Analysis And Trial Study Of Textbooks For Grades 6-8 In The US “Strong Child” Course

The Social and Emotional Learning(SEL)course has developed rapidly since it was formally implemented in the United States in 1994 and has been widely recognized worldwide.In a large number of social and emotional learning(SEL)curriculums,the Strong Kids,developed by the University of Oregon,is a standard example of the development of social-emotional learning courses.In order to understand the compiling situation and applicability of this course textbook,this study was conducted at three schools in Ukraine and examined practice schedules of the Strong Kids curriculum among a sample of sixth,seventh,and eighth graders.The study is mainly divided into two parts: an overview of the teaching materials for sixth,seventh,and eighth graders of Strong Kids and the discussion of experimental implementing of this curriculum in Ukraine.The overview of the textbook provides a careful analysis of the design concept and goal,the content and structure of the textbook,and the comprehensive evaluation of the textbook.As a social-emotional learning curriculum,the teaching material focuses on social-emotional needs of all the students,prevents the children's poor social and emotional development through teaching the key social and emotional concepts and some coping strategies to promote the development of healthy social and emotional ability.The curriculum focuses on emotional education,cognitive restructuring,interpersonal problem solving,social skills training,peer training,problem-solving,stress release and behavior change.The textbook is highly structured and semi-scripted.Each lesson provides teachers with acceptable materials and cases,which is helpful to teachers.It can reduce the input of specialized teachers' training resources,and has strong applicability and feasibility.The trial of Strong Kids course material for sixth,seventh,and eighth graders in Ukraine was completed by the author and assisted by three teachers.Students completed the Strong Kids Tests for knowledge and behavior.Before and after the implementation of the curriculum teachers and students both completed the students' behavior changes questionnaires.The results of the analysis show that the curriculum effectively improves the level of the students' social and emotional knowledge in 12 weeks,reduces the possibility of emotional problems and promotes the interaction between students.During this practical course,in the social-emotional learning,serious results have been achieved.The results of the Strong Kids curriculum evaluation questionnaire showed the teachers' perceptions of the curriculum and implementation process of the course.After teaching material analysis and experimental implementing of this curriculum,we found that the Strong Kids course is a knowledgeable and effective social-emotional learning curriculum.The design concept,content structure and curriculum development of this textbook are indicated as valuable to the development of social-emotional learning curriculums in Ukraine.