Emotional Intelligence in the Elementary Classroom

Kellie Bartnick¹ and Kimberly Wilson^1,

¹Intervention Services & Leadership in Education, Wichita State University, Wichita, USA

Cite this paper:
Kellie Bartnick and Kimberly Wilson. Emotional Intelligence in the Elementary Classroom. Research in Psychology and Behavioral Sciences. 2023; 11(2):39-42. doi: 10.12691/rpbs-11-2-1

Abstract

The purpose of this research study was to experimentally consider how implementing an explicitly taught social-emotional curriculum would affect student self-regulation and academic performance. The participants in the study were four teachers (two primary and two aides) and 38 students (14 female and 24 male, age 5-6) from two kindergarten classes from a large urban district. One Kindergarten class was chosen at random to receive the social-emotional curriculum over an 8-week period. The other class did not receive the curriculum, acting as the control group. Measures of self-regulation and academic achievement in literacy and numeracy were administered at pre- and post-assessment. Findings indicate that self-regulation skills are correlated, at a statistically significant level, with early literacy and numeracy academic achievement. These findings support the claim that emotional intelligence and the ability to self-regulate is tied to positive developmental outcomes, including academic engagement and performance, which facilitates learning.

Keywords:
self-regulation school performance executive function academic achievement literacy numeracy

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