Seventh Grade Uses Emerging Tech To Support Social-Emotional Learning

St. Luke’s seventh grade has been piloting an advisory curriculum using the Social Institute, “a gamified, online learning platform that empowers students to navigate their social world positively — including social media and technology — to fuel their health, happiness, and future success.”

Each lesson focuses on a specific topic of well-being. Teachers serve as the group moderators, and student participants use a code to log in. Throughout the lesson, students answer prompts, and the teachers receive real-time, anonymous data for anyone logged in using the same code. 

Each lesson is completely interactive, with games, videos, statistics, and a fun challenge to get students to dive deeper into the topic. Lessons are presented by Social Institute students from across the country and the world, which enhances how SLS students connect and respond to the material. 

One huge benefit of the program is that the content is student-driven, backed by data from the group participants and data from other students using the program.

“I love this program,” shared Rachel Lang, Seventh Grade Dean and Science Teacher. “We are using technology to spark genuine conversations with the kids. The program honors a sense of connection and keeps true to the spirit of our advisory.” 

So far, St. Luke’s students have participated in two lessons: “Intro to the Social Institute: Taking Control of Health Happiness and Future Success” and “Navigating Shifts in our Friendships.”

As part of the friendship lesson, students gathered in in-person groups to discuss what they learned and how they felt about navigating friendships in middle school. They also created friendship playlists. Following Winter Break, Lang plans to take all the students' entries to build one seventh-grade friendship playlist that Advisors will play during future Advisory sessions.

“Some schools are shying away from difficult conversations like these, but SLS is leaning into them,” said Lang. “We have to be thinking about how we are giving kids the tools, with adult support, to solve some of their biggest challenges—like the complexity of middle school friendships. What’s great about emerging tech programs like the Social Institute is that we are giving kids the ability to navigate situations themselves, rather than being told what to do by an adult or teacher.”

Lang leads the Social Institute curriculum with Middle School Student Life Coordinator Sarah Westerberg-Egan, along with support from the Well-Being and Academic Support Team, Equity & Inclusion Team, and Middle School Advisors.

Seventh grade students will engage in at least one more lesson this school year. 

View photos from the Navigating Shifts in our Friendships advisory.