![]() ![]() ![]() “We sort of know that they are watching us, they’re taking pictures, and so it’s very hard to not let all of our thoughts totally take over,” she said. For two full minutes, the students sat still and focused on their breathing. On Friday, Erin Infusio’s class at Hermosa Valley School began as it always does - with the ding of a digital chime that gradually faded into silence. In many ways, it is about trying to get kids to think about the present in an environment where everybody else is telling them to think about the future. The curriculum centers on 15 lessons based in neuroscience that explain how chemicals released in the brain can trigger anxiety, fear and other emotions that, with proper training, can be regulated. The class is part of a larger program taught in Hermosa Beach and Redondo Beach called MindUP. The umbrella term used to describe these concepts is “mindfulness.” ![]() The idea is to teach students to manage stress, improve focus, build empathy, be optimistic - above all, to live in the moment. Additionally, students who participated in the MindUP program had significant improvements in many SEL skills and attitudes, which include self-reported executive functioning, perspective-taking, optimism, empathy, mindfulness, and emotional control over this same period.Sometimes, Ryan Whalen’s little brothers drive him nuts.īut now, thanks to an elective class the sixth-grader is taking at Hermosa Valley School, instead of yelling at his brothers when they get loud and or overly silly, he walks into his room, shuts the door and focuses on his breathing.Ĭalled “mastermind,” the class is a new elective for sixth-graders that blends some of the tenets of yoga and meditation with the science of the brain. The study found students who participated in the program had significant improvements in peer-nominated prosocial behaviors (i.e., sharing, trustworthiness, helpfulness, taking others’ views), academic self-concept, and self-reported depressive symptomology compared to students in the control group (outcomes reported approximately 1 year after baseline while controlling for outcome pretest). ![]() The evaluation included grade 4 and 5 students enrolled in suburban schools in Canada (66% of participants identified English as their native language, 25% reported an East Asian language). Additionally, students who participated in the MindUP program showed significant teacher-reported improvements in aggressive behaviors, oppositional behaviors, attention and concentration, and social and emotional competence (i.e., empathy, compassion) compared to students in the control group (outcomes reported approximately 10 weeks after baseline).Ī randomized controlled trial study (RCT) conducted in the 2007-2008 school year (published in 2015) supported the effectiveness of MindUP for elementary school students. This evaluation found that students who participated in the program showed significant increases in self-reported optimism compared to students in the control group (outcomes reported approximately 10 weeks after baseline). This evaluation included 246 students who were in grades 4 to 7 in Canada (57% of the participants identified English as their first language, 23% reported an East Asian language). Results from a quasi-experimental (QE) study conducted in the 2005-2006 school year (published in 2010) supported the effectiveness of MindUP for elementary school students. ![]()
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