Recent publications document some of the causes of teacher stress, many of which originate from factors a teacher cannot directly control, such as teacher shortages, increased class sizes, additional student accountability measures, and teacher evaluation documentation requirements. Music teachers experience additional stresses that other teachers…

Active shooter drills are widely used in schools throughout the United States, with more than 92% of public schools having an active shooter plan. These drills can increase student stress and anxiety and can have a variety of negative effects, such as somatic complaints, anxiety, poor self-regulation of emotions and behaviors, risk for depression,…

As our world endures multiple crises, educators have turned their eye to what does and does not work effectively to assist students in the school environment, regardless of changing landscapes, such as lingering impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, anti-critical race theory legislation, anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, personal crises students face, as well…

In a difficult post-pandemic world, far too many students report feelings of loneliness, anxiety, and depression. In response to this mental health crisis, educators increasingly emphasize affective or social and emotional learning. Mindfulness practices, implemented in and outside of the classroom, are potentially valuable affective learning…

End-of-year celebrations and holiday performances can be a tremendous source of joy and accomplishment for a dance studio or school dance program. It can also be a source of anxiety for students, teachers, and families navigating time pressures and expectations. The author provides some guidelines for moving through the holiday season with a…

The purpose of this article is to reflect upon how a trauma-informed education is intimately connected with equity and justice. I will briefly describe the impacts of trauma on students, specifically on their sense of safety and belonging, and by extension, their ability to engage and learn. I will then offer suggestions for how we, as educators,…

Denise Pope, Sarah Miles, Megan Pacheco, and Caitlin Ciannella explore three major concerns affecting high school students' well-being: stress, sleep deprivation, and lack of belonging. Drawing from research by Challenge Success involving over 270,000 high school students across more than 10 years, they highlight how academic pressure, family…

Stress management programs have been developed to improve teacher coping and prevent burnout. While many of these programs have promise, few have included special educators in intervention studies. Intervention programs may be beneficial for teachers in special education to increase their awareness of stress and use of coping skills, which in turn…

This article explores the importance and value of using recreation therapy (RT) as a way to increase social connection. RT can be incorporated into a school-based environment through a collaboration between members of the individualized education program (IEP) team, including physical educators.

Informed by social science fields including psychology and public health, we propose a Model for Emotional Intelligence to advance biology education research in affective learning. The model offers a shared discourse for biology education researchers to develop and assess evidence-based strategies to perceive, use, understand, and manage emotions…

Youth of color are disproportionately impacted by stressful and traumatic life events, including race-based experiences, which are linked to negative consequences. School is a salient context where youth encounter, witness, and process racial stress and trauma (RST). However, RST is often overlooked within general school-based trauma models. Thus,…

This article provides an overview of wearable technology devices that measure physiological markers associated with stress and their use with children and youth. Tips for teachers and educational team members regarding their use are provided.

Frenetic digital timescapes reduce academic life to the endless achievement of metrics. These forces produce unsustainable work practices that disconnect us from ourselves, from ideas, from the natural world and from each other. While there is a substantial body of literature critiquing this, the use of arts-based inquiry into academic work is…

Contemplative practices are becoming more common in educational environments for attending to whole-student learning, fostering empathy, and promoting social justice and socially just pedagogues. This conversation explores how holistic approaches facilitate and expand the parameters of sociological pedagogy to integrate humanist pedagogies and…

This article examines the interaction between physiological arousal, negative emotions, and the athlete's performance. It describes how heart rate, physiological arousal, emotions, the sympathetic nervous system, and performance are interconnected and explains how warm-ups prepare athletes for optimal training and competition. The article also…