The New Whole-Child Education: Innovations at the Intersection of Cognitive Science and Social and Emotional Learning

Dear Colleagues,

For this Special Issue, we invite research articles exploring innovations in teaching and/or learning practices, highlighting the synergies between cognition and emotion, or what has been referred to in some quarters as “whole-child development”. It has been well-known and agreed for decades that learning is not a solely cognitive enterprise, and recent discoveries in cognitive sciences, learning sciences, neuroscience, and technology have only further made this truth undeniable. However, lab research and research on the brain do not automatically translate into teaching and learning practices. Currently, there is also plentiful evidence that social and emotional learning programs and enhancements improve academic outcomes, but this research does little to uncover the specific mechanisms or micro-social practices underlying these associations. Thus, we anticipate prioritizing smaller-scale empirical studies either in classrooms or labs providing teaching and/or learning conditions, attempting to test particular mechanisms of action within cognition–emotion synergies that have relevance for school. Conceptual pieces will also be considered, but they should focus more specifically than general “calls to action” or description of the benefits of whole-child teaching and learning and ideally make concrete links between empirical research and classroom practices. Examples of topics of interest could include, but are not limited to, the following:

• How social, emotional, or moral cueing engages students’ attention.
• The effect of spacing, interleaving, or “brain breaks” on students’ ability to engage with learning material.
• Embodied learning or the physical aspects highlighting brain–body-aligned practices in the classroom.
• Calming or reflection practices; stress-reduction as a learning strategy.
• Exploring different types of collaboration to reduce cognitive load or increase the social significance of learning activities.
• Examining the effect of different physical classroom set-ups (e.g., decorations, furniture types, room layout) on attention, engagement, or cooperation.
• The effect of different types of responses to student learning (e.g., praise, “sportscasting”, observation, questioning, attunement to students’ thinking) on motivation and engagement.
• Increasing connections to student identity, self-image, or personal meaning in learning activities.
• Emotions associated with a sense of “flow” during highly engaging teaching or learning.
• The effects of project-based learning on students’ emotions, engagement, attention, and/or learning.
• The relationship between developmentally aligned instruction (such as project-based learning), children’s self-image, and learning.
• The effects of various types of teaching practices on brain or physiological data.

Dr. Amanda J. Moreno
Dr. Karrie Godwin
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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