Social Cognitive Education

OVERVIEW

Social Cognitive Education programs are designed to focus children on certain phases of their developmental processes so as to promote positive growth in social development.  For this particular program, the focus was primarily on developing interpersonal conceptions, which refers to a child’s judgment and problem-solving in social situations.  An evaluation of the program found that students in the treatment program had significantly higher scores on interpersonal conceptions and on one level of moral judgment.  Marginally significant differences were found for two other levels of moral judgment, but no differences were found for the remaining two levels and no differences were found for social problem-solving skills and general vocabulary skills.    

DESCRIPTION OF PROGRAM

Target Population: Adolescent students

This social cognitive education program is a school-based, 22-week curriculum.  Sixth grade students meet twice each week for 45-minute sessions and participate in two types of alternating activities.  First, pairs of sixth graders teach four or five first graders how to better understand others by presenting stories that involve interpersonal conflicts.  The first-grade teacher and two graduate students supervise this portion of the program.  For the second session, the graduate students meet with the sixth graders to discuss and ask them questions about the interactions that they had with the first grade students.  These questions are designed to focus the sixth grade students on social development processes, through which, according to the model, they should be learning about social interaction.  Certain questioning methods are used by the graduate students depending on individual circumstances.  For example, if a sixth grade student’s behavior is not consistent with their perception of the interaction, the graduate student will point this out to the sixth grader.  Sixth graders are also asked about the contents of the stories that they told the first graders, so that they can think about interpersonal conflicts in which they are not directly, emotionally invested.

EVALUATION(S) OF PROGRAM

Evaluated population: A total of twenty-four sixth graders from one classroom in a large Midwestern city were selected to participate in the study.  Demographic characteristics of the sample were not provided, but there were no differences found between groups in terms of gender.    

Approach:  The sample of 24 was stratified by gender and 6 female and 6 male participating students were randomly assigned to the experimental group (N=12); the remaining students were placed into the control group (N=12).  Control conditions consisted of meeting twice a week for 22 weeks, in 45-minute sessions, to participate in academic group activities.

To assess the effectiveness of the treatment, researchers measured outcomes that included interpersonal conceptions, social problem-solving skills, moral judgment, and vocabulary skills.  Data were collected approximately one week before the program started and one week after program completion, for all outcome measures except for vocabulary, which was only measured at post-test. 

Results: Following the conclusion of the program, the experimental group was found to have significantly higher interpersonal conception scores and scores on moral judgment level 2 than the control group.  Marginally significant positive differences for the experimental group were also found for moral judgment levels 1 and 3, but no differences were found between groups on moral judgment levels 4 and 5, or on vocabulary, or social-problem solving.  Overall, students went up one level in terms of interpersonal conceptions. 

SOURCES FOR MORE INFORMATION

References

Enright, R. D. (1980). An integration of social cognitive development and cognitive processing: Educational applications. American Educational Research Journal, 17(1), 21-41

KEYWORDS: Children, Adolescents, Middle School, Males and Females (Co-ed), School-Based, Tutoring, Skills Training, Social Skills/Life Skills

Program information last updated 9/21/11

© Child Trends 2003