Research, Weeks 10 & 11

Week (10 &) 11 – Research Review – November 12 – 23

Research:

·         Albrecht, N. J., Albrecht, P., & Cohen, M. (2012). Mindfully teaching in the classroom: A literature review.

This literature review covers “some of the core concepts and practices associated with mindfulness” (p. 1). This review from 2012 suggests that introducing mindfulness into the classroom has “potential to improve classroom management, teacher-student relationships, and instructional strategies” (p. 1). This review concluded that mindfulness practices has been shown to help teachers (“reduce stress levels, assist with behavior management strategies, and improve self-esteem”), but they suggested that it would be more beneficial to “adopt a whole school approach to mindfulness” (p. 11).

·         Ergas, O. (2015). The deeper teachings of mindfulness-based ‘interventions’ as a reconstruction of ‘education’.

Ergas (Hebrew University) suggests in this journal article (2015) that if classrooms allocate time, curricular or otherwise, to mindfulness training, the social understanding of education will be transformed. He argues that there are two orientations toward the justification of mindfulness training in the classroom: wisdom traditions (present moment experience as worthwhile), and empirical science (health and social benefits from contemplative practice) (p. 203). Mindfulness training “either explicitly or implicitly tells the student where meaning is found” (p. 204) – from the personal experiences of the student rather than the classic authoritarian structure of teacher-student(s). This detailed article draws out the differences in traditional education (outcome based) and this potentially transformed meta-pedagogical model (the importance of ‘here-ness’ and ‘now-ness’ rather than the future) that “challenges the very concept of ‘curriculum’ as a ‘course study’ (p. 204).

·         Davidson, R. J., Dunne, J., Eccles, J. S., Engle, A., Greenberg, M., Jennings, P., . . . Vago, D. (2012). Contemplative practices and mental training: Prospects for American education.

This review of the research (2012) suggests that through “systematic contemplative practice … positive qualities and dispositions can be strengthened” (p. 1). Researchers highlight research on contemplative practices and suggest a “scientific warrant for educational interventions that aim, through sustained regular practice, to cultivate attention, emotional regulation, and empathy” (p. 3). They discuss the basic research available on human development and conclude that “in order to capitalize on the benefits of early executive function skill training, new strategies that promote attentional control and executive functioning will be particularly important to identify and incorporate into the K-12 educational curricula today” (p. 5). They then cover self-representation and motivation, and continue onto the prospects of American education, concluding that “the use of contemplative practices in educational settings could both complement and add value” (p. 6) to accepted programs, such as social-emotional learning (SEL). The conclusion of the article suggests that “interventions addressing self-control might reduce a panoply of societal costs, save taxpayers money and promote prosperity” (p. 8).

·         Schonert-Reichl, K. A., Oberle, E., Lawlor, M. S., Abbott, D., Thomson, K., Oberlander, T. F., & Diamond, A. (2015). Enhancing cognitive and social–emotional development through a simple-to-administer mindfulness-based school program for elementary school children: A randomized controlled trial.

This 2015 RCT recruited 4^th and 5^th grade participants in 4 different classrooms were randomly assigned “to receive the SEL with mindfulness program versus a regular social responsibility program” (p. 52). The participants who received the SEL program with mindfulness “improved more in their cognitive control and stress physiology; reported greater empathy, perspective-taking, emotional control, optimism, school self-concept, and mindfulness; showed greater decreases in self-reported symptoms of depression and peer-rated aggression; were rated by peers as more prosocial; increased in peer acceptance” (p. 52). The SEL program with mindfulness utilized was the MindUp program (The Hawn Foundation). Researchers concluded that this study demonstrated evidence that “the inclusion of mindfulness practices in a classroom-based SEL program may represent a value-added component to the regular school curriculum” (p. 63) that could result in benefits that include opportunities for attention training, practice of optimism, gratitude, perspective-taking, and kindness. These benefits can lead to improvement in cognitive skills and also significant increases in social and emotional competencies.

·         Semple, R. J., Droutman, V., & Reid, B. A. (2016). Mindfulness goes to school: Things learned (so far) from research and real-world experiences.

This review of mindfulness curricula for schools (2016) concluded that “fundamentally, every mindfulness curriculum includes components that cultivate attention and concentration” (p. 48). Despite the delivery differences and methods, the one thing they all share is a lack of rigorous evaluation, “random controlled trials, conducted by researchers independent of the program developers, sufficiently powered, controlled for implementation fidelity and threats to internal validity, and using reliable and externally valid outcome measures” (p. 49). That being said, they concluded that mindfulness programs implemented in schools have much potential of benefit and acceptance by administrators, teachers, and students. The list those benefits (and potential) as improved attention and executive function, increased social-emotional resiliencies, and assistance for teachers and students in management of stress.

Discuss the relationship between mindful principles/practices and learning/scholarship.

The benefits of mindfulness training (or interventions) listed by these research studies and articles included:

·         Increased focus, attention, and concentration

·         Executive function (EF) skill training

·         Reduced stress or increased stress-management skills

·         Behavior management strategies – as a result of self-regulation (self-control)

·         Improvement of student self-esteem or teacher efficacy

·         Encouraging students (and teachers) to determine where personal meaning is found

·         Added value to SEL programs; increased social-emotional resiliencies

·         Greater empathy, perspective-taking, emotional control, optimism, school self-concept

·         Decreased symptoms of depression and peer aggression

·         Increased prosocial behavior, peer acceptance

All of these benefits can only encourage awareness and curiosity toward learning. When students are given the tools of self-regulation and self-management, as well as stress-reduction tools, they can then decide for themselves how invested they are going to be in their efforts toward learning. Prosocial behaviors also have much potential for decreasing behavior management challenges in the classroom which can disrupt the entire class from focused engagement.

As a student myself, I can attest to a deeper, more sustained ability for focus and concentration as a result of my own mindfulness practice, both formal and informal. Awareness of my bodily sensations and arising emotions/feelings during study reminds me that they are fleeting (distractions), which helps me to stay with the task at hand. Close, mindful reading has helped me immensely in digesting large amounts of scholarly material assigned, and the practice of mindful communication has helped my ability to write with more clarity. I believe that my mindfulness practice has given me the capability to look at all situations from not just my own perspective, but that of others, as well. And, if I have derived that much benefit from mindfulness practices in regard to academic studies, I believe that even short mindfulness trainings can help young students as they learn how to focus, concentrate, and study what is presented to them.