Elementary school is a time of tremendous growth and development in students’ social skills and peer relations. However, many students with poor social skills don’t receive the help they need. The reach of traditional in-person social-skills training is limited and there are a number of logistical barriers to implementation. Technology-based interventions provide the opportunity to reduce these barriers.
This study focuses on Adventures Aboard S.S.GRIN, a game-based online social-skills training program that is designed to improve social and academic outcomes for elementary school students. The Adventures program offers instructional episodes that are set within an appealing story narrative: the player is a new recruit on a sailing ship who joins the crew and travels around an island, interacting with a host of characters and engaging in social problem solving to address plot conflicts and save friendships on the island.
The key research questions are:
- Is the Adventures Aboard S.S.GRIN program effective in improving students’ social-emotional skills?
- Does it increase students’ self-efficacy for social situations?
- Does it improve academic performance?
The project will conduct a randomized controlled trial. Classrooms will be randomly assigned to one of two conditions — a treatment condition using the Adventures Aboard S.S.GRIN program or a control condition that uses the school’s business-as-usual program. Third grade students in California will participate in this study. Participating students in the treatment condition will play the Adventures program once per week for 30–45 minutes each for nine weeks.
The Adventures Aboard S.S.GRIN program is intended to increase students’ self-efficacy for social situations and improve social-emotional skills, which will result in improved academic performance, and ultimately reduced dropout rates.
Related Resources
Building Social-Emotional Skills Through Game-Based Virtual Learning
To determine the efficacy of the digital program, Adventures Aboard the S.S. GRIN, WestEd conducted a randomized control study with third-grade students. This infographic shows the positive impact of the digital program that WestEd found using internal and third-party assessments. On average, Adventures Aboard the S.S.GRIN benefited all students demonstrating that the program is an appropriate resource for all learners.
Adventures Aboard the S.S.GRIN: improved SEL during the pandemic
This research brief summarizes the positive findings from the WestEd Social Skills Training Study during the pandemic for district leads, principals, teachers, and other school practitioners. This specific efficacy study was conducted by WestEd in the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 school years and funded by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES).
Flynn, K., Li,L., & DeRosier, M. (2021). Positive Impacts of a Digital Social and Emotional Learning Platform Amidst COVID-19 School Closures. Paper presented in How Can Children Optimize Their Online Learning Experiences with Educational Technology? symposium at the 2021 SRCD Biennial Meeting, Virtual.
Li, L., Flynn,K., & Weiser, G. (2021). Positive Impacts of a Digital Social-Emotional Learning Platform and Successful Implementation Amidst COVID-19 School Closures. Paper presented in Social-Emotional Learning Impacts in Various School Contexts symposium at the 2021 AERA Conference, Virtual.
Li, L., Flynn, K., DeRosier, M., Weiser, G., & Austin-King, K. (2021). Social-Emotional Learning Amidst COVID-19 School Closures: Positive Findings from an Efficacy Study of Adventures Aboard the S.S.GRIN Program. Frontiers in Education, 6 Article 683142.
Li, L., & Flynn, K. (2020). Engaging Districts to Inform High Quality Implementation of a Game-based Social Skills Training Program. Paper presented at the 2020 AERA Conference, San Francisco, CA.