finally, we conclude with recommendations for future research and development in this area.

Role-play scenarios have been considered a successful learning space for children to develop their social and emotional abilities. In this paper, we investigate whether socially assistive robots in role-playing settings are as effective with small groups of children as they are with a single child, and whether individual factors such as gender, grade level (first vs. second), perception of the robots (peer vs. adult), and empathy level (low vs. high) play a role in these two interaction contexts. We conducted a three-week repeated exposure experiment where 40 children interacted with socially assistive robotic characters that acted out interactive stories around words that contribute to expanding children's emotional vocabulary. Our results showed that although participants who interacted alone with the robots recalled the stories better than participants in the group condition, no significant differences were found in children's emotional interpretation of the narratives. With regard to individual differences, we found that a single child setting appeared more appropriate to first graders than a group setting, empathy level is an important predictor for emotional understanding of the narratives, and children's performance varies depending on their perception of the robots (peer vs. adult) in the two conditions.

As research on robotic tutors increases, it becomes more relevant to understand whether and how robots will be able to keep students engaged over time. In this paper, we propose an algorithm to monitor engagement in small groups of children and trigger disengagement repair interventions when necessary. We implemented this algorithm in a scenario where two robot actors play out interactive narratives around emotional words and conducted a field study where 72 children interacted with the robots three times in one of the following conditions: control (no disengagement repair), targeted (interventions addressing the child with the highest disengagement level) and general (interventions addressing the whole group). Surprisingly, children in the control condition had higher narrative recall than in the two experimental conditions, but no significant differences were found in the emotional interpretation of the narratives. When comparing the two different types of disengagement repair strategies, participants who received targeted interventions had higher story recall and emotional understanding, and their valence after disengagement repair interventions increased over time.

We present a comprehensive framework that identifies a number of factors that impact human-agent team building, including human, agent, and environmental factors. This framework integrates existing empirical work in organization behavior, non-technical training, and human-agent interaction to support successful human-agent operations. We conclude by discussing implications and next steps to evaluate and expand our framework with the aim of guiding future attempts to create efficient human-agent teams and improve mission outcomes.

The skills of emotional intelligence, such as recognizing emotions in the self and others, understanding the causes and consequence of emotions, and effectively regulating the experience and expression of emotional responses, are essential for children’s success in school and life. Yet, many children arrive at school lacking these skills, which can impede them from reaching their full potential. This chapter describes RULER, a Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) SELect approach, to illustrate how the teaching and learning of emotional intelligence can be integrated into the core academic curricula. RULER uses multiple tools to nurture five interdependent skills: recognizing, understanding, labeling, expressing, and regulating emotions. The chapter focuses primarily on emotion regulation skills and on how the tools that RULER uses foster their development. The promise of formative assessments to enhance the teaching and learning of emotional intelligence is also discussed.

Robot assistive technology is becoming increasingly prevalent. Despite the growing body of research in this area, the role of type of interaction (i.e., small groups versus individual interactions) on effectiveness of interventions is still unclear. In this paper, we explore a new direction for socially assistive robotics, where multiple robotic characters interact with children in an interactive storytelling scenario. We conducted a between-subjects repeated interaction study where a single child or a group of three children interacted with the robots in an interactive narrative scenario. Results show that although the individual condition increased participant’s story recall abilities compared to the group condition, the emotional interpretation of the story content seemed more dependent on the difficulty level rather than the study condition. Our findings suggest that, despite the type of interaction, interactive narratives with multiple robots are a promising approach to foster children’s development of social-related skills.