Mindfulness In Schools Research Articles

Schools, mindfulness, and metacognition: A view from developmental psychology

ABSTRACTThe widespread introduction of mindfulness programs into schools and preschools is occurring in the absence of any developmental perspective on the practice. With the aim of providing educators with a theoretical basis for considering the application of mindfulness in schools, this article extends a recent model of mindfulness as metacognition, linking it with Piagetian, Vygotskian, and dynamic systems theories of development. The extended model is holistic, taking into account research on children’s metacognitive development and recent views of cognition as both embodied and culturally embedded. Research to date suggests that the metacognitive abilities of young children are unlikely to be sufficiently developed to support contemplative mindfulness practice, though this remains to be tested empirically. Knowledge about its efficacy, effectiveness, and safety with children is also lacking. The presented model may provide a basis for future empirical research on children’s metacognitive development, including in relation to mindfulness. It is suggested that educators might consider a noncontemplative version of mindfulness as more appropriate for promoting children’s learning and well-being.

A Causal Model of Enabling School Structure and School Mindfulness, Mediated by Academic Optimism, Affecting Student Achievement in Upper Secondary Education Schools under the Thailand Office of the Basic Education Commission

The purposes of this study were 1) to study levels of enabling school structure, school mindfulness and academic optimism that affect student achievement in upper secondary education schools under the Office of the Basic Education Commission in Thailand. 2) to develop and determine the concordance of a causal model of enabling school structure and school mindfulness, mediated by academic optimism, affecting student achievement in upper secondary education schools under the Office of the Basic Education Commission in Thailand. The data was collected by using questionnaires of grade 12 teachers under the office of the basic education commission. The participants consisted of 320 teachers from 64 schools. The statistics used in data analysis were descriptive statistics, correlation coefficient analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation model analysis. The finding revealed that 1) The level of enabling school structure, school mindfulness and academic optimism was high 2) a causal relationship model of enabling school structure and school mindfulness, mediated by academic optimism, affecting student achievement in upper secondary education schools under the Office of the Basic Education Commission in Thailand was consisted with the empirical data by considering on Chi=square/df = 0.83, GFI = 0.97, AGFI = 0.95, Standardize RMR = 0.04 and RMSEA = 0.00.

Commentary Regarding Johnson et al. (2017) “A Randomized Controlled Evaluation of a Secondary School Mindfulness Program for Early Adolescents: Do We Have the Recipe Right Yet?”

Commentary Regarding Johnson et al. (2017) “A Randomized Controlled Evaluation of a Secondary School Mindfulness Program for Early Adolescents: Do We Have the Recipe Right Yet?”

A randomized controlled evaluation of a secondary school mindfulness program for early adolescents: Do we have the recipe right yet?

ObjectiveMindfulness is being promoted in schools as a prevention program despite a current small evidence base. The aim of this research was to conduct a rigorous evaluation of the .b (“Dot be”) mindfulness curriculum, with or without parental involvement, compared to a control condition. MethodIn a randomized controlled design, students (Mage 13.44, SD 0.33; 45.4% female) across a broad range of socioeconomic indicators received the nine lesson curriculum delivered by an external facilitator with (N = 191) or without (N = 186) parental involvement, or were allocated to a usual curriculum control group (N = 178). Self-report outcome measures were anxiety, depression, weight/shape concerns, wellbeing and mindfulness. ResultsThere were no differences in outcomes between any of the three groups at post-intervention, six or twelve month follow-up. Between-group effect sizes (Cohen's d) across the variables ranged from 0.002 to 0.37. A wide range of moderators were examined but none impacted outcome. ConclusionsFurther research is required to identify the optimal age, content and length of mindfulness programs for adolescents in universal prevention settings. Trial registrationACTRN12615001052527.

Book Review: Mindfulness and yoga in schools: A guide for teachers and practitioners by Catherine P. Cook-Cottone

Book Review: <i>Mindfulness and yoga in schools: A guide for teachers and practitioners</i> by Catherine P. Cook-Cottone

Doctor-patient relationship: The impact of mindfulness on empathy

Introduction..The doctor-patient relationship has an increasingly important place in medical studies. Empathy is one of the quality criteria of the relationship. The development of mindfulness in medical schools is booming.ObjectivesTo investigate the relation between empathy and mindfulness among residents and doctors.Methods.Doctors and residents were asked to complete a demographic questionnaire – questions on their personal development practices – and two scales. The Mindful Awareness Warning Scale (MAAS) is a unidimensional scale measuring attention and mindfulness and Jefferson Physician Empathy Scale (JSPE) is a scale measuring the clinical empathy across 3 dimensions: “perspective taking”, “compassionate care” and “in the patient's shoes”. Multivariate linear regressions were performed to analyse the correlation between each score of JSPE and explanatory variables.Results.One hundred ninety-three questionnaires were analyzed: 87% were general practitioners, the average age was 34 years old (SD 11) and 69% were women. Regarding personal development practices, 18% practised mindfulness meditation regularly or occasionally (23% for yoga and 31% for relaxation). No correlation between the scores of JSPE and the MAAS score was found. However, doctors who practiced mindfulness had a highest score of “compassionate care” (95% CI [1.26; 4.91], P = 0.0012).Conclusions.The mindfulness would be an effective tool for the development of the welfare of the doctors, and improving the quality of empathy and therapeutic efficacy. To support these data, it would be interesting to conduct an interventional study by offering French doctors and interns the possibility of following courses of mindfulness.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Mindfulness in Education: Using and Teaching Mindfulness in Schools

More than two decades ago, I started my career as an elementary educator, working mainly with students who displayed emotional and behavioral problems. The stress that many of these children were u...

From me to we: Revolutionising Mindfulness in Schools

The practice of mindfulness adapts Buddhist meditation to everyday life. It seems effective at managing depression and anxiety, and is taught in schools to boost resilience and grades. Mostly, this prioritises calm. Students learn to focus on themselves, without Buddhist teachings on ethics or interdependence. This limits the scope for transformation. Whilst it can help to share techniques to cope with stress, it would be more insightful to target its causes not just symptoms. Instead, a fixation on self gets reinforced, which serves the prevailing market system. The onus is on individuals to be more resilient, instead of changing how things work. Widening inequality and a volatile climate are communal expressions of the roots of suffering, identified by Buddhists as greed, hatred and delusion. If mindfulness in schools were to cultivate ‘moral and civic virtues’, as British members of parliament argue it should, it could foster compassionate ‘pro-social’ action.

INTRODUCTION TO THE SPECIAL ISSUE: MINDFULNESS IN THE SCHOOLS—HISTORICAL ROOTS, CURRENT STATUS, AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS

This article provides an introduction to the special issue on mindfulness in the schools by discussing the historical roots, current status, and future directions of mindfulness‐based work related to youth and their caregivers. Definitions are provided to operationalize mindfulness and mindfulness‐based interventions (MBIs); key events in the movement of MBIs from clinical settings to school settings are summarized; and the upshot of current MBI‐related work in schools is provided from both popular and scientific perspectives. Finally, an agenda for future research regarding mindfulness in schools is provided, followed by introducing and briefly discussing the target articles of this special issue.

Preliminary Development and Validation of the Mindful Student Questionnaire

Research validating mindfulness-based interventions with youths and in schools is growing, yet research validating measures of youths’ mindfulness in schools has received far less empirical attention. The present study makes the case for and reports on the preliminary development and validation of a new, 15-item, multidimensional, self-report measure of youths’ mindfulness that is closely connected with theory and specifically targeted to school settings: the Mindful Student Questionnaire (MSQ). The MSQ was piloted with a target sample of 278 adolescents in Grades 6 to 8 and subjected to a series of structural and convergent validity analyses. Findings indicated that responses to the MSQ were characterized by a theoretically coherent three-factor latent structure—representing mindful attention, mindful acceptance, and approach and persistence behavior—and that resulting scale scores were characterized by robust internal consistency and positive concurrent associations with criterion indicators of student subjective wellbeing and academic achievement. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.

Mindful Learning: A Case Study of Langerian Mindfulness in Schools.

The K-12 classroom applications of mindfulness as developed by Ellen Langer are discussed in a case study of a first-year charter school. Langerian Mindfulness, which is the act of drawing distinctions and noticing novelty, is deeply related to well-being and creativity, yet its impact has yet to be tested at the primary or secondary school level. The objective of the article is to display how Langerian Mindfulness strategies could increase 21st century skills and Social-Emotional Learning in primary classrooms. The New School San Francisco, an inquiry-based, socioeconomically and racially integrated charter school, serves as a model for mindful teaching and learning strategies. It is concluded that when mindful strategies are implemented, students have significant opportunities to exercise the 21st century skills of creativity, collaboration, communication and critical thinking. Langerian Mindfulness is also considered as a tool for increasing Social-Emotional Learning in integrated classrooms. It is recommended that mindful interventions be further investigated in the primary and secondary school context.

Students and Teachers Benefit from Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction in a School-Embedded Pilot Study.

Objective: There is a research gap in studies that evaluate the effectiveness of a school-embedded mindfulness-based intervention for both students and teachers. To address this gap, the present pilot study reviews relevant literature and investigates whether students and teachers who participate in separate Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) courses show improvements across a variety of psychological variables including areas of mental health and creativity.Methods: The study applied a controlled waitlist design with three measurement points. A total of 29 students (n = 15 in the intervention and n = 14 in the waitlist group) and 29 teachers (n = 14 in the intervention and n = 15 in the waitlist group) completed questionnaires before and after the MBSR course. The intervention group was also assessed after a 4-month follow-up period.Results: Relative to the control group, significant improvements in self-reported stress, self-regulation, school-specific self-efficacy and interpersonal problems were found among the students who participated in the MBSR course (p < 0.05, Cohens' d ranges from 0.62 to 0.68). Medium effect sizes on mindfulness, anxiety and creativity indicate a realistic potential in those areas. By contrast, teachers in the intervention group showed significantly higher self-reported mindfulness levels and reduced interpersonal problems compared to the control group(p < 0.05, Cohens' d = 0.66 and 0.42, respectively), with medium effect sizes on anxiety and emotion regulation.Conclusion: The present findings contribute to a growing body of studies investigating mindfulness in schools by discussing the similarities and differences in the effects of MBSR on students and teachers as well as stressing the importance of investigating interpersonal effects.

The Relationship between Principals’ Influence Tactics and Teachers’ Organizational Citizenship Behaviors and School Mindfulness in Primary Schools

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between school principals’ influence tactics, teachers’ organizational citizenship behaviors and school mindfulness through teachers’ perception. In the study, relational survey method was employed. The study population consists of teachers employed in primary schools in Ankara’s Altindag, Cankaya, Etimesgut, Golbasi, Kecioren, Mamak, Sincan and Yenimahalle sub-districts of Ankara during the 2012-2013 academic year. The sample that represents this group was determined by means of stratified sampling. The sample of the study includes 785 teachers. The Influence Behavior Questionnaire-Target, the Organizational Citizenship Behavior Scale and the School Mindfulness Scale were employed to collect data. SPSS 13.00 and Lisrel 8.80 software were used to analyse the collected data. Pearson Moments Product Correlation Coefficient, multiple linear and hierarchical regression analysis were applied. As a result of the study research it is observed that there is a meaningful relationship between school principals’ influence tactics, teachers’ organizational citizenship behaviors and school mindfulness. In the study, it has been determined that school mindfulness does not exhibit a mediation effect between influence tactics and organizational citizenship behaviors.

Kirke Olson: The Invisible Classroom: Relationships, Neuroscience and Mindfulness in School. W. W. Norton, New York, 2014, 232 pp

Kirke Olson: The Invisible Classroom: Relationships, Neuroscience and Mindfulness in School. W. W. Norton, New York, 2014, 232 pp

Including children’s perceptions from meditation in a discussion about reflective practices in education

This paper is a co-constructed narrative comprising of inputs from children and their teachers and contextualisation from the embedded position of the chief investigator in this study to gain insights into how a group of class of Year 5-6 primary school students experienced meditation. The study is situated in a Buddhist Religious Instruction class, where learning was conducted inside a designated weekly half hour session. In accordance with the cultivation of individual responsibility and executive function that is the ethos of Buddhist pedagogy participating students and their volunteer teacher were invited into the research as research inquirers. Again the tradition exhorts the role of an experienced teacher to guide what can become an intrapersonal learning journey through meditation. At a time where mindfulness exercises and permutations have captured the public imaginary, and where educators are showing increasing interest, the discussion is timely. While the study is directed towards secular and plural educational applications, reference to the tradition that has borne mindfulness alerts the field to some considerations as to how the uptake of mindfulness in schools might be applied with further rigour and integrity. Further, the utilisation of children’s drawings of happiness scales and their added narratives offers a way in which research into the interior experiences of children might be conducted. Their insights from experience in meditation supports findings from clinical studies with children, and poses a viable addition to current reflective, wellbeing and resilience strategies in education.

The invisible classroom: relationships, neuroscience &amp; mindfulness in school

The invisible classroom: relationships, neuroscience &amp; mindfulness in school

Behold: Silence and Attention in Education

Educators continually ask about the best means to engage students and how best to capture attention. These concerns often make the problematic assumption that students can directly govern their own attention. In order to address the role and limits of attention in education, some theorists have sought to recover the significance of silence or mindfulness in schools, but I argue that these approaches are too simplistic. A more fundamental examination of our conceptions of identity and agency reveals a Cartesian and Kantian foundationalism. This assumed subjectivity establishes too simplistic a conception of the agency of students in directing attention. I critically engage with these conceptions by drawing on a range of diverse sources, primarily modern Continental philosophy and Christian mystical theology.

Mindfulness, Body Scan, Narrative, and Mentalization in the New York City Schools

Mindfulness, Body Scan, Narrative, and Mentalization in the New York City Schools

Mindfulness in schools: Taking present practice into account

An increasing number of studies indicate the potential benefits of mindfulness-based interventions for children and adolescents in educational settings (Burke, 2009; Harnett & Dawe, 2012; Meiklejohn et al., 2012). Such benefits include improved academic performance, classroom participation and attention as well as reductions in levels of stress, anxiety and depression (Meiklejohn et al., 2012; Schoeberlein & Sheth, 2009).

Implementing mindfulness and yoga in urban schools: a community-academic partnership

Purpose – Mindfulness-based interventions – which train capacities for attention, awareness, compassion, and self-regulation of thoughts and emotions – may offer unique benefits for urban youth exposed to chronic stress and adversity. Urban schools are promising settings in which to integrate mindfulness-based interventions; however, they pose complex challenges for intervention implementation and evaluation. Design/methodology/approach – The paper reflects on the experiences of our community-academic partnership conducting two school-based randomised trials on a mindfulness and yoga programme. The programme was developed by the Holistic Life Foundation and was delivered to middle school students in public schools serving disadvantaged urban communities. Findings – This paper discusses barriers and facilitating factors related to effective intervention delivery and evaluation, presents recommendations for future work and reflects on the potential benefits of mindfulness-based practices for students, teachers and schools. Originality/value – The paper offers a detailed account of challenges and opportunities associated with implementing mindfulness-based practices in urban school settings.