Giving Another Purpose to Sport: Teaching Social and Emotional Learning Through the Sociocultural Curriculum Model

Abstract

Sports are well known to provide students the opportunity to practice social and emotional skill sets that they will use in everyday life. However, student participation in high school–sanctioned extracurricular activities has decreased exponentially in the past 10 years. Many teachers, parents and administrators hypothesize that today’s students have social and emotional challenges post-COVID-19. They might struggle with basic social skills, such as cooperation, sportsmanship and empathy. Coincidence? Some researchers even hypothesize that an increased emphasis on academic performance in schools has led to a slight decline in other developmental areas, such as behavior and stress management. Social and emotional learning (SEL) implementation has become a significant priority for many school administrators and staff. The sociocultural curriculum model (SCCM) uses sport as a platform to teach SEL to physical education students. It gives educators practical application of standards-based teaching practices to their current physical education classroom. The current article will give purpose to this curriculum and detail its application in a regular school setting.