STEM-based principles and strategies to cultivate students' social and emotional learning

Abstract

Cultivating and developing the social-emotional abilities of students is a realistic educational requirement. Such cultivation includes the development of skills related to self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationships, as well as the ability to engage in responsive decision-making, with these skills, students will be equipped with the necessary character and key abilities to adapt to future society. To better understand how Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education can contribute to social and emotional learning (SEL), this study designs a STEM course named "The Yellow Riverbank Is Beautiful—Bridge and Lanzhou". By designing and delivering the pedagogical approach of this STEM project as well as assessing the students, the study proposes the principles of STEM education to develop students' SEL. These principles include: creating contexts focusing on real-world, developing social emotions through disciplinary practices, establishing interpersonal relationships of equality and mutual support. Also proposed teaching strategies, including: creating social contexts, planning activity sequences, evaluating students' behavior.