Social and Emotional Learning: Theories and Strategies for Behavior Management

This document discusses the importance of social and emotional learning for students' overall growth and well-being. It explores theories of social and emotional development, describes strategies for creating a positive learning environment, and discusses how social and emotional development can help students with challenging behavior. The document also includes references for further reading.

Social and emotional
learning subject for
clourse bachelors of
education

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................................................................3
Main Body...................................................................................................................................................3
Describe and analyze the theory of social and emotional development...................................................3
Describe learning environment which support positive models of behavior management.......................4
Discuss Challenging behavior and the way in which social and emotional development can help
students with challenging behavior..........................................................................................................5
CONCLUSION...........................................................................................................................................7
REFERNCES..............................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Social and emotional learning is important for overall growth and wellbeing of students.
Social and emotional learning is regarded as a process which is related to development of self
awareness, control and interpersonal skills which will help in getting success in career
(Gueldner, Feuerborn, & Merrell, 2020). It is analyzed that people having strong social and
emotional skills are likely to deal with challenges of personal and professional life in better
manner. It develops positive attitude and enhance level of self confidence and efficiency. The
present report is based on a lot of theories of social and emotional development. It also includes
challenging behavior the theories which help students in dealing with such challenging behavior
have also been included in the present report.
Main Body
Describe and analyze the theory of social and emotional development
In present time, social and emotional development of students is also important so that
they can achieve growth in personal as well as professional life. Here, different theories have
been developed for this purpose which is mentioned as under:
Bandura’s Social Learning theory: As per this theory, learning is the direct result of
conditioning, reinforcement and punishment. It is analyzed that human tens to learn from
observation, modeling and imitation. Bandura ascertained that only observation cannot develop
learning rather some other factors such as motivation, mental status of an individual also play a
crucial role in learning. For instance, children learn a lot and develop different skills while
observing behavior of their parents and other adults. Then, they are likely to act accordingly. In
addition to this, individuals also learn by verbal instructions and through the fictional or real
characters which are displayers in books and films. Therefore, children are more likely to get
affected with society and their surroundings. It puts a great impact over their development and
learning process (Davidson, 2018).
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs: Motivation is process by which behavior of an individual
can be affected in an efficient manner. Through motivation, it is possible to get the work done in

desired manner. Motivated people are more likely to put efforts for gaining success and work in
define manner. It affects the behavior of individual in different manner which can be either
positive or negative. Motivation affects inner drive of individuals to get success over life’s
challenges and achieve set goals. It keeps a person inspired towards attainment of predefined
goal. For this purpose, there are different theories have been developed such as Maslow’s
hierarchy of need theory which is related to motivation and has been developed to inspire people
to behave in a particular way. Under this, needs of an individual are characterized in different
hierarchies such as psychological needs, safety needs, social, self esteem and need of self
actualization. Different levels of needs as per this model are given as under:
Psychological needs: It is the first level of which comprises basic needs of human being.
These needs are crucial for survival thus play a vital role in affecting human behavior. It includes
basic requirements such as shelter, food, clothes and more (Baker & Hitchcock, 2017).
Safety needs: After, meeting with basic needs individual wishes to meet with safety
needs. In this, individuals seek for safety and security for living a long & prosper life. For this,
they wish to work in a safe environment where there are lower probabilities of accidents and
risks.
Social needs: According to this, a person wishes to meet with social requirements such as
love, belongings and more. Here, they seek for building relationships and get associate with
other people within society.
Self Esteem: After meeting with above stated needs, an individual wish to get appraisal,
recognition within society. They want to get appreciation, acceptance from others. It is a higher
level need which is likely to occur after fulfillment of other basic needs.
Self Actualization: It describes fulfillment of full potential where a person wish to attain
extra ordinary success by utilizing internal potential (Cheng & Chau, 2016).
Describe learning environment which support positive models of behavior management
Positive learning refers to such an environment where student get opportunities to
develop their skills and potential in significant manner. In this, students get engaged in
meaningful learning which drives ample of opportunities for further growth and success. Positive

environment depends on classroom management which is designed for betterment of students.
Here, teachers establish supportive, caring, inclusive environment within class where all the
students can significantly take part in class room activities (Datu, 2018). For instance, an
environment where each and every student regardless their gender, caste, creed, race get equal
opportunities to expose with learning is an known as positive environment. It is analyzed that
positive learning environment play a vital role in social and economical development of students.
If, there is positive environment is maintain in the class room then students can easily interact
with each other which eventually help in their social development.
It is stated that there are different theories in terms of social and emotional development
of students have been developed. Bandura’s social learning theory is well known theory as per
which observation plays a crucial role in development of skills and potential in students. It is
analyzed that child are likely to imitate the behavior of adults. So, educators are required to make
them understand by demonstrating. There is another theory which is Maslow’s needs hierarchy
and significantly affects the behavior of students. According to this theory, first an individual
wish to satisfy basic needs then likely to move forward towards next level. Each and every
person wishes to meet with basic needs as they are essential for survival. Here, behavior of an
individual gets affect with these factors in an efficient manner. It is analyzed that educators can
manage the behavior of students by satisfying their basic needs. After then, they need to move
forward towards other needs which are also helpful in development of desired behavior.
Discuss Challenging behavior and the way in which social and emotional development can help
students with challenging behavior
Challenging behavior which creates constrains in overall development of students and
interferes with their safety or learning within class room. Sometimes, challenging behavior of a
student also affect other students who are studying together in the class room. It is analyzed that
a student who is going through with challenging behavior can also disrupt the whole class. There
are some reasons due to which children behave in a particular way. So, it is important for an
educator to understand these changes and prepare appropriate strategies to deal with such
behavior. There are certain reasons have been identifies of challenging behavior which are given
as under:

Health: Sometimes, student is going through with some mental and physical issues
which might create develop challenging behavior. Due to this, students often feel uncomfortable
in expressing their view points and problems. So, health issues might create a lot of problems in
which lead a children towards challenging behavior (Huang, Hew & Lo, 2019).
Behavioral difficulties: Sometimes, students have lack of cognitive skills due to which
they are unable to grasp the concept which are being introduced within classroom. These
learning difficulties also create difficulties for children to express their feelings. They also find it
difficult to behave with fellow students in an efficient manner. These kinds of children are shy
and cannot express their feelings and emotions.
It is analyzed that social and emotional development can help children in dealing with
challenging behavior. With social development, students are able to connect with their peers,
fellow students in an efficient manner. Here, they are likely to take part on class activities which
helps them in making friends. It is stated that association with other is important for overall
social and emotional development. There are some theories such as social learning theory;
Maslow’s need hierarchy is also applied by teacher in classroom in order to help students to
come out from challenging behavior (Jeong & González-Gómez, 2016). By applying social
learning theory, they can observe behavior of students which will further lead towards making
necessary improvement. The other theory which is Maslow’s need hierarchy is also helpful in
terms of developing appropriate behavior of student. Therefore, challenging behavior of students
can be managed by educator in an efficient manner which is essential for social and emotional
development of students.

CONCLUSION
With above discussion, it is analyzed that social and emotional development is related to
self awareness and development which bring a lot of opportunities of growth and success for a
student. Social and emotional development is important to deal with difficulties in an efficient
manner. Discussion has been carried out about different theories of social and emotional
development such as Bandura’s social learning theory, Maslow’s need hierarchy and more.
There are a lot of challenges also faced by students in terms of their behavior and daily learning.
But, these challenges can be handled with appropriate ways and use of relevant theories in best
possible way.

REFERNCES
Books and Journals
Baker, L.R., & Hitchcock, L.I., (2017). Using Pinterest in undergraduate social work education:
Assignment development and pilot survey results. Journal of Social Work
Education, 53(3), pp.535-545.
Cheng, G., & Chau, J., (2016). Exploring the relationships between learning styles, online
participation, learning achievement and course satisfaction: An empirical study of a
blended learning course. British Journal of Educational Technology, 47(2), pp.257-278.
Datu, J.A.D., (2018). Flourishing is associated with higher academic achievement and
engagement in Filipino undergraduate and high school students. Journal of Happiness
Studies, 19(1), pp.27-39.
Davidson, C.N., (2018). Course-based undergraduate research: Educational equity and high-
impact practice. Stylus Publishing, LLC.
Gueldner, B.A., Feuerborn, L.L., & Merrell, K.W., (2020). Social and emotional learning in the
classroom: Promoting mental health and academic success. Guilford Publications.
Huang, & et. al., (2019). Investigating the effects of gamification-enhanced flipped learning on
undergraduate students’ behavioral and cognitive engagement. Interactive Learning
Environments, 27(8), pp.1106-1126.
Jeong, J.S., & González-Gómez, D., (2016). Students’ perceptions and emotions toward learning
in a flipped general science classroom. Journal of Science Education and
Technology, 25(5), pp.747-758.