Five Ways Games Teach Social Emotional Learning Skills

First and foremost, we want our students to develop key skills and knowledge around the content shared throughout their educational journey. However, social emotional skills (SEL) go hand-in-hand with our learning goals, as SEL helps students put their knowledge into practice. A great way for students to practice the five SEL skills as defined by the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) is through games and play. Below, I’ll share how games effectively help develop each of the five SEL skills!

1. Social Awareness through Debate and Discussion Games

Creative and “party” games provide a number of ways to practice social awareness. In Gamestormers, there are a lot of scenarios where another player is in charge of selecting who had the best response, narrative, or idea in the game and must publicly express this opinion. When students are creating their 5-card stories and pitching them to their fellow peers, they must have the social awareness to consider others’ perspectives, values, feelings, and influences in order to gain their support. In addition, players must be compassionate and show gratitude regardless of whether their idea gets a vote or is picked – or not. 

2. Relationship Skills through Collaboration and Communication Games

Games provide a wonderful opportunity for students to practice communication and collaborative problem-solving, which are key aspects of SEL relationship skills. In our Doomscroll card game, our solo/co-operative variant challenges students to work together to properly moderate two social media feeds in order to keep the negative content to a minimum and keep advertisers happy. In order to be successful, they must discuss the challenging situations in the cards they have in their feed, and what must be prioritized in order to reach their goals.

3. Responsible Decision-Making through Strategy-based Games

My favorite definition of a game is that they are a series of interesting choices. And, perhaps, the same could be said about life. When students are thinking about the constant choices they make in a given day, games provide a very clear system full of cause-effect decisions that help players see how those this-or-that moments play out. In our Doomscroll game, students have to decide HOW to create a social media feed addicting enough to sell ads. On their turn, students weight whether to perhaps add cards to their feed that stoke an emotional response in users, or perhaps play cards that cater to users interests. These decisions help them get closer to those card requirements on the ads they must sell. Through gameplay, students develop a better sense of how to make decisions after analyzing information and details, just like they must do in the real world.

4. Self Management through Social Situations in Games

There will be moments in games where a player may feel slighted or disagree with an outcome, and it is a fantastic learning opportunity. Gamestormers features two game modes where a player may have to reckon with not receiving a player’s support or a group vote for their original idea, and such a situation requires the ability to manage one’s emotions, cope with momentary stress, and be disciplined in their response. All of these coping skills lead to better self management, and games like Gamestormers provide a safe space to practice these strategies.

5. Self Awareness in both Positive and Negative Game Experiences

One aspect of activities that feature competitive elements is the opportunity to practice healthy success and healthy failure during play. In Doomscroll, players will have moments where they may not have the best cards to reach their goal, and they must process some difficult thoughts, emotions, and feelings. In other scenarios, players can use cards that may negatively impact other players, and those interactions may also stir up emotional responses. And, of course, there will be a player who wins, and perhaps multiple players who lose at the end. Through these moments, students can practice identifying the emotions they are feeling, developing a growth mindset, and connecting those thoughts and feelings to triggers found during game interactions.