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On June 22, 2021, we will launch updated strategies for the Math PK-2 model, as well as additional updates to the Navigator that highlight equity, SEL, and culturally responsive teaching. To learn more, visit our Site Updates (available in the "About" menu at the top of any page).
Hover to see how factors connect to Social Awareness & Relationship Skills. Then click connected factors to explore strategies related to multiple factors.
Learning is powerful when it is collaborative and social––when we learn with and from each other. Social Awareness and Relationship Skills are essential for forming and maintaining positive relationships so that peers and educators can become learning partners. When each student feels supported by their peers, and sees how they can use their strengths and work with others to contribute to the success of a group, they can better engage in their learning.
Social Awareness is the understanding of social norms for behavior and the ability to recognize and understand the perspectives and feelings of others. Social Awareness allows students to empathize with people from diverse backgrounds that are different from their own. This awareness continues to develop into adolescence. Children often first learn about aspects of their own and others' Identities from their parents, with adolescents continuing to learn through school, peers, and community. During adolescence, the need to belong and "fit in" with peers is heightened and therefore adolescents may be particularly sensitive to social comparisons, peer influence, and social rejection. As relationships with peers become more important, learners' behavior in the classroom may be restricted by their concerns about what their peers think of them.
Relationship Skills are the specific interpersonal skills based on Social Awareness that allow students to communicate and get along with others, including cooperation and preventing and resolving interpersonal conflicts. These skills can also include cross-cultural competence such as understanding different norms and conventions and using appropriate verbal and nonverbal behavior in diverse cultural situations. Greater intercultural contact can help build these skills.
Social Awareness and Relationship Skills are important, because they enable us to make friends and maintain positive relationships with teachers and peers. Learners who are more socially competent are better able to make and maintain friendships, and strong Social Awareness and Relationship Skills are associated with better academic Motivation, achievement and wellbeing.
One key aspect of Social Awareness and Relationship Skills is an ability to build common understanding with people from diverse backgrounds. In part, this ability relies on a student's understanding of their own Identity, and those of others. Educators have a unique opportunity to help all students learn about their own and others' Identities, and learn to appreciate, respect, and accept differences and disabilities as another facet of Identity.
Students with learning disabilities and those with ADHD, tend to have more difficulty with peer relationships and are more likely to be rejected and excluded by their peers, particularly students for whom impulsivity is a component of their ADHD. Rejection and exclusion is often due to stigma, which can be caused in part by a lack of peers' understanding of behavioral differences. It can also be caused by social immaturity due to delayed development of certain regions of the brain, or difficulty with emotional regulation due to difficulty with Sensory Integration.
Some of the most important factors underlying effective Social Awareness and Relationship Skills include Collaboration, Communication, prosocial behavior, and a Sense of Belonging. Educators can support student's Social Awareness and Relationship skills by creating a supportive environment where all students feel included, where they are given opportunities to better understand each other, for instance by openly discussing and normalizing differing styles of Communication, and enabling discussions that encourage differing perspectives. In addition, educators can promote the development of Social Awareness and Relationship Skills by providing ample opportunities to collaborate and engage with peers, as well as by modeling and praising prosocial behaviors.
Project-based learning (PBL) actively engages learners in authentic tasks designed to create products or design solutions that answer a given question or solve a problem.
Encouraging learners to draw as a form of synthesizing key concepts and to explain their drawings in the classroom, can support the development of Core Academic Literacies, especially when solving complex problems across content areas.
Visiting places connected to classroom learning provides opportunities to add relevance to classroom topics and deepen understanding through firsthand experiences.
Games support learning, as learners engage with new information in fun and informal ways.
Gallery walks are ways of showcasing content and materials as multiple “exhibitions” for students to view and interact with as part of larger learning goals.
Flexible grouping is a classroom practice that temporarily places students together in given groups to work together, with the purpose of achieving a given learning goal or activity.
As learners work together to solve problems, they learn new strategies and practice Communication skills as they express their academic thinking.
Think-Pair-Share (TPS), also known as Turn & Talk (T&T), is when the teacher pauses instruction so students can discuss a topic or prompt in pairs or small groups, to enhance engagement and learning outcomes.
A strengths-based approach is one where educators intentionally identify, communicate, and harness students' assets, across many aspects of the whole learner, in order to empower them to flourish.
Using motions to explain new concepts or ideas supports the ability to process new information and to convey thinking and conceptual understanding.
Physical activity and exercise refer to any activities that allow students to engage in movement, physical play, or fitness, promoting physical and mental well-being.
Discussing emotions with students consists of supporting their ability to identify, label, and manage their feelings.
Growth mindset is the belief that people can grow their intelligence and abilities (through effort, good strategies, and support from others).
Culturally responsive texts include those that reflect different facets of students' identities, including race, ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic, and disability status, as well as the intersections of those identities.
Developing cultural awareness as an educator is an ongoing process that includes a recognition and appreciation for the full diversity of students and an understanding of how one's own Identity intersects with students' Identities.
Discussing race with students can range from conversations on cultural celebration (e.g., celebrating the importance of diversity) to developing critical consciousness (e.g., understanding the impact of social inequities like racism and how to dismantle it).
Learning about students' cultures and connecting them to instructional practices helps foster a Sense of Belonging, increase positive student Identity development, and mitigate Stereotype Threat.
Family engagement happens when educators and schools collaborate with families to collectively support their child's learning in meaningful ways, both at school and at home.
Translanguaging is a flexible classroom practice enabling students to listen, speak, read, and write across their multiple languages or dialects, even if the teacher does not have formal knowledge of these additional languages.
A first step to supporting learners is truly understanding who they are.
Checking in with learners, or taking the time to talk with individual learners about their experiences or goals, is important for fostering a positive classroom environment.
Shadowing a student involves an educator, administrator, or designated adult observing a learner across different parts of their day to deepen their understanding of that learner's experience beyond their classroom.
Respectful redirection, or error correction, outlines a clear and concise way that educators can provide feedback on behaviors that need immediate correction, in a positive manner.
Physical activity and exercise refer to any activities that allow students to engage in movement, physical play, or fitness, promoting physical and mental well-being.
Developing empathy in educators and in learners is an iterative process that requires taking the time to understand and honor others' perspectives.
Flexible seating refers to the practice of offering students a range of work surfaces, seating sizes and heights, movement, and varied body positions in the classroom, and often incorporates a range of technologies to offer a more personalized learning experience.
Socratic seminar refers to a discussion technique that engages learners in the exploration of content through Critical Thinking and classroom dialogue in order to help learners make meaning from what they are learning.
Youth participatory action research (YPAR) is a student-centered approach that puts the learner at the helm of the research process, from ideation to dissemination, to investigate and advocate for change they want to see in their schools and communities.
An open classroom climate is an educational environment where students feel comfortable and confident expressing their opinions in class.
Collaborative writing activities allow peers to work together to plan, draft, edit, and revise during the composition process, supporting writing skills and engagement with content knowledge as students write to reflect upon and apply what they have learned.
Retrieval practice requires students to access information, or get information “out” from Long-term memory in order to support better retention and understanding.
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This is our homepage. You can access many of the features of the Navigator here, and learn more about how learner variability intersects with topics in education and learning. To start, select a content area – we call them Learner Models – to visit a factor map.
Factor maps show research-based concepts, "factors," that likely impact learning. They are organized into four categories: Learner Background, Social and Emotional Learning, Cognition, and Content Area. The map is interactive. Move your cursor over a factor to see connected factors. Select any factor to visit its summary page. We'll look at factor summary pages next.
This is a factor summary page. It provides a brief definition and review of the factor, a factor connections diagram, additional resources, and strategies that support this factor. On the strategy card, the multi-colored boxes show all the factors that it supports. Select a strategy to visit its summary page.
Strategy summary pages have an overview, information about using the strategy in different learning environments, resources of interest, the factors this strategy supports, and related strategies you can explore. To view all the strategies in a content area, use the strategies tab at the top of the page. We'll look at all the Strategies for this learner model next.
The strategy page shows ALL of the strategies for that learner model. You can select factors of interest for you or your learners, and it will narrow the strategies to only those that match all of the factors selected. This makes it easy to find key strategies to better design for learner variability. Again, select the strategy name to visit its summary page. Use the plus signs on each strategy card to add a strategy to a workspace. We'll explore those next.
The “Tools & Workspaces” tab on the navigation bar or the “My Workspaces” button on the account menu takes you to a page that shows your workspaces. There are two tabs on the My Workspaces page: a Workspaces tab and a Reports tab. The Workspaces tab lists workspaces you can personalize and update. You can create new sections, move cards between sections, add annotations, share with collaborators, and write reflections. The second tab, "Reports", are a kind of workspace created through the Instructional Design Tool or the Product Assessment Tool and have fewer personalization options.
There are three, step-by-step tools you can access on the Navigator to help make workspace or a workspace report. The Learner Centered Design Tool has four steps and helps you create a workspace. First, enter basic information and select a content area of interest. Second, select a few factors that you want to focus on. Third, review connected factors you may not have considered. Note – you don't have to select any extra factors on this step if you don’t want to. The fourth and final step, review and select strategies that you want to use, and save them to a workspace.
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Learner variability is the recognition that each learner is a unique constellation of strengths and challenges that are interconnected across the whole child. Understanding these connections and how they vary according to context is essential for meeting the needs of each learner.
It disrupts the notion of a one-size-fits all education. Understanding learner variability helps educators embrace both students’ struggles and strengths as we connect practice to uplifting the whole learner.
Throughout the site, we talk about "factors" and "strategies." Factors are concepts research suggests have an impact on how people learn. Strategies are the approaches to teaching and learning that can be used to support people in how they learn best.
Use the Learner Centered Design Tool to build a workspace. Go to Learner Centered Design Tool.
Or, create a new blank workspace for your product or project.
Use one of the guided tools to build a workspace.
Or, create a new blank workspace for your product or project.
Make a copy of this workspace.
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On this page, using your heatmap, you will be asked to select factors to further explore, and then select new strategies you might incorporate into upcoming instruction. Once done, click “Show Summary" to view your Design Summary Report.
On this page, using your heatmap, you will be asked to select factors to further explore, and then select new strategies you might incorporate into upcoming instruction. Once done, click “Show Report” to view your Design Summary Report.
By selecting "Show Report" you will be taken to the Assessment Summary Page. Once created, you will not be able to edit your report. If you select cancel below, you can continue to edit your factor and strategy selections.
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Learner variability is the recognition that each learner is a unique constellation of strengths and challenges that are interconnected across the whole child. Understanding these connections and how they vary according to context is essential for meeting the needs of each learner. It embraces both students’ struggles and strengths. It considers the whole child.
Throughout the site, we talk about "factors" and "strategies." Factors are concepts research suggests have an impact on how people learn. Strategies are the approaches to teaching and learning that can be used to support people in how they learn best.
The Learner Variability Navigator is a free, online tool that translates the science of learner variability into factor maps and strategies that highlight connections across the whole learner. This puts the science of learning at teachers' fingertips, empowering them to understand their own practice and support each learner.
