Mindup kindergarten
Research has also suggested that mindfulness programs are feasible and acceptable for diverse groups of youth (Flook et al., 2015 Poehlmann-Tynan et al., 2016). A growing body of research has shown positive effects on executive functions (Black 2015 Dunning et al., 2019), mental health (Black, 2015 Kallapiran et al., 2015 Zoogman et al., 2015), academic performance (Bakosh et al., 2016), and socioemotional outcomes (e.g., self-regulation, stress reduction) (Black, 2015 Flook et al., 2015). Mindfulness-based SEL programs are increasingly being used with children and adolescents to support a range of health, academic, and social outcomes. Mindfulness-based SEL programs aim to develop these competencies through the cultivation of children’s ability to pay attention to the present moment with curiosity and nonjudgment (Bakosh et al., 2016 Kabat‐Zinn, 2003). Social and emotional learning (SEL) programs in the schools focus on developing a wide range of students’ interpersonal, self-regulatory, and emotional competencies. Results of the present study add to the growing knowledge base on the positive effects of school-based mindfulness programs and point to a need for more rigorous inquiry into the extent to which students and teachers are engaged with mindfulness programs both during the program itself and in their day to day functioning.
Descriptive analyses suggest that outcomes tended to be more positive in classrooms with higher levels of teacher and student engagement. Program outcomes were not associated with child sex or race/ethnicity, but did vary by grade. Results indicated that the mindfulness program was associated with significant improvements in teacher ratings of externalizing and prosocial behaviors. The present study investigated the effects of an 8-week (16 session) school-based mindfulness program for young children across 8 classrooms (K through 2) using a quasi-experimental delayed-intervention control group design. She explains the underlying rationale behind MindUp is that happy, well-adjusted children have a more-enhanced ability to learn and flourish, and that once taught, and with regular practice, children are able to use MindUP exercises whenever they feel the need.Schools are an attractive setting for implementation of mindfulness-based programs because mindfulness practices, by their very nature, align with a wide range of core educational goals.
“MindUp strategies are not separate from learning, it is part of learning,” says Ms McColskey. Exercises include strategies that help children to focus on their breathing, an age-old exercise in finding calm and balance. University studies involving hundreds of educators in the US and Canada underpins that consistent classroom use of MindUP strategies create more optimistic classrooms, and foster positive cultures in schools. Developed by the Hawn Foundation in the US with collaboration from early childhood specialists, MindUP provides a set of social, emotional, and self-regulatory strategies and skills developed for pre-kindergarten through eighth-grade students to cultivate well-being and emotional balance.