UC Riverside

Social and emotional learning (SEL) has become a central component of educational programming in recent years. As schools continue to shift toward a holistic approach to education, the implementation of SEL programs has proliferated in an effort to promote students’ social and emotional competence development. Traditional SEL instruction typically occurs within the classroom setting and results in various positive outcomes for students. In light of the benefits of traditional SEL, there is a pressing need to pursue innovative practices to supplement existing ones and provide students with additional opportunities to facilitate social and emotional competence development within school settings. One such approach that has begun to capture the attention of educators and researchers involves utilizing school-based physical activity as a method to teach SEL (PA+SEL). Research investigating the effects of PA+SEL practices within school settings appears limited, despite the potential for this approach to generate positive personal and social-emotional outcomes for students. Thus, this study will expand upon previous research connecting physical activity with SEL by investigating the effects of a PA+SEL program that uses an established SEL framework and is implemented within the school setting. Results from this investigation may offer support for physical activity being utilized as an effective methodology to teach social and emotional skills within the school environment, providing educators with an alternative approach to promoting SEL.