Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

Date Created

12-7-2022

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis was to identify connections between what is learned in a dance classroom within public schools and the five components of a Social Emotional Learning Curriculum: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making. The research was designed to answer the following questions: Q1 Are the five components of SEL demonstrated regularly by dance students in compared to non-dance students? Q2 Can SEL be taught using a dance curriculum of movement exploration and dance scholarship? The researcher hoped to accomplish this goal by comparing the opinions of dance teachers and those of non-dance teachers, regarding whether dance students seem to develop SEL skills and perform in these areas more frequently than other student populations. Eighteen dance educators and eight non-dance educators were anonymously surveyed. Participants responded favorably, observing dance students demonstrate behaviors associated with Social Emotional Learning more frequently than their non-dancing peers. The results indicate dance education may play a positive role in the Social Emotional Learning of public-school students.

Keywords

social emotional learning: dance: dance education: public school: kinesthetic learning: movement education: dance in public school: student development: student comparison: teacher observation

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