The Core Elements of Social-Emotional Learning

Brains grow best in the context of supportive relationships, low to moderate levels of stress, and through the creative use of stories. While teachers may focus on what they are teaching, evolutionary history and current brain functioning suggests that it is who they are and the emotional environment in the classroom they are able to create are the fundamental regulators of neuroplasticity. Secure relationships not only trigger brain growth, but also serve emotional regulation that enhances learning. A low to moderate level of arousal—where the learner is attentive and motivated to learn—maximizes the biochemical processes that drive neuroplasticity. 

The activation of both emotional and cognitive circuits allows executive brain systems to coordinate both right and left hemispheres in support of learning, affect regulation, and emotional intelligence. Narratives support memory, emotional regulation, and serve as a guide for future behavior. Let’s begin with a brief summary of each of the central elements of social-emotional learning.

Safe and Trusting Relationships:

It is becoming increasingly evident that facial expressions, physical contact, and eye gaze connect us in constant communication exchange with those around us. It is within this interpersonal matrix that our brains have evolved to be sculpted, built, and regulated. A teacher’s supportive encouragement properly balanced with an appropriate level of challenge activates dopamine, serotonin, norepinephrine, and endorphin production (Kilgard & Merzenich, 1998; Kirkwood et al., 1999; Barad, 2000; Kang and Schuman, 1995; Huang et al., 1999; Tang et al., 1999). Through these and other biochemical processes, teacher-student attunement create states of mind and brain that make it better able to incorporate, recall, and use new information. 

From a neurobiological perspective, the position of the teacher is very similar to that of the parent in building a child’s brain. Both can support emotional regulation by providing a safe haven that supports the learning process. This “holding environment” optimizes neuroplasticity allowing for new learning (Kegan, 2000). Among the many possible implications of this finding for the classroom is the fact that teacher-student attunement isn’t a “nice addition” to the learning experience, but a core requirement. This is especially true in cases where children come to class with social, emotional, or intellectual challenges. The social brain takes into account both what we are learning and from whom we are learning it.

Low to Moderate States of Arousal:

In the early part of the 20th century, experimental psychologists discovered that learning is maximized during low to moderate states of arousal and turned off at very high states of arousal. We now know that the brain shuts down plasticity at low levels of arousal to conserve energy and at high levels of arousal to divert energy toward immediate survival. In recent years it has been discovered that mild to moderate levels of arousal trigger neural plasticity by increasing the production of neurotransmitters and neural growth hormones which enhance neural connectivity, and cortical reorganization (Cowan & Kandel, 2001; Jablonska et al., 1999; Myers et al., 2000; Pham et al., 1997; Zhu & Waite, 1998). Successful learning requires a state of interest and curiosity, devoid of anxiety that actively inhibits the underlying neurobiology of learning. 

Stress in the learning environment, traumatic memories from past learning experiences, or high levels of tension in a student’s life outside of the classroom, can all impair learning by inhibiting the neuroplastic functions of the brain. Negative attitudes and emotions about school can also be passed down from parents, siblings, and others in the student’s life that will interfere with learning. When chronically stressed and traumatized learners are confronted with new learning, they are often unable to activate neuroplastic processes without emotional scaffolding. Effective teachers intuitively modify their approach to the materials in response to students with additional social and emotional issues that impede their learning. Through encouragement, not taking anger personally, and finding creative ways to approach difficult material, teachers can create emotionally supportive learning experiences that can build confidence and pride that can jumpstart neuroplastic processes.

Activating Thinking and Feeling:

Among the many evolutionary adaptations of the human brain is the differentiation of the left and right hemispheres. In the process of primate evolution, the left became increasingly specialized for linear processes such as language and rational thought, while the right grew dominant for strong emotional states and visual-spatial experience. Along the way, each hemisphere became able to inhibit the other – strong emotions impair reasoning and problem solving, while intellectual defenses can cut us off from our feelings. With their ever-increasing functional divergence and inhibitory abilities, keeping them well balanced and functionally integrated became a growing challenge. The simultaneous activation of both affective and cognitive neural networks allows executive brain systems to enhance affect regulation and develop emotional intelligence. Encouraging critical thinking in emotionally salient situations allows both hemispheres to increase coordinated activities. In times of fear and anxiety, the verbal centers of the left hemisphere tend to shut down, impairing the semantic and narrative aspects of learning, central to academic success. Decreasing stress balances hemispheric functioning and allows for ongoing integration. In these ways, teachers help their students’ brains to integrate the bodily and emotional functions of the right hemisphere with the social and language-oriented functions of the left hemisphere. 

 The Co-Construction of Narratives:

A story well told contains conflicts and resolutions, gestures and expressions, and thoughts flavored with emotion. Stories are then transferred from brain-to-brain across the social synapse and serve to integrate the functioning of individuals within groups by teaching skills, transmitting values, and creating shared perspectives and goals. The convergence of these diverse functions within the narrative provides a nexus of neural network convergence among left and right, top and bottom, and sensory, somatic, motor, affective, and cognitive processes in all parts of the brain (Siegel, 1999). Given that the brain's evolution is intertwined with both increasing social complexity and the emergence of language and symbolic thought, the co-construction of narratives has evolved to serve as an agent of both neural and social coherence.  

In the classroom, narratives serve as a powerful memory tool and a blueprint for behavior and self-identity. Because narratives require the participation of multiple memory networks, stories can enhance memory by storing information across multiple regions of the brain. A learner's self-narrative, either good or bad, becomes a blueprint for thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that turn into self-fulfilling prophecies. Students with traumatic learning histories incorporate the negative evaluations of parents, teachers, guidance counselors, and other students into their self-references. When negative statements become part of the learner’s self-narrative, they raise stress, and diminish success. On the other hand, personal narratives of success reduce anxiety and enhance neuroplasticity. Editing negative self-narratives can be a central component of making a challenged learner into a successful student.

This is an expert from Dr. Cozolino’s book The Social Neuroscience of Education.