Social Emotional Learning

What: Connect time in nature to supporting Social Emotional Learning (SEL) goals.

How: Social and emotional learning is an important part of school goals. Research indicates that time in nature can support many of the outcomes in the social and emotional learning benchmarks. Leverage time in nature to support social and emotional learning, and leverage supporting social and emotional learning goals to increase support for time in nature.

New York State developed social and emotional learning benchmarks for students based on the following goals:

1. Develop self-awareness and self-management skills essential to success in school and in life.
   1. Identify and manage one’s emotions and behavior.
   2. Recognize personal qualities and external supports.
   3. Demonstrate skills related to achieving personal and academic goals.
2. Use social awareness and interpersonal skills to establish and maintain positive relationships.
   1. Recognize the feelings and perspectives of others.
   2. Recognize individual and group similarities and differences.
   3. Use communication and social skills to interact effectively with others.
   4. Demonstrate the ability to prevent, manage, and resolve interpersonal conflicts in constructive ways.
3. Demonstrate ethical decision-making skills and responsible behaviors in personal, school, and community contexts.
   1. Consider ethical, safety, and societal factors in making decisions.
   2. Apply decision- making skills to deal responsibly with daily academic and social situations.
   3. Contribute to the well-being of one’s school and community.⁶⁵

Research has found that spending time in nature can increase emotional wellbeing, resilience to stressful events, emotional regulation, self-confidence, self-esteem, cooperation skills, and positive relationship development (see p. 2 – 4) —all factors that can help students reach the SEL benchmarks. Use time in nature as an additional tool to help students reach these benchmarks. To increase support for time in nature among school or district staff, point out the many connections and benefits of time in nature, and how it can help students reach these goals.

Additionally, engaging students in thinking about interacting with the environment, or developing and caring for natural spaces in their school or neighborhood, can be a great way to support engaging in ethical and social decision-making (3A, 3B) and contributing to the well-being of their school or community (3C). Make the well-being connections to nature explicit, or have students reflect on how caring for natural spaces supports their own and their communities’ well-being, to help students understand the connections between the environment and human health.

When: Anytime

Who: Teachers, staff, administrators

Materials: The research outlined in this toolkit (p. 2 – 4)