Complete Student Wellbeing - SEL & Ecological Intelligence

It is time that ecoliteracy should be put on our plates as an essential part of our teaching. Instilling in students ecological intelligence should be part of the whole child approach, as we look at our students wellbeing and future. Research conducted by the State Education and Environment RoundTable A cooperative endeavor of sixteen state department of education in the US issued a report concluding that environment-based learning significantly improves students academic achievement and shows that the students could connect better to their learning when allowed to take a more active role in their studies.

Daniels Goleman's literary work on Emotional Intelligence, Ecoliteracy and Ecological Intelligence can be a guiding light that can help us cultivate social and emotional intelligence in students embedded in ecological intelligence. We embrace SEL on the promise that it will increase the likelihood of success in school and in life for our students and we have so far established that SEL delivers not just academic growth, but also improved attitude, positive behavior, and reduction in conduct problems. As Daniel Goleman suggests in his book, "we stretch this SEL foundation to integrate ecoliteracy so that we teach our students to simply expand outward in their focus from self, to others, to all living systems".

In two decades, the Centre for Ecolitracy has worked with schools to support education for sustainable living. It reports that when schools engage ecoliteracy with social-emotional learning, it advances both teachers and students achievement through hands-on conceptual learning in the natural world and community. “If we can cultivate the practices of socially and emotionally engaged ecoliteracy for our students, then we can profoundly increase their capacity to create and sustain healthier relationships with other people and the planet” - Daniel Goleman.

The question is, can we teach self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skills along with ecological intelligence? Kindness, integrity, respect, and discipline are essential goals that we aspire to achieve through SEL. These goals can be taught through three key elements and can also nurture students to become ecoliterate. These strategies should be age-appropriate for students ranging from kindergarten through adulthood to integrate emotional, social, and ecological intelligence.