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Collect data, study results, and evaluate outcomes using the best Data Collection Tool

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Create

Craft smart questionnaires with the proper questions to gather data

Collect

Gather and assimilate data by employing various sharing channels

Study

Slice and dice data to uncover valuable insights from the responses

Act

Take actionable measures based on the rich insights yielded

What are Data Collection Tools

Data collection is gathering & evaluating data in an orderly manner to obtain perspectives that help you answer questions. Data collection tools form the crux of various projects and market research works to gather data and extract insights for validation purposes.

The data collection tool employed varies significantly on the objective of data collection. There are multiple techniques for collecting data, and each comes with a set of merits and demerits. The goal remains the same, the path to reach there varies!

The various data collection techniques are:

Surveys

Interviews

Observation

While interviews provide quality information and insights into customer behavior, it is a time-exhaustive process that doesn't hold true for a large population. Very often, quality responses are received only if a comfort level and rapport are established between the interviewer and interviewee. Observation technique is relatively inexpensive, but the reliability and authenticity of this technique are not precise.

Surveys, on the other hand, combine all the positive aspects of the said techniques and is a simple data collection methodology. A step more, online surveys have become powerful data collection tools in gathering crucial feedback. Employing online surveys as your data collection tool offers a plethora of advantages. The ability to collect customer feedback from a mass audience, the flexibility to take the survey anytime one wishes, instant data collection, high quality of data collected are some of the many merits an online survey as a data collection tool offers.

How to Employ Data Collection Tools

For successfully collecting data using data collection tools, having a robust laid-out plan is crucial. Identifying and setting out clear objectives is essential to get started with your data collection process. Here are some pointers on how to jump-start the process with the best data collection tools.

Identify the Objective

Before any other step, one must identify the goal of the data collection process. The whole process can bear fruit only if the objective is laid out.

Identify the Target Audience

Once the goal is set, identify whom you are seeking to collect data from. This is crucial to gain quality responses from the survey.

Pick your Data Collection Tool

The choice of the data collection tool depends heavily on the nature of the objective and target audience. Ensure to pick the apt data collection tool to achieve success.

Study Data, Gather Insights

Once the information is captured, employ a data collection tool which can extract out valuable insights and give you clear perspectives.

Get me started with the best Data Collection Tool

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Must-have Features of Data Collection Tools

Collecting data, be it for research purpose or business, is never a simple task. Most often, there are many hurdles to be traversed to assemble quality data. Thus the choice of data collection tool cannot be taken lightly. Here are some benchmark features which any data collection tool must possess for successfully gathering data.

Diverse Question Types to collect accurate feedback

Diverse Question Types

When you ask the right questions in an apt manner, you get the precise answers. The data collection tool you opt for must offer a diverse range of question types. This includes multiple choice questions, rating scale, opinion scale and so on. Open-ended questions like these give immense scope to your audience to provide accurate answers.

Detailed reports to draw valuable conclusions

Reports & Insights

Opt for data collection tools that not only collects data for you efficiently but also help you gather rich insights from it. The process of gathering data is finished only when the insights inferred help to throw perspectives on the objective. A data collection tool that can provide detailed reports, graphical representation and so on is an ideal option. Extract pertinent information and take actionable measures.

Multiple channels to share surveys

Share Options

When you collect data, it must be ensured that your survey questionnaires receive maximum visibility and reach. Pick a data collection tool that has multiple sharing channels to share your questionnaires. Email survey, social media, SMS, weblinks are few of the share options a data collection tool must offer. More the visibility, better are your chances for collecting higher volumes of quality data.

Conditional Branching to pose relevant questions

Conditional Branching

Accurate answers find their way into your data pool only when you ask relevant questions. When you bombard people with irrelevant questions, they may leave your survey midway or even worse, not take it up at all. Data collection tools that offer conditional branching feature skip irrelevant questions and poses only the right ones to the audience. This translates into higher responses rates with cleaner data.

SurveySparrow as Your Data Collection Tool

Now you know the whats, whens, ifs, and hows relating to data collection, take a moment to read on and find out why SurveySparrow is the best data collection tool you can lay your hands on.

Diverse Question Types

SurveySparrow's data collection tool offers a host of distinct question types to suit all purposes and capture accurate responses from your audience. Loaded with open-ended questions like MCQs, star rating, scale rating, image type questions and more, collect honest feedback.

Share Options

Emails, multiple unique weblinks, social media, SMS, you name it, SurveySparrow's data collection tool offers it. Send out your survey questionnaire to your target audience through multiple channels to receive maximum responses and data.

Online Panel Audience

Identifying your target audience is crucial to obtain the right data. Pick your audience by profiling them based on based on age, gender, education, employment and so on. SurveySparrow's data collection tool provides panel audience from across the globe, to cater every need!

Reports & Insights

SurveySparrow's data collection tool comes with a rich dashboard that you can fully utilize to sift out refined information from raw data. With detailed reports, graphs, pie-charts and more, get a panoramic view by employing the data collection tool.

Recurring Surveys

Do you wish to send out survey questionnaires to your audience periodically? If the thought of manually sending it repeatedly is putting you off, we have some bright news for you! SurveySparrow's data collection tool offers the recurring survey feature to send out pulse surveys at the set time and frequency of your choice.

Collecting data is never a simple process. Thus your data collection tool must facilitate feedback collection both online and offline; for the latter, our offline survey app is present right on point. Hop on board and kick-start your data collection with SurveySparrow to do just that and much more!

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SurveySparrow is an awesome survey software when it comes to completion rate. It helped me get 93% of completion rate for my recent survey, which I got below 25% with another tool.

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Data Collection Tools | Online Data Collection Tools | SurveySparrow

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Collect data, study results, and evaluate outcomes using the best Data Collection Tool Free Forever * Cancel Anytime * No Credit Card Required Create Craft smart questionnaires with the proper questions to gather data Collect Gather and assimilate data by employing various sharing channels Study Slice and dice data to uncover valuable insights from the responses Act Take actionable measures based on the rich insights yielded Data collection is gathering & evaluating data in an orderly manner to obtain perspectives that help you answer questions.

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What are Data Collection & Analysis Tools? | ASQ

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Data collection and analysis tools, like control charts, histograms, and scatter diagrams, help quality professionals collect and analyze data. Learn more at ASQ.org.

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Education for Today and Tomorrow | L'Education Aujourd'hui et Demain

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The typical image of math class conjures up a scene of students bent studiously over worksheets, working out problems on paper. Imagine a math class where kids are hopping up and down, swinging their arms side to side, and shouting out numbers. They're laughing and enjoying themselves-and they're still learning their multiplication tables.

That's the image with which Math and Movement, a decade-old program based in upstate New York, wants educators to work. "If kids are moving, they're having fun," says Kim McCullough, senior director of operations and marketing at Math and Movement. "If a kid is sitting there, the work is mundane. But when they're up and moving, it's fun. It has emotional impact." The physical exercise also increases blood flow and increases oxygen in the brain. "It gets the synapses firing," says McCullough.

Researchers at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, found, that when a child uses their whole body while learning, they improve at math, regardless of whether the impact of the activity is high or low. After the six-week study, students who learned while doing whole body movement saw math skills increase by nearly eight percent. They had about four more correct responses than the baseline, and twice as much improvement as the sedentary group.

The Math and Movement program is for students from kindergarten to grade five. "We really focus on kids learning multiplications," McCullough says. "Generally they can multiply by 1, 2 and 4 pretty easily, but 6, 7, 8,9 is harder." McCullough was an elementary teacher for several years before joining Math and Movement full time. She even used the program in her own class for a couple years before making the switch. "I just fell in love with it because I can't sit still and I never had that expectation of my students either."

The Math and Movement program has two parts: Active Math and Skip Counting. Usually, one of the 20 representatives across the U.S. will head into a school to run a session or a workshop, either with kids, parents or educators. The program starts with what they call Active Math. "We do a whisper-shout counting exercise with cross body movements, whispering some numbers and shouting others," McCullough explains. "So, maybe they pretend to be a soccer player." And let's say they're working on multiplication of four. They kick right with the left leg, whisper one. Kick left wit the right leg, whisper two. Head butt, whisper three. "Then they clap their hands and shout four." They repeat the exercise right up to number 40 (Math and Movement chooses to work with multiples of 10 before starting with a multiplication of, say, six.)

This physical exercise and repetition of movements, coupled with the emphasis on specific numbers, really helps kids memorize the information. But that cross-body action also plays an important role. "Anytime you cross the midline of your body, you're stimulating the left and right hemispheres of the brain. Both sides are active and engaged," says McCullough. This goes completely against the traditional model of learning. "Most of the time in math, we only use one side of the brain." But not all kids learn that way. Some kids can, says McCullough, but all those who don't learn that way still need to learn it of course.

Unfortunately, this method of instruction isn't a cure-all. The same University of Copenhagen research group found students who weren't particularly good at math prior to the study did not get any added benefit, so they stress the need for individualization whenever possible.

Luckily, the type of alternative learning that McCullough strives for can be altered to fit the interests of individual students. "We try to pick different movements that may appeal to different kids," she says. "So maybe they're a rocket going into space, or a cat shaking its tail. Allow the kids to personalize the movement. They can take ownership. They're more invested." Therefore, they're much more interested and likely to digest the information. "It's all about bringing it to the level and attention of the kids in the class."

Once they've done a few whisper-shout counting exercises, Math and Movement participants move onto mats that feature a large grid of numbers. Students can jump square to square, or skip a few to find out total sums. "So maybe they jump up six squares four times to land on number 24," McCullough explains.

All of this increases stimulation and returns the fun to learning. Students can pretend to be soccer players making a goal, or cats playing with yarn, or maybe a rocketship preparing for take-off. Developing a strong mathematical foundation, especially one in multiplication, is beneficial for almost all types of math down the road. "Multiplication fluency leads to mastery of all other math skills," McCullough says. "Fractions in grade five are a lot easier if they can do multiplications, because they have that foundation to do it easily and quickly in their head." So go ahead, get those kids into hockey player or pony mode and get multiplying.
Martha Beach is a graduate of Ryerson University's journalism program. Currently, she is a freelance writer and factchecker in Toronto.

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The typical image of math class conjures up a scene of students bent studiously over worksheets, working out problems on paper. Imagine a math class where kids are hopping up and down, swinging their arms side to side, and shouting out numbers. They're laughing and enjoying themselves-and they're still learning their multiplication tables.

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With a new school year beginning, many students are expected to rapidly transition from months full of activity and movement to a classroom that relies-primarily-on stasis. This can be a problem, especially when considering that the persistent demand for teachers to do more with their students has, unfortunately, pushed schools into thinking that movement and free play are just wasted time.

But studies show that children who are more active exhibit better focus, faster cognitive processing, and more successful memory retention than kids who spend the day sitting still. Keeping the body active promotes mental clarity by increasing blood flow to the brain, making activity vital to both learning and physical and neurological health.

The problem is that there aren't enough hands. Many educators know how important movement is, but don't have the classroom support to safely handle active children throughout the day.

Fortunately, teachers can take advantage of several opportunities to keep children active during the school day-without needing additional help to keep things under control.

Why Sitting Shouldn't Be the Standard

Sitting still and being quiet have always been schoolhouse rules. In recent years, the mantra has gained more steam with worries that today's children lack focus or aren't grounded enough in what has been dubbed an age of distraction. A 2011 study by researchers at Duke University found that a student's capacity to concentrate is one of the best predictors of success. The researchers studied more than 1,000 children in New Zealand over a period of eight years to track their ability to pay attention, then followed up with them as adults to measure their health and financial stability. Those with more self-control were less likely to have difficulty with money or health problems.

Given the endless media streams from devices like smartphones, iPads, and iPods, it's no surprise that children today seem less focused than kids 30 years ago. But tying them down is not the solution. Over the past few decades, the time schools have dedicated to physical education and recess has steadily decreased. Yet experts agree that children need at least 60 minutes of physical activity each day. With this in mind, savvy teachers are increasingly making physical activity an important part of their lesson plans.

Play and movement give kids the chance to release stress and take breaks from the rigor of schoolwork. While it's important for children to learn how to work while sitting still, we also need to realize when our bodies are telling us to take a break-even as adults.

I learned the necessity of movement for myself in my college years. I retained a lot from sitting and focusing for two hours, but gained much less if forced to sit for five hours at a stretch. This knowledge has translated to my own work as a school-based physical therapist. I now help children and adolescents (and their parents) access specific strategies that can lead them to a more productive lifestyle.

Making Time for Activity

Discipline and order in classrooms help shape children's habits and rules of behavior early on in their lives-and these needs are not very different from what we need as adults. At work, you may hear co-workers say, "I'm going outside to get some fresh air for a few minutes" or "I need to take a walk to clear my head."

A quick 15-minute break helps adults tackle the rest of their day, and the same is true for children. More importantly, physical engagement helps children build the foundations of their social skills, particularly for children who are naturally shy or have difficulty with certain developmental areas. Kids can learn empathy by sharing, and build self-esteem and leadership skills by strategizing and working as part of a team.

Daily activity also helps boost balance, motor function, brain function, and cognition. According to a growing body of research, movement increases blood and oxygen flow, which positively affects cognitive development, physical health, and mental well-being.

I have supported teachers by teaching them how to use media in the classroom for breaks. YouTube is a great resource for finding videos to guide movement breaks and exercises. Teachers can also allow for free dance or movement periods during their classes.

Here are a few other ways teachers can seize opportunities that allow children to be more active:

1. Set ground rules for play.

Inviting children to move around more in the classroom can feel like inviting pandemonium. But as with all new strategies, the key is to set ground rules so children know what to expect. Before inviting them to move about, explain the purpose of an exercise that requires physical activity. Plan lessons and activities-even non-educational ones like jumping jacks-beforehand with clear objectives, time limits, and a backup plan in case the activity doesn't go as expected.

2. Make learning activities more active.

Create gallery walks in which children must travel around the room to observe visual aids for different parts of a lesson. Have children form groups to discuss and answer lesson questions, then have them write their answers on the board. Play board games tied to the current lesson and include spaces that call for students to do push-ups or jumping jacks. Making children carry their assignments to your desk, rather than passing them forward, can also introduce more movement into their day.

3. Encourage periodic breaks.

Midmorning snacks are an important way for adults to hold their hunger in check until lunch, and kids should have the same opportunity. Hunger can be one of the biggest distractions to learning, and offering snacks can also be a physical activity. Line up juice and snacks on a table at one end of the room, and have children take their refreshments back to their desks or to another designated area for some variety.

4. Take midday walks.

Taking a quick walk outside can do wonders to help lift the fog from a child's brain. If possible, plan lessons that can occur outside, or incorporate a 10- to 15-minute window around noon for the class to take a walk around campus. Walking offers fresh air and is one of the simplest and most effective forms of everyday physical activity.

There's a long way to go before incorporating physical activity into general lesson plans becomes the norm. In my practice, therapeutic play that emphasizes physical activity is paramount for children to acquire important cognitive and physical skills. When kids are moving, they're having more fun, often making lessons feel less like work.

However, we can't just state that activity is good for learning; we also have to prove it by tracking the performance and development of children who are more active. Once we begin to measure these effects, we can better understand how to implement activities into the broader educational system and better gauge which ones will give children the greatest health and learning benefits.

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Learning in Motion: Bring Movement Back to the Classroom (Opinion)

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With a new school year beginning, many students are expected to rapidly transition from months full of activity and movement to a classroom that relies-primarily-on stasis. This can be a problem, especially when considering that the persistent demand for teachers to do more with their students has, unfortunately, pushed schools into thinking that movement and free play are just wasted time.

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Introduction to Learning

How do we learn? Have you ever really thought about the biological process of learning? Have you heard people talking about 'making connections' with new information?

You can think of your mind like a super highway with electrical roads connecting to 'cities' of information. The more roads that lead to a set of information, the stronger the connection with that information. The stronger the connection, the easier the recall of that information. What is learning but storing information in our memory in such a way as to make recall easy? And, the more parts of the brain that are used when learning, the more connections there are to the piece of information. Just like in the real world, the more roads there are leading to a city, the easier it is to get to.

Let's explore ways to incorporate movement with math. Why? Well, movement requires brain activity, and the more active our brains are during learning, the stronger the connections with the new material. It is also true that the more active you are, the more alert are. By keeping students active and alert, they are in a much better position to internalize the mathematical concepts being presented.

Movement and Math

Children love to move; they are wiggly all day long. They can't wait for recess or lunch so they can get up and move. If teachers could harness that movement into academic benefit, think of the opportunities it would give.

Movement in math is an initiative aimed at getting students to use their whole bodies as they learn foundational math skills. This can take the form of synchronized clapping routines for skip counting (the foundations of multiplication tables) or even running around the classroom. By incorporating specific body motions with each math fact, the brain has at least two pathways to get to the information being stored.

Do you know how to ride a bike? Could you explain it to someone else? Probably not, but your muscles remember how to do it and pick up the skill quickly even after a long time away from a bicycle. The same is true for repeated motor function routines linked to math skills. The act of repeating the same hand gestures or body motions actually ties the math facts to those gestures, so that when the child claps his hands or taps a toe the information automatically becomes available.

Examples of Movement in Math

Movement in math can be used with students of any age. Some applications at the earliest stage of learning are:

A hopscotch mat for learning numbers: Students must jump from the number 1 to the number 10 consecutively.

Clapping for number skipping: Students say all numbers in order, but clap on each target number (like the twos or threes).

Cat and Mouse Addition (or any operation really): All students have a number pinned to their backs. A cat is chosen and given a math problem to solve. The cat must chase the mice until she has caught a mouse with the correct answer on his or her back.

An example of a movement in math activity at a later academic stage is:

Make the circle: Desks are moved out of the way. A stack of cards are thrown in the air. The cards have an algebra problem on the front and an answer on the back. Students must grab a card, figure out the answer to the question on the front, find the student with the correct answer on the back and form themselves into a circle moving from question to answer to question in order.

Creativity is the key to keeping students' interest and focus as you incorporate movement into your math lessons. Don't forget tools like dice, chalk or markers for the board, sponges for throwing, dots for jumping patterns, colorful mats, or anything that could encourage students to move around.

Mathematical Proficiency Components

There are five components to mathematical proficiency. Let's take a look at each:

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using activities with movement to teach math - video & lesson transcript | study.com

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Using Activities with Movement to Teach Math - Video & Lesson Transcript | Study.com

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How do we learn? Have you ever really thought about the biological process of learning? Have you heard people talking about 'making connections' with new information? You can think of your mind like a super highway with electrical roads connecting to 'cities' of information.

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We hold these truths to be self-evident, that kids need to move around, and creating opportunities to move during math class can pay off in spades.

Therefore, we have a collection of some of our favorite math/movement quick activities to share. These are especially good for K-4, though they're adaptable to older and younger grades too. They provide a dose of movement, fun, and mathematical practice in an abbreviated time frame-perfect for station breaks and transitions.

If we're missing any of your favorites, let us know! A PDF with Common Core tagging is available at our Lessons page.

Teacher-led Games

Student-pair Games

Finger Speed-Sums (1-5 minutes)
Students meet in pairs with one hand behind their back. On the count of three, they each put forward some number of fingers. Whoever says the sum first wins. Then the pair breaks up and each person finds a new person to play with. Advanced players can use two hands instead of just one.

Finger Speed-Differences (1-5 minutes)
Same as speed-sums, except whoever find the difference between the two numbers first wins.

Five High Fives (1 - 2 minutes, or longer with the exploration)
Students try to give a high-five to five different classmates. When they've gotten their five high-fives done, they sit down. This game is part mystery: sometimes it will be possible for everyone to get a high-five; sometimes not. The difference (which the teacher knows but the students don't) is that it is only possible if there are an even number of people giving high-fives. Try this game at different times and let students guess whether they think everyone will get a high-five or not. Why does it only work sometimes, not always?If you make it four or six high-fives instead of five, then everyone will be able to get their high-fives every time.

Why we love these games

Getting kids moving is a win-win. Movement refreshes your students while giving them another take on math concepts. These games are super quick and super fun for everyone.

Tips for the classroom

1. Make sure kids never feel ashamed if they don't already know the right answer. You can also tweak competitive games to make them collaborative.

2. You enthusiasm is critical in these games. Figure out your favorites, and expand on them, or get the students to come up with their own variations. If you're into them and having a good time, the kids will have a good time too.

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Quick Physical Games for the Math Classroom

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We hold these truths to be self-evident, that kids need to move around, and creating opportunities to move during math class can pay off in spades. Therefore, we have a collection of some of our favorite math/movement quick activities to share. These are especially good for K-4, though they're adaptable to older and younger grades too.

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Math & Movement can be used successfully in the classroom, for homeschool, or every day with the family. The activities help children learn math fundamentals and can be adapted for every age group.

Click below to download the activity guides.

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We believe anything can be learned quickly when children believe in themselves. Have your children count by threes for you out loud or with a pencil and paper. Then, watch the Math & Movement demo and try it again to see the result! → Let's Move to the Numbers!

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MindUP

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MindUP - Coming Soon | The Goldie Hawn Foundation

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The Goldie Hawn Foundation is a not-for-profit organization created in response to the global epidemic of childhood aggression, anxiety, depression and suicide. Based firmly in neuroscience, MindUP gives children the knowledge and tools they need to manage stress, regulate emotions and face the challenges of the 21st century with resilience.

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Click this link for the summary

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Why Teaching Mindfulness Benefits Students' Learning | MindShift | KQED News

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Mindfulness has the potential to be a very useful component because of its effectiveness in reducing emotional distress and promoting emotional balance, im

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Click this link for the summary

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Click this link for the summary

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Many educators are introducing meditation into the classroom as a means of improving kids' attention and emotional regulation.

A five-minute walk from the rickety, raised track that carries the 5 train through the Bronx, the English teacher Argos Gonzalez balanced a rounded metal bowl on an outstretched palm. His class-a mix of black and Hispanic students in their late teens, most of whom live in one of the poorest districts in New York City-by now were used to the sight of this unusual object: a Tibetan meditation bell.

"Today we're going to talk about mindfulness of emotion," Gonzalez said with a hint of a Venezuelan accent. "You guys remember what mindfulness is?" Met with quiet stares, Gonzalez gestured to one of the posters pasted at the back of the classroom, where the students a few weeks earlier had brainstormed terms describing the meaning of "mindfulness." There were some tentative mumblings: "being focused," "being aware of our surroundings."

Gonzalez nodded. "Right. But it's also being aware of our feelings, our emotions, and how they impact us."

Arturo A. Schomburg Satellite Academy is what is known in New York City as a transfer school, a small high school designed to re-engage students who have dropped out or fallen behind. This academy occupies two floors of a hulking, grey building that's also home to two other public schools. For the most part, Gonzalez told me, the kids who come here genuinely want to graduate, but attendance is their biggest barrier to success. On the day I visited, one of Gonzalez's students had just been released from jail; one recently had an abortion; one had watched a friend bleed to death from a gunshot wound the previous year. Between finding money to put food on the table and dealing with unstable family members, these students' minds are often crowded with concerns more pressing than schoolwork.

Still holding the bowl, Gonzalez continued with the day's lesson. "I'm going to say a couple of words to you. You're not literally going to feel that emotion, but the word is going to trigger something, it's going to make you think of something or feel something. Try to explore it."

The slightly built, 30-something Gonzalez, who wears a wide smile and a scruffy beard, first learned about mindfulness from his wife, a yoga teacher in schools around the city. His students referred to him by his first name, and Gonzalez addressed them just as informally-greeting them in the morning with a high five and a "Sup," or "How you doing, bro?" or even "Hey, mamma." He told me he strives to make school relevant-explaining what a "motif" is by comparing it to the hook of a rap song, for example-and believes in the value of hands-on teaching, emailing students individually to check in when they don't show up.

"First, sit up straight, put your feet flat on the ground. Let your eyes close." Gonzalez demonstrated as he instructed. Most of the 15 or so students followed suit-though a few scribbled surreptitiously to finish overdue assignments. Gonzalez tapped the bowl and a rich, metallic sound rang out. The class fell quiet as the note reverberated.

"Take a deep breath into your belly. As you breathe in and breathe out, notice that your breath is going to be stronger in a certain part of your body. Maybe it's your belly, your chest, or your nose. We'll begin with trying to count to 10 breaths."

There was silence but for the hiss of the 5 train pulling into the station, the clunk of garbage cans, the faint siren of a police car.

"If you get lost in thought, it's okay. Just come back and count again. Whether you get up to 10 or not doesn't really matter. It's just a way to focus [your] mind."

It may not be the typical way to start an English class, but Gonzalez's students were familiar with these five-minute mindfulness exercises-from counting breaths and focusing on the sensations of breathing, to visualizing thoughts and feelings-that he uses to help train their attention, quiet their thoughts, and regulate their emotions.

Jon Kabat-Zinn, the biologist who first coined the term "mindfulness" in the '70s, defines it as a state of mind: the act of "paying attention on purpose" to the present moment, with a "non-judgmental" attitude. But mindfulness is really a secular philosophy and set of techniques adapted from thousands-of-years-old Buddhist meditation traditions-ones that only recently landed in mainstream Western consciousness. It was Kabat-Zinn who first formally brought mindfulness into a medical setting; he developed the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program, which used specific exercises to help patients dealing with chronic pain and is now widely applied in other therapeutic contexts, and founded the Center for Mindfulness at UMass Medical School.

Mindfulness has also been harnessed in increasingly diverse contexts beyond health care-some uses more legitimate than others. Last year, the Congressman Tim Ryan introduced mindfulness into weekly staff meetings on the Hill, Time published a cover story on the topic, and CNN's Anderson Cooper dedicated a primetime segment to showcasing his own transformative experience at a mindfulness retreat center. Google, General Mills, the Seattle Seahawks, and the U.S. military have all embraced mindfulness as a means of boosting performance and productivity, while its potential as an antidote to the distractions and stress of everyday life is increasingly promoted within the general population and has spurred a cottage industry of books, magazines, and smartphone apps.

Even when the concept of mindfulness was created it was slightly nebulous; now, as it is reappropriated and circulated in the media, it has become even more so. The lack of a universal definition for mindfulness, along with its increasing association with celebrity and vague implications of spirituality, health, and happiness leave some skeptics dismissing it as a superficial, hokey fad. Meanwhile, practicing Buddhists and others who believe strongly in the spiritual roots of mindfulness are concerned that the meditation techniques are being poorly adopted without a proper understanding of the principles behind them, and the long-term commitment they require-a phenomenon they call " McMindfulness."
Mindfulness is widely considered effective as a treatment for children and adolescents with aggression, ADHD, or anxiety.
Still, the body of scientific research illustrating the positive effects of mindfulness training on mental health and well-being-at the level of the brain as well as at the level of behavior-grows steadily more well-established: It improves attention, reduces stress, and results in better emotional regulation and an improved capacity for compassion and empathy. Brain-imaging studies at Harvard and Mass General Hospital have shown that long-term mindfulness training can help thicken the cortical regions related to attention and sensory processing, and may offset thinning of those areas that typically comes with aging. Mindfulness is widely considered effective in psychotherapy as a treatment not just for adults, but also for children and adolescents with aggression, ADHD, or mental-health problems like anxiety. (It remains to be seen whether mindfulness alone is a sufficient replacement for other therapies. In a review last year of 47 different randomized clinical trials, The Journal of the American Medical Association suggested that mindfulness training wasn't any more effective than other types of therapy, like drugs.)

This strong base of research, along with a growing body of supporters, are fueling the momentum behind mindfulness. And as Gonzalez demonstrates, it's now spreading to schools, where it could potentially have an impact on students' well-being; a quarter of American adolescents suffer from a mental disorder, according to a 2010 Johns Hopkins study.

The first major effort to use mindfulness in schools began in the UK in 2007 with a series of fixed lesson plans delivered in classrooms across the country. Interest in the movement has picked up pace since. This past July, Oxford researchers announced plans to launch a large-scale, seven-year, $10 million study on mindfulness in education next year. More than a dozen similar initiatives have sprouted in the U.S., grassroots programs that train teachers in mindfulness and generate their own curricula. Among the two largest are MindUP and Mindful Schools, the California-based nonprofit that trained Gonzalez, which continue to spearhead the country's steadily growing, but piecemeal, mindfulness-in-education movement. Since its founding in 2010, Mindful Schools has trained thousands of teachers through its online programs, most of them in California, New York, and Washington, D.C., who are said to have a total reach of 300,000 students.

After Gonzalez and his wife signed up for one of their six-week courses-Mindful Schools' training is open to any educator or mental-health professional who wants to teach mindfulness to young people-he was able to convince his school administrators to help him pay for a year-long certification program. Through a series of online lectures, weekly breakout sessions, monthly meetings, and two week-long summer retreats, Gonzalez worked on his own mindfulness skills, honing his ability to control his attention and regulate his own emotions while receiving specific guidance on how to teach those same skills to the youth populations he'd be working with. Gonzalez also received training about the biology of the nervous system, child development, and the neuroscientific basis for mindfulness's effects.

Not all mindfulness programs are in schools like Gonzalez's, where large numbers of students have been identified as disordered or disruptive, or struggle with mental-health problems and unstable living situations. Middlesex School, a prestigious boarding school in Massachusetts, requires that all incoming freshmen take a mindfulness course. The program, which was founded by an alumnus who used mindfulness to cope with both sports-related performance anxiety and T-Cell lymphoma, has proven popular among students. A vast majority-97 percent-of students surveyed in 2014 said they would recommend the course to others, reporting benefits ranging from better sleep and diminished stress to increased focus on schoolwork.

Education reformers have long maintained that there is a fundamental connection between emotional imbalance and poor life prospects. As Paul Tough argued and popularized in How Children Succeed, stress early in life can prompt a cascade of negative effects, psychologically and neurologically-poor self-control and underdeveloped executive function, in particular. The U.S. education system's focus on cognitive intelligence-IQ scores and academic skills like arithmetic-undermines the development of equally vital forms of non-cognitive intelligence. This type of intelligence entails dimensions of the mind that are difficult to quantify: It is the foundation of good character, resilience, and long-term life fulfillment. It is this part of the mind that mindfulness seeks to address.

Efforts to implement mindfulness in classrooms haven't always gone smoothly. Some parents and administrators have challenged its use in schools based on its religious roots-and in at least one instance even managed to shut a program down. As mindfulness is used more routinely in the medical sphere, these belief-based critiques are becoming less common. But the lack of evidence demonstrating the long-term academic impact of mindfulness has raised concerns about its role as an educational tool. Given the inherent nebulousness of mindfulness as a concept, and the grassroots status of the movement, these concerns are understandable.

Qualitative evidence touting the benefits of mindfulness in the classroom-like Mindful Schools' encouraging survey results and uplifting anecdotes from participants-is easy to come by, and several short-term research studies on elementary- and middle-school students have shown positive results. But serious questions remain about the overall efficacy of such programs on non-subjective measurements of well-being and academic performance, such as test scores, graduation rates, mental-health referrals, and overall life outcomes.
The mindfulness-in-education movement has a lot in common with, and in many ways complements, the social-and-emotional-learning movement.
The lack of rigorous, robust, and long-term studies on mindfulness is what makes people like the Penn State University psychologist Mark Greenberg cautious. Greenberg works with the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning-one of the groups at the forefront of the two-decade-old social-and-emotional-learning (SEL) movement. The mindfulness-in-education movement has a lot in common with, and in many ways complements, SEL, since both aim to teach children how to build self-awareness, effectively handle their emotions, and empathetically manage their relationships. Unlike mindfulness, however, which takes more of an inside-out approach by helping students to slow down, intentionally focus their attention from moment to moment, and build compassion, SEL works from the outside in, teaching children a set of skills like how to mediate a conflict, or how to verbally express and explain their emotions to improve communication. Research shows that SEL programs alone have boosted kids' academic performance, as well as benefitting them socially and emotionally-but many believe mindfulness should also belong in the SEL toolkit.

Linda Lantieri, who helped found the SEL collaborative and has been working on these issues for decades, argues that the best approach to education combines mindfulness and SEL skills rather than treating one as a sufficient replacement for the other. While Greenberg agrees with Lantieri, he is a sober voice amidst the hype and enthusiasm about mindfulness, earning him the fond title of "curmudgeon" in some circles. "We don't know if these effects last," Greenberg told me. "Right now the promised benefits far exceed the actual findings." He is also concerned that mindfulness is just one "flavor of the month" that may detract attention from SEL programs supported by more substantial evidence. (Greenberg recently co-authored an impressive longitudinal study that followed hundreds of students as they progressed from early childhood through young adulthood and found that poor social-emotional skills in kindergarten helped predict negative outcomes across multiple domains of education, employment, criminal activity, substance use, and mental health.)

Mindful Schools is aware of these criticisms, and is beefing up its research efforts. In 2012, the group worked with a University of California at Davis research team to conduct a randomized controlled study of three elementary schools in Oakland, California. They sent in outside mindfulness instructors for 15 minutes, three times a week, to teach some classrooms but not others, and reported that mindfulness improved students' behavior and ability to focus, as well as teachers' sense of well-being-though the research design had several main points of weakness, mostly involving the challenge of measuring children directly rather than through teacher assessments. Mindful Schools' new research director told me that the group is eager to conduct more studies that are even better-planned, focusing more on the efficacy of the kind of integrated training Gonzalez received. The field is so new that techniques evolve rapidly, constantly going through phases of trial-and-error-so it remains to be seen whether current or future findings can convince skeptics of mindfulness's effectiveness.

Back in the Bronx, after a minute or two of the day's mindfulness exercise, his own eyes also closed, Gonzalez ran through a list of emotions: Happy. Sad. Excited. Mad. Bored. Loving. Worried. Jealous. Silly. The second item on this list seemed to especially resonate with an 18-year-old at the front of the classroom, a young woman with dark skin, shimmering pink lip gloss, and perfectly plucked eyebrows. Sitting up straight with her hands in her lap, her composed posture belied the challenges she faced shortly before transferring to Arturo A. Schomburg two years earlier.

"I didn't know anybody. I was very depressed. I didn't want to be in school," she told me in a hushed voice at the end of class. Shortly before transferring to this school, her favorite big brother had been hit by a car. She said she'd watched him fall into a coma, and sat by his side until his heart stopped; soon after that, she'd seen one of her friends get shot in the head and bleed to death in the street. During the quiet minutes set aside for mindfulness exercises in class, she would often cry.

Now, she writes in perfect, neat script as she fills out a worksheet to accompany the day's mindfulness exercise. But she told me she wasn't always so eager to participate. "I used to write, 'I hate this, I don't want to do this.' I ripped those papers up," she said. But one day when she was in a particularly dark mood, something clicked. "Argos told me to close my eyes. Then he said, 'Connect to your breath.' He always used to say it, but I never really did it until then." Gonzalez told me that his Mindful Schools training had specific segments dedicated to working with trauma.
"At times all the roles blur-teachers, therapists, social workers."
"I noticed that I could feel [my breath] in my chest," she told me, "And at that moment, I felt so relieved. The only thing I could think in my mind was, 'I'm ok.' And, I don't know-from that day on, it just didn't hurt anymore." She told me she hadn't been in fights the way she once used to. Her four other brothers are in jail, and she is convinced it's because they didn't get the mindfulness training she now has. "Your emotions drive you mad," she said, but escaping them is possible by "focusing on now." (Our conversation also benefitted from the fact that I myself have some knowledge of mindfulness; I discovered it during a year off from college as I struggled with anxiety and depression.)

Another student told me she was skeptical about mindfulness but admitted that it could be helpful. She told me that she initially refused to do the exercises, sitting defiantly while others participated. Some of the tasks-like tapping your thumb to each finger individually, to narrowly focus attention on your fingertips-did nothing but irritate her. Eventually, though, she realized she was alone in her resistance, and she began to go through the motions, largely because she likes and respects Gonzalez. She was also struck by a movie Gonzalez showed them that compared two jails, one that trained prisoners in mindfulness and one that didn't. The prisoners who learned mindfulness were much happier and more successful when they got out. Still, ultimately, she maintains that she doesn't see the point.

Beyond the issue of scientific evidence, bringing mindfulness into classrooms raises other questions: How does it fit into the traditional teaching model? Could any teacher teach mindfulness, or does it require a significant personal investment? Is opening teachers up to dealing with their students' emotional and psychological needs, in addition to their academic ones, encouraging a blur between teacher and therapist?

Gonzalez doesn't think so. "My intention as a mindfulness instructor is to give students some very simple and basic tools so they can learn to self regulate. That's the beginning and end of it." When a student is dealing with emotional trauma, Gonzalez said he's been taught to keep his advice general-to remind the student that everyone suffers and feels pain, but that life is a gift to be treasured.
Mindful Schools has found that a majority of the teachers it has trained experienced lowered stress and higher job satisfaction.
The clinical social worker at Gonzalez's school-a large man with a warm baritone voice-thinks mindfulness supports the school's overall SEL mission. "At times all the roles blur-teachers, therapists, social workers. Especially in a school like this. If you don't address the noise in a kid's head that they bring in from the outside, I don't care how good a teacher you are, you're not going to have much success."

He was convinced that Gonzalez is on the right track; and that all teachers should get something akin to mindfulness training, given that they must deal with undiagnosed mental conditions on a regular basis. While they are not therapists, they "can at least ease some of the stress in the moment. Long enough to have somebody intervene."

Greenberg's view about the teacher-as-therapist issue is also clear: "Teachers teach many things that are therapeutic. They are managing children's behavior all day long, but that doesn't make them therapists, that makes them good teachers. Some of the same ideas we teach in therapy are also applicable to all people."

Beyond helping his students, Gonzalez also thinks mindfulness helps him to cope with the strains of teaching. He believes he now draws clearer lines in his relationships with students-giving them the skills to help themselves, rather than feeling that he needs to be the one to heal them-and copes more healthily with the trauma the job exposes him to, whether directly (in a previous teaching job, he said a student once stumbled into his office bleeding from a stab wound) or indirectly through working with a grieving student.

Gonzalez ultimately thinks that mindfulness may go furthest if applied to teacher education as a way to help prevent burnout-a major issue, given that 20 percent of teachers in high-poverty schools leave within their first year. Greenberg agrees. One of the ongoing research projects he and his colleauges are involved in is the Cultivating Awareness and Resilience in Education (CARE) program, funded by the U.S. Department of Education, that focuses on the well-being of the teacher and instructs teachers on emotional awareness, techniques for emotion regulation, and ways to apply these skills to teaching. Greenberg and others suspect that mindfulness specifically tailored to teachers and their struggles-stress and time management, for example-and incorporated into their initial training might do as much or more to improve classroom performance than trying to teach children directly. In its annual surveys, Mindful Schools has found that a majority of the teachers it has trained experienced lowered stress, more connection with students, and higher job satisfaction.

By the end of Gonzalez's morning class, the quiet, focused tone had long faded. Several students stood up from their desks, leaning over each other, laughing, knowing that personal challenges await them outside the classroom, just as they always have.

Over the chatter, the student with the glossy pink lips told me that hearing Gonzalez say the word "sad" triggered a flashback to all of those overwhelming memories of grief and pain she has been working to move beyond, but that it was okay. "Those feelings are there, but they won't kill me," she said. "I still have my days where it's not easy, but mindfulness helps me a whole lot. Honestly, I feel like if I'd had this before, it would have been easier."

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What Happens When Mindfulness Enters Schools

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Many educators are introducing meditation into the classroom as a means of improving kids' attention and emotional regulation. A five-minute walk from the rickety, raised track that carries the 5 train through the Bronx, the English teacher Argos Gonzalez balanced a rounded metal bowl on an outstretched palm.

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Mindfulness or religion in the classroom?

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Aliza Naqvi, a 14-year-old student at Dr. Norman Bethune Collegiate Institute in Toronto, carries a key chain strung with seven coloured beads. When she's feeling stressed or anxious, she can pull it out as a reminder: The first bead, which is blue, stands for "breathe." The second, red, cues her to reflect on her thoughts; yellow is to consider her emotions, and so on. "At any school, there's a lot of stress involved," Naqvi says. "The expectations are really high." This small token, which fits in her pocket or handbag, reminds her to "take a mindful breath, and to be a little more stable."

This year, Bethune, which is part of the Toronto District School Board (TDSB), introduced lessons in mindfulness-a type of meditation that encourages awareness of the present moment, in a non-judgmental way-to all of its 200 Grade 9 students, including Naqvi. In six workshops over a two-month period, led by the school's own teachers, students practised breathing, "body scans" (a meditation exercise that draws attention to different parts of the body), and learned to "surf the wave" of difficult emotions, like anger or anxiety, as Naqvi puts it. The program at Bethune-where one-third of all students have lived in Canada for less than five years-grew out of concern that students faced "a great deal of pressure," says principal Sandy Kaskens. Surveys showed they had "high expectations of themselves, and their social and emotional well-being was low." Naqvi admits she was skeptical in the beginning, as were her classmates. That first session, "a lot of people were giggling," she says. But she was won over, as were her parents, who "realize how much stress we go through."

According to Kaskens, the response was overwhelmingly positive. This fall's Grade 9 class will benefit from the same lessons in mindfulness-a practice that's spreading to schools across the country, even at the elementary level. At Vancouver's Renfrew Community Elementary School, for example, students begin their day by heading outside to do tai chi, and school assemblies kick off with a mindful breathing exercise. "There are 415 kids in a gym," says principal Hugh Blackman, "and you can hear a pin drop."

Entire school boards are adopting similar programs. The Vancouver School District, which includes Renfrew, offers mindfulness training to teachers through the MindUp program, which include classroom "brain breaks" three times daily. The Toronto Catholic District School Board also runs mindfulness sessions for teachers, focusing on those who deal with vulnerable and special needs kids. There are signs the movement is growing further yet. In August, the U.K.-based Mindfulness in Schools Project, which trains teachers across Europe, will offer its first-ever Canadian teacher-training course in Ottawa, with another to follow shortly after in Vancouver. Soon enough, kids across Canada might be practising deep breaths and body scans alongside their math and English homework. Still, not everyone is onside: Some parents (and teachers) worry the practice of meditation is akin to bringing religion into schools-or simply that time in the classroom could be better spent.

Mindfulness, a non-religious meditation practice with roots in Buddhism, has been taught to everyone from medical patients to prison inmates in Canada. There's a growing body of evidence to back it up, at least among adult practitioners. A 2013 study from the University of Calgary found that it could help breast cancer patients cope with diagnosis, perhaps because it encouraged them to accept the news without jumping to conclusions or getting bogged down in negative thoughts. In 2010, researchers at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto concluded that, when it comes to warding off a relapse into major depression, mindfulness is as effective as medication. Brain-scan studies in adults have shown that a regular practice brings about changes in the brain, positively affecting regions associated with memory, sense of self, empathy and stress.

But when it comes to meditation's impact on the child or adolescent brain, "there hasn't been a single [brain scan] study," says Brown University neuroscientist Willoughby Britton. "We have no idea what's happening, but we can make some educated guesses." As we pay attention, areas in the prefrontal cortex-which is responsible for higher thinking and self-control-activate, she says; this region is underdeveloped in kids (it continues to develop well into our twenties). Mindfulness seems to engage these parts of the brain.

Teaching this skill set in schools is relatively new, and controversial, not only because research exploring its impact on kids and teens has lagged. "People connect meditation with religion," explains Jack Miller, a professor at the University of Toronto's Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, who instructs teachers on how to use mindfulness in classrooms. In the U.S., where even school yoga practice has raised eyebrows, it's been especially problematic. Last year, a mindfulness program at an Ohio elementary school was shut down amid a flurry of parent complaints, partly over perceived overtones of Eastern religion. Not only that: "They were taking valuable time away from education to put students in a room of darkness to lie on their backs," one mother of three kids complained to a local newspaper.

In Vermont, where mindfulness programs are now available in some elementary and high schools, "we worked the most on language," says Marilyn Neagley, director of the Talk About Wellness initiative, which teaches self-calming skills to school-age kids. "When we say 'mindfulness,' we feel it's safer than saying 'meditation,' " whereas yoga is often simply referred to as "stretching," adds Neagley, who was instrumental to introducing these programs across the state. (In Canada, this has been less of an issue: At Bethune, teachers use a Tibetan singing bowl to sound the beginning of mindfulness practice, whereas U.S. teachers have been encouraged to use "secular" chimes.) The main objection Neagley runs into isn't from parents. It's from teachers, who say they're already too busy: "I can't do one more program."

At Bethune, last November, interested teachers started practising mindfulness together over the lunch hour; after a full day of training in January, they launched student workshops a month later. "It's become really clear that if you want to do this in schools, you have to start with teachers," says Willem Kuyken, professor of clinical psychology at the University of Exeter, who has studied mindfulness programs in U.K. schools, where they're more established. "The teacher needs to embody the qualities [of mindfulness] they're trying to teach."

Jon Gold, who teaches seventh- and eighth- grade history at Moses Brown School in Providence, R.I., has been practising mindfulness for years. He starts each class by ringing a bell, closing his eyes and inviting students to join him in silent meditation. "Once in a while, I'd give the hairy eyeball to a kid," he says, "but they came to value that time. They felt calmer and better able to focus." Gold collaborated on a new study in the Journal of School Psychology, which randomized Grade 6 students into two groups: One took an Asian history course with a daily mindfulness exercise, and the other an African history course with another activity (instead of meditating, they built a life-size Egyptian mummy). According to the study's lead author, Brown University's Britton, both groups saw benefits on anxiety and depression, suggesting that experiential activity in school can support kids' mental health; the young meditators were also significantly less likely to develop suicidal ideation, or thoughts of self-harm.

More studies are beginning to explore the impact of mindfulness on kids and teens. In the U.K., a 2013 paper found that 10- and 11-year-olds who participated in an eight-week program were better able to ignore distractions. Another found that 12-to-16-year-old students had fewer symptoms of stress and depression. "The effect became larger at the most challenging time of the school year, during the end-of-year exams," says Exeter's Kuyken, the lead author. Some research has suggested that mindfulness can help children and adults cope with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, maybe offering an alternative (at least for some) to medication. As far as the effects of mindfulness on the youngest kids, though, "that's pretty much an evidence-free zone," Kuyken continues. The programs now sprouting up at elementary schools in Canada, the U.S. and the U.K. will be a boon to researchers, who wish to explore the effects of meditation on the young mind.

Since the mindfulness sessions at Bethune came to a close, Naqvi finds herself drawing on lessons they learned. In times of stress, she says, it helps her understand "it's okay, everyone feels the same way. Taking a deep breath makes you feel more confident, and ready for what you're about to do."

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Bringing mindfulness to the school curriculum - Macleans.ca

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Aliza Naqvi, a 14-year-old student at Dr. Norman Bethune Collegiate Institute in Toronto, carries a key chain strung with seven coloured beads. When she's feeling stressed or anxious, she can pull it out as a reminder: The first bead, which is blue, stands for "breathe."

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Mindfulness in the classroom

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Creating a safe place for our kids to learn might begin with creating some space for them to breathe.

By Caren Osten Gerszberg

On a cold March afternoon, the hallways were abuzz with chatter and giggles at Chatsworth Elementary School in Larchmont, New York. As the kindergarteners from Liz Slade's class ambled into their classroom from lunch and recess and put their jackets and lunch boxes into their cubbies, Slade asked, "Can today's mindful leader please come up front and begin?"

Isabella, a 6-year-old wearing a heart-clad gray shirt and polka-dot leggings, quietly took a cross-legged seat on the classroom rug facing her peers. With her palms facing up and resting on each knee, she began to tap her thumbs on each of her fingers, simultaneously repeating the words "I-am-calm-now" with each tap. Without hesitation, each of Isabella's classmates, along with their teacher, followed their mindful leader, tapping their thumbs and saying "I am calm now," gently lowering their voices after each repetition until the room grew quiet. Slade then asked her students to slowly make their way to their tables and take out their "feelings" journal.

"They are learning the experience of settling their body," said Slade. "What used to be a wild time now becomes a charming, sweet moment when we all take a pause and come back to being present."

Chatsworth is one of thousands of schools across the country that is bringing mindfulness into the classroom. Growing numbers of teachers, parents, and children are reaping the benefits that learning mindfulness-defined by Jon Kabat-Zinn as "the awareness that emerges through paying attention on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgmentally"-can bring, including reduced levels of stress and anxiety, increased focus and self-regulation, and improved academic performance and sleep, among others.

Children today are faced with an unprecedented amount of stress and anxiety-25% of 13- to 18-year-olds will experience an anxiety disorder according to the National Institutes of Mental Health.

With heightened academic pressure trickling down to kids as early as kindergarten, resulting in less time for play and the arts, children today are faced with an unprecedented amount of stress and anxiety-25% of 13- to 18-year-olds will experience an anxiety disorder according to the National Institutes of Mental Health. Such early stress levels can negatively impact learning, memory, behavior, and both physical and mental health, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. Escalating stress and pressure continue into middle and high school- a survey of 22,000 high school students conducted by the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence found that, on average, students reported feeling negative emotions, such as stress, fatigue, and boredom, 75% of the time. An antidote to all this stress has never been needed more. Enter mindfulness.

Case Study: Mindfulness translates into improved academics

The Research on Mindfulness in Schools

While the implementation of school-based mindfulness programs for children in grades K through 12-such as Inner Resilience, Mindful Schools, Learning to Breathe, and MindUp to name just a few-is becoming more popular, empirical research proving the benefits of mindfulness is only beginning to emerge and more rigorous research will be needed over the coming decades. "We know very little about which programs work and what works for whom and under what conditions," said Kimberly Schonert-Reichl, Ph.D., co-author with Robert Roeser of the recently published Handbook of Mindfulness in Education: Integrating Theory and Research into Practice, and a professor and researcher at the University of British Columbia. A 2015 study by Schonert-Reichl looked at the effectiveness of a 12-week social and emotional learning (SEL) program that included mindfulness training. Ninety-nine 4 th and 5 th graders were divided into two groups: one received MindUp's weekly SEL curriculum and the other a social responsibility program already used in Canadian public schools. After analyzing measures, which included behavioral assessments, cortisol levels, feedback from their peers regarding sociability, and academic scores of math grades, the results revealed dramatic differences. Compared to the students who learned the social responsibility program, those trained in mindfulness scored higher in math, had 24% more social behaviors, and were 20% less aggressive. The group trained in mindfulness excelled above the other group in the areas of attention, memory, emotional regulation, optimism, stress levels, mindfulness, and empathy.

Compared to the students who learned the social responsibility program, those trained in mindfulness scored higher in math, had 24% more social behaviors, and were 20% less aggressive.

Although in its early stages, research on the effects of school-based mindfulness programs is being fueled by three decades of studies on adults, which shows promise for its psychological and physiological benefits. Researchers are turning their focus to children and teens to figure out what, when, how much, and from whom the teaching of mindfulness works best. "We don't have conclusive evidence at this point about the benefits or impacts of mindfulness on youth," said Lisa Flook, Ph.D., associate scientist at the Center for Healthy Minds, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. "We do see the promise of interventions and trainings on outcomes related to grades, wellbeing, and emotional regulation." In other words, the research looking at the benefits of mindfulness in education is pointing toward the positive.

"Mindfulness is a powerful tool that supports children in calming themselves, focusing their attention, and interacting effectively with others, all critical skills for functioning well in school and in life," said Amy Saltzman, M.D., director of the Association for Mindfulness in Education, and director of Still Quiet Place. "Incorporating mindfulness into education has been linked to improving academic and social and emotional learning. Also, mindfulness strengthens some underlying development processes-such as focus, resilience, and self-soothing-that will help kids in the long run."

This is What a Mindful Classroom Looks Like

No one sees the value of a child's impulse control and focused awareness as clearly as a teacher. Liz Slade, who's been integrating mindfulness into her classroom for the last eight years, once observed a student walk up to a tall structure of blocks being built by a few of her classmates. "I watched this little girl raise her foot to kick the blocks, take a breath and then walk away," she said. "The kids can learn to notice distraction, self-regulate, and ask themselves, 'What do I need?'"

Photo Credit: The Crim Fitness Foundation

Slade came to mindfulness on her own about 10 years ago, and after seeing the benefits in her own life, she started experimenting in the classroom with practices that used breathing and mindful listening. "As I became more knowledgeable, experimenting and seeing what was working, I was really impressed," she said. "The kids verbalized to me that they felt they had tools to use to handle stressful situations, which was very moving to me."

Recognizing the impact of her own practice and the positive effects in her classroom-and with the support of her school's principal, a critical component-Slade went on to apply for a grant for her school to bring in a formal training program called Inner Resilience, created by Linda Lantieri, who is also a founding member of the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL). From there, the support and enthusiasm spread throughout the Mamaroneck School District among teachers, parents, and the administration, with the Inner Resilience training program now offered to teachers and support staff at all six of its schools, which serve 5,200 students. "The best way to implement mindfulness is in an integrated way with social and emotional learning," said Lantieri. "If we are going to be in schools we need to make sure we are helping kids learn better, and if mindfulness can help with that, great."

"The best way to implement mindfulness is in an integrated way with social and emotional learning," says Linda Lantieri, a founding member of the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL)

Most experts feel that the best implementation of mindfulness involves a teacher having her own mindfulness practice or at least an understanding. "It is how they teach, not just what they teach, and if a teacher is mindful in a classroom, the kids learn to be mindful," said Tish Jennings, M.Ed., Ph.D., associate professor at the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia, who started a program called CARE (Cultivating Awareness and Resilience in Education) for Teachers. "Teachers are really under a lot of stress and we know their stress affects our kids, so supporting them is a win-win," said Jennings. Her recent research found that teachers trained in the CARE for Teachers program felt less time urgency and were more positive and more sensitive. In addition, children were more engaged and productive.

For Rosalie Choniuk, a teacher at P.S. 94 in the Bronx, New York, learning mindfulness through the CARE for Teachers program has been life-changing. "I am a completely different person since learning mindfulness-mentally, physically and emotionally," said Choniuk. As an ENL (English as a New Language) teacher, Choniuk wears several hats in her school, often providing coverage for teachers when they need to be out of the classroom. Before developing her mindfulness practice, Choniuk grew anxious every time she was to report to a particular fifth-grade classroom, where kids were unruly and fights often broke out. "Now when I go, instead of having anxiety, I set an intention to be calm and deal with them in a positive manner," said Choniuk. "I see the changes in the kids, who are less reactive, and the changes in myself, and now I look forward to being in their class."

Create a Culture of Mindfulness in Schools

If a classroom teacher is not able to provide mindfulness lessons to their class, schools often bring instructors in from outside the school. But long-term mindfulness programs can be difficult to maintain in the classroom with this model. "With an outside person, programs can work insofar as they can train teachers to keep it up," said Trish Broderick, Ph.D., founder of the Learning to Breathe program and a research associate at the Bennett Pierce Prevention Research Center at Penn State University. "The advantage of bringing in a program to teach mindfulness is that it can be replicated and used effectively when taught by teachers or school staff who already have a relationship with the kids."

The Mindful Schools program prefers to call its approach an adoption-where mindfulness begins at the individual teacher level-versus a rollout, or top-down decision made by leadership to implement a new program. "We don't mandate this for all the teachers; we let it grow organically," said Camille Whitney, former head of research at Mindful Schools. "We encourage any number of people to take the course voluntarily, and encourage it as a group so they can practice and build a program together."

Photo Credit: The Crim Fitness Foundation

Integrating mindfulness into a health and wellness curriculum is another alternative for implementation. "Rather than adding on, a program can be supplemented into an existing program," said Broderick, whose Learning to Breathe program is often used as part of a middle or high school's health curriculum.

Last winter, Annie Ward, the assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction for the Mamaroneck Union Free School District, wandered into a high school health class during a school visit. Ward was struck to see the students sitting quietly with their eyes closed and feet on the floor, as they listened to a guided meditation the teacher was playing on a CD. "It was great to see this meditation happen with no fanfare, watching the kids settle right into it and seeing that it was clearly a ritual," said Ward.

Transform School Culture

When teaching mindfulness is accepted and embraced, it can change the tone and tenor of an entire school, or district. In 2008, the South Burlington, Vermont, school district began an effort to train teachers and students, using the Inner Resilience program for younger grades, and the Learning to Breathe program for older ones. For two years, almost 130 teachers volunteered to take the mindfulness training, and the program continued to grow and expand more deliberately to include cafeteria staff and bus drivers, totaling 170 trainees.

On top of the school-wide effort, they also invited parents to participate by offering evening mindfulness classes and lectures by local experts and visiting instructors, and in some cases, regular updates from teachers on mindfulness activities in the classroom. Training the teachers before the children and parental involvement were two components integral to the success of the South Burlington district's efforts, according to Marilyn Neagley, former director of Talk About Wellness, an initiative dedicated to funding and developing programs for youth and family wellness.

Including parents when a program is introduced is a way to expose them to what mindfulness is and is not. And then there's the questionable connection to religion, which can, in some communities, be a hot topic. "One of the most important things we learned from public meetings with parents and the community was to be sure the training is completely secular with no religiosity at all," said Neagley. The teaching is based entirely on emerging neuroscience and keeping all references to Buddhism, and words commonly used during yoga, such as namaste, out of the school vernacular is critical. In some schools, the word yoga has been replaced with "mindful movement" so there is no confusion about the ways in which mindfulness is being taught. "What we are teaching is how to pay attention and be more aware, and how to implement that awareness in our lives," said Lantieri. "What we are teaching we teach in a secular context."

One of the most important things we learned from public meetings with parents and the community was to be sure the training is completely secular with no religiosity at all," says Marilyn Neagley, former director of Talk About Wellness.

For systemic change to take place in a district-as it did in South Burlington -administration and teachers need to figure out where mindfulness can fit, how it will work, and what is needed to bring it in. And there needs to be a point person who can move it forward. "Any district I'm working with has a superintendent or assistant superintendent who is thinking five years out, not just about one classroom," said Lantieri. "That's how SEL started, with one teacher who got excited."

After journaling time was over, Liz Slade's kindergarteners gathered again on the rug to do some imagination breaths. Going around the circle, each child paired a breath with a made-up hand movement and named it-a snowflake breath, a jellyfish breath, a clamshell breath-and the rest of the class mimicked the movement. After a while, when the kids got antsy, Slade asked them to get up and jump around. There were wiggles and tumbles and twists and then she said, "Now make a mindful statue." The children froze in place, and all you could hear was the sound of their breath.

Tips and Practices for Teachers and Parents

By Susan Kaiser Greenland

When children and teens practice appreciation painful thoughts and emotions sometimes show up. As parents we often want to ease our children's pain, but children can easily misinterpret guidance to be thankful as an indication that we're minimizing their challenges, even when that's not the case. So how should we help when painful emotions do come up? We should encourage kids to view how they feel through a wide lens, not to gloss over their feelings or push them aside. When kids acknowledge their hurt feelings and remember the good things in their lives, they embody an open mind. There's a practice I like to do called Three Good Things that gives children a chance to practice this holistic mind-set when they're upset and they need it the most.

Appreciation Practice: Three Good Things

When faced with a disappointment, we acknowledge our feelings, and then we think of three good things in our lives, too.

Leading the game:

1. Ask your child: "Do you ever feel disappointed by something or someone?"
Listen to children's stories.

2. Ask: "How did that make you feel? "
Acknowledge children's feelings and, if appropriate, talk about them.

3. Say something like: "I bet even when you're feeling disappointed there are good things happening in your life too. Let's name three good things together."

Tips for naming three good things:

1. Remind children that the point of this game isn't to pretend they're not upset when they feel upset. It's to remember that they can feel two things at once: they can feel grateful for good things while feeling sad, hurt, or disappointed by challenges.

2. If children or teens have trouble thinking of three good things on their own, brainstorm and help them discover some.

3. When kids understand that this game is not about sweeping their feelings under the rug, the phrase "three good things" can become a playful and humorous response to the minor gripes that show up in family life. For instance, if a young child spills a glass of apple juice and looks like he's going to cry, you can respond with something like, "Ahhh, that can be frustrating. Can you name Three Good Things while we wipe the counter?"

4. Parents can encourage kids to remind them to name Three Good Things when they're stuck on a trivial disappointment or minor annoyance, too.

5. To develop a habit of thankfulness, play Three Good Things around the dinner table, before bedtime, and at other times when the family is together (and no one is upset).

The more families carve out time to practice appreciation when life is good, the easier it is for parents and children to be thankful for the good things in life when times are hard.

At first, appreciation and thankfulness may feel like a mere intellectual exercise. Yet the more families carve out time to practice appreciation when life is good, the easier it is for parents and children to be thankful for the good things in life when times are hard. When that shift happens, appreciation becomes an integral part of a family's worldview and is no longer just an intellectual exercise.
This article was excerpted from Mindful Games © 2016 by Susan Kaiser Greenland. Illustrations © 2016 by Lindsay DuPont. Reprinted in arrangement with Shambhala Publications, Inc. Boulder, CO.

A Guide To Bringing Mindfulness into Your School

What can you do to bring mindfulness into your child's school? What are the best strategies, practices, and resources to implement a mindfulness program? Implementing a school-wide mindfulness program can take several years, so create a well-thought-out plan that includes presenting programming to parents and faculty. Be patient-making changes in schools can be a lengthy process. Here are a few things to consider:

Why teach mindfulness?
1) Kids are stressed.

1 in 8 children in the United States suffers from Anxiety Disorders. (National Institutes of Health)

1 in 5 children suffers from a mental health or learning disorder, and 80% of chronic mental disorders begin in childhood. (Child Mind Institute)

2) Teachers are stressed.

According to research, most teachers experience job stress at least two to four times a day, with more than 75% of teachers' health problems attributed to stress. (National Education Association)

The Benefits of mindfulness

Studies show that the benefits of mindfulness may include:

Increased focus, attention, self-control, classroom participation, compassion

Improved academic performance, ability to resolve conflict, overall well-being

Decreased levels of stress, depression, anxiety, disruptive behavior

How to bring mindfulness into schools

Start with teachers. Teachers are the vehicle for integrating change into a school's culture. Is there a teacher who already has a mindfulness practice, and is willing to champion the effort to bring mindfulness into your child's school? If not, are there teachers willing to learn more about the benefits of mindfulness for themselves, as well as their students?

Know the science. The research on teaching mindfulness to children is only in its beginning stages, yet there are studies that show its impact on both the body and the brain. Scientific evidence is an important component for bringing administrators and faculty to embrace your plan.
A few key studies:

A 2016 study in Frontiers in Psychology measured emotional well-being of 7- to 9-year-olds and found that a school-based mindfulness program improves higher-order thinking, and helps students become more engaged, positive learners.

A randomized controlled study in the Journal of School Psychology on more than 100 6th grade students found those who completed classroom-based, teacher-implemented mindfulness meditation were significantly less likely to develop suicidal ideation or thoughts of self-harm than the control groups.

A study of 4th and 5th graders published in Developmental Psychology found that students who received mindfulness training improved their cognitive ability and stress physiology, reported greater empathy, perspective-taking, emotional control, and optimism, showed greater decreases in self-reported symptoms of depression and peer-rated aggression, and were more popular.

Engage faculty, administrators, and parents. Including parents and school staff-and ideally support staff, such as aides, bus drivers, and cafeteria workers-will provide the basis for the most effective implementation of a school-based mindfulness program. If there is hesitation or resistance to mindfulness, take the time to offer the facts, benefits, and science, and emphasize the importance of teaching mindfulness in school in an entirely secular way.

Look for developmentally appropriate practices. Mindfulness in schools comes in different shapes and sizes-just like the kids-so research the programs that fit specifically with the ages in your school. There are some designed for the youngest ages, which differ in style and content from those designed for older grades.

Which mindfulness program is right for your teachers?

There are a variety of programs you can consider recommending to teachers and administrators, or for your own training. Some are online, some use recordings, and some may require in-person training. Here are a few to consider:

4. Cheryl Brause
Mindfulness Instructor
Daniel Warren School * Rye Neck, New York

On a recent visit to the Daniel Warren School, where she's a visiting mindfulness instructor, Cheryl Brause entered a second-grade classroom, sat down, and made eye contact with the children who settled on the floor in front of her. "Instead of feeling the need to tell them what to do, I could simply acknowledge them one by one, silently welcoming them into our time together, and this let them know that I am here to listen and to be present with them as we explore mindfulness together," said Brause. As her own practice and knowledge deepened through a yearlong mindful educator certification that she completed this summer, Brause recognizes the changes in her experience. "I'm much less distracted while teaching, thinking less about what I need to accomplish, and more present and focused on the kids, allowing the lesson to flow from there."

Brause came to mindfulness as a means to slow down and be more present in her own life. It began with a yoga practice, and after trying a variety of types of meditation, it was an MBSR class that exposed her to mindfulness. "I realized how quickly mindfulness resonated with me and made a real difference in my everyday life," said Brause. "It made me realize how distracted I had been and how little time I spent being fully present."

10 Mindful Books for Adults

1. Mindfulness for Teachers: Simple Skills for Peace and Productivity in the Classroom, by Patricia A. Jennings.

2. Teach, Breathe, Learn: Mindfulness In and Out of the Classroom, by Meena Srinivasan.

3. The Mindful Child: How to Help Your Kid Manage Stress and Become Happier, Kinder, and More Compassionate, Susan Kaiser Greenland.

4. Learning to Breathe: A Mindfulness Curriculum for Adolescents to Cultivate Emotion Regulation, Attention, and Performance, by Patricia C. Broderick.

5. A Still Quiet Place: A Mindfulness Program for Teaching Children and Adolescents to Ease Stress and Difficult Emotions, by Amy Saltzman, MD

6. Growing Up Mindful: Essential Practices to Help Children, Teens, and Families Find Balance, Calm, and Resilience, by Christopher Willard, Psy D

7. The Stress Reduction Workbook for Teens: Mindfulness Skills to Help You Deal with Stress by Gina M. Biegel

8. Mindfulness for the Next Generation: Helping Emerging Adults Manage Stress and Lead Healthier Lives by Holly Rogers, MD, and Margaret Maytan, MD

9. Teaching Mindfulness Skills to Kids and Teens Hardcover by Christopher Willard PsyD and Amy Saltzman MD

10. Brainstorm: The Power and Purpose of the Teenage Brain Hardcover , by Daniel J.Siegel, MD

8 Mindful Books for Children & Teens

1. Visiting Feelings, by Lauren Rubenstein

2. Peaceful Piggy Meditation by Kerry Lee Maclean

3. Sitting Still Like a Frog: Mindfulness Exercises for Kids (and Their Parents), by Eline Snel.

4. Take the Time: Mindfulness for Kids, by Maud Roegiers

5. Have You Filled a Bucket Today? By Carol McCloud

6. Lemonade Hurricane, by Licia Morelli and Jennifer Morris

7. What does it mean to be Present? By Rana DiOrio and Eliza Wheeler

8. Anh's Anger, by Gail Silver

Read More

So much of communication is actually not about what we say. It's about how we come across, the tone of our voice, our body language, and all of that is an expression of our internal state. So this is one of the reasons why mindfulness is such an essential and... Read More

If you're trying to bring this into a school, or into an organization, you find the person most likely who's going to be open to it, and you start there. Maybe, you just start in that one classroom. Find a Mindfulness Ally I have a friend, she's a nutritionist and... Read More

Join the Mindful Educators Community: A free resource for teachers, students and communities

A free resource offering the best practices for bringing mindfulness into the classroom from 25 of today's leading mindfulness experts and educators. Read More

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Best Practices for Bringing Mindfulness into Schools Creating a safe place for our kids to learn might begin with creating some space for them to breathe.

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Using a mindful minute to help students arrive to class.

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At the start of class, Ms. O guides her students in a simple mindfulness meditation practice. This allows students to quiet their nervous systems and get ready to learn.

"Arrive" was filmed at Gateway High School in San Francisco.

In 101: Mindfulness Foundations , learn practices that can resource you during the school day and daily life, with trauma-sensitive approaches for navigating emotons, working with thoughts and biases, and cultivating compassion and joy. Educators earn credits.

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"Arrive" - A Mindful Minute Helps Students Arrive in the Classroom

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At the start of class, Ms. O guides her students in a simple mindfulness meditation practice. This allows students to quiet their nervous systems and get ready to learn."Arrive" was filmed at Gateway High School in San Francisco.Watch more videos

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Integrating Mindfulness in the Classroom

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Integrating Mindfulness in the Classroom

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Integrating Mindfulness in Your Classroom Curriculum

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Make mindfulness a part of classroom learning by integrating it into curriculum-themed activities through exercises in breathing, sensory experience, guided imagery, and movement.

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Mindful Practices to Bring into the Classroom

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Mindful Practices to Bring into the Classroom

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As more and more adults embrace the practice of mindfulness, many of them eventually ask, "Why didn't I learn this when I was a kid?"

There is plenty of evidence available now that demonstrates the value of teaching mindfulness to young people, and many of the benefits of mindfulness are skills and dispositions that are especially helpful in the context of education. Mindfulness practices help children improve their ability to pay attention, by learning to focus on one thing (e.g., breath, sound) while filtering out other stimuli. Mindfulness also provides kids with skills for understanding their emotions and how to work with them.

I'm not sure if there any other skills besides these - paying attention and regulating one's emotions - that are more important for successful human functioning, let alone education!

As teachers and parents, we have many opportunities to introduce young people to these practices. The most fundamental way we do so is through our own attempts to cultivate mindfulness: to be present, to pay attention, and to be aware of our own emotions and responses.

We can also bring these practices into our classrooms, providing students with opportunities to pause, to pay close attention to their experience, and to reflect.
The following are five simple ways you can introduce mindfulness practices into your classroom:
1. Begin with a Mindful Moment

For middle and high school students, the school day is pretty busy! Science to math to history to PE to English to Spanish, punctuated by the crazy state-fair midway chaos known as "passing time." Even in elementary school, kids spend a lot of their day taking in information, responding to the environment, interacting with others, and otherwise just being "ON." We rarely give them a moment to pause, settle their nervous system, and refocus their attention and energy on a new task.

At the beginning of class, or after a transition, you can take a mindful moment: invite kids to close their eyes (if they're comfortable doing so), and take a few deep breaths. They can pay attention to breathing - what does it feel like when they breathe in and out? Or they can notice their thoughts - is their mind really busy or quiet right now?

You can also use the short video below (a great option if you're new to mindfulness or if kids don't want to close their eyes):

2. Practice Mindful Listening

Mindful listening is one of the simplest ways to introduce mindfulness to kids, as it is often easier to focus on something more 'concrete' like sound; the instruction to "notice your breath" can be a bit abstract, especially for elementary students.

You can find a sample lesson on mindful listening here from Mindful Schools. You can find several other ways to teach mindful listening in this post I wrote here.

3. Take a Mindful Break

At the 2015 Education Minnesota conference, a middle school teacher shared the technique she used for mindfulness breaks in her class: at the beginning of each class, one student would get a bell. During that day's lesson, the student would ring the bell when he or she felt the class needed a break (the teacher set the bell-ringing limit at twice during at 50-minute class).

When the student rang the bell, even if the teacher was mid-sentence, class would stop. In silence, everyone would stand up and stretch, and then sit down for 30 seconds or so of mindful breathing. Then the student who rang the bell would prompt students to silently think of something they were grateful for. And then the lesson would proceed.

This practice only takes a minute, and it gives students (and teachers) a much-needed break. Sometimes we are in such a hurry to get through a lesson (I know I've been there!) that we forget to allow a bit of a brain break to allow the information to "land." Putting the students in control allows them to take ownership of the mindfulness practices in class, and it also gives the teacher valuable information about when students' attention is waning.

4. Check in with Your Attention

A variation on the attention break above is to have the teacher announce a short "attention check." You could do this in the middle of a lesson, or during the middle of independent or group work time. Ask students to pause and "check in with their attention." Is their attention here, in class? Was their mind wandering? If so, where had their attention gone?

Emphasize that mind-wandering is completely normal and to be expected - it's what minds do! The important thing is to notice what the mind is doing, and then to understand you now have a choice about where to direct your attention. We can't force kids to pay attention, but the more we practice this "attention check-in," the more skilled they will become at monitoring their own attention and redirecting it when necessary.

5. End with a Mindful Moment

Remember Madeline Hunter and all the talk about lesson "closure"? Many times, "closure" in my classroom consisted of yelling homework reminders at teenagers as they walked out of the room. Probably not what Ms. Hunter had in mind.

Recently, a middle-school teacher at a school I'm working with shared how she has incorporated mindfulness into her lesson closure every day this school year:

At the end of class, she takes 3-5 minutes to have kids close their eyes and focus on their breath. She has them think of what they have learned and what they accomplished. She gives them quiet time to settle their nervous systems before their next class, and then ends with a positive statement about how hard they've worked, how proud she is of them, or how much she cares about them.

She said it's had such a positive impact on her class, and the kids always remind her when it's mindfulness time - if she forgets, they make sure to let her know she "owes" them mindfulness!

And that, my friend, is what they call "closure." 🙂

If you'd like to know more about mindfulness practices for teachers, and how to incorporate mindfulness into your classroom, click the button below to learn more about my NEW course, Mindfulness for Teachers!

Additional Resources for Teaching Mindfulness

Change to Chill - Great website for teens about stress reduction and mindfulness ( see the videos about mindfulness here - my favorite is "What pizza wears gloves?")

Mindfulness Activities and Teaching Resources from MindfulTeachers.org

Teaching Mindfulness to Teens: Five Ways to Get Buy-In

10 Ways to Teach Mindfulness to Kids

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5 Mindfulness Practices to Bring to Your Classroom - Left Brain Buddha

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Mindfulness practices help children improve their ability to pay attention, by learning to focus on one thing (e.g., breath, sound) while filtering out other stimuli. Mindfulness also provides kids with skills for understanding their emotions and how to work with them.

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Airing on PBS, Room to Breathe was the first broadcast documentary on mindfulness in education. Raw, authentic and human, it is great for showing people what mindfulness training really looks like in a school community dealing with an array of economic, academic and mental health challenges.

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Resources to Introduce Mindfulness to Schools | Mindful Schools

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Find videos, audio, and books for introducing mindfulness to your school From the Source: Children Talk About Handling Difficult Emotions with Mindfulness All the mindfulness research in the world doesn't touch the power of student voices. Watch and listen to these young students in this 4-minute film from Julie Bayer, one of our course graduates.

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Website with resources to support classrooms.

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Find films, lesson videos, presentations, guided audios, and books helpful for introducing mindfulness to your school.

Are you looking for an overview of mindfulness in education to help parents, staff, and administrators understand the power of this work? Start with these short videos and films. All are free and can be shown at staff meetings and parent education nights.

Just Breathe (4 min)

Watch and listen to young students describe how mindfulness helps them handle difficult emotions in this 4-minute film from Julie Bayer, one of our Mindful Schools graduates. You can learn more about the Just Breathe film here.

Room to Breathe (56 min)

Airing on PBS, Room to Breathe was the first broadcast documentary on mindfulness in education. Raw, authentic and human, it is great for showing people what mindfulness training really looks like in a school community dealing with an array of economic, academic and mental health challenges.

Arrive (2 min)

At the start of class, Ms. O guides her high school students in a simple mindfulness meditation practice. This allows students to quiet their nervous systems and get ready to learn. Arrive was filmed at Gateway High School in San Francisco, CA.

Healthy Habits of Mind (41 min)

Healthy Habits of Mind is a 45-minute overview of Mindfulness in Education. Featuring pioneering neuroscientist Dr. Richard Davidson, it focuses less on classroom implementation than Room to Breathe but has more contextual information on the neurobiology and research underpinning mindfulness. A great overview piece for administrators.

Download a Starter Lesson

demonstrated in the videos above, that introduces mindful bodies and mindful listening to K-5 elementary school students. Try the lesson in your classroom and notice how your students respond.

Listen to three guided practices to get an introduction of how to practice mindfulness through breathing, body scan, and walking.

Mindful Walking

(Click the red play button above)

Mindful walking cultivates awareness of your body while in motion and it's something you can practice throughout the day. It can help increase your energy level if you are tired or restless and also add variety if you're doing longer periods of seated practice.

(Click the red play button above)

The body scan is a simple, structured way of bringing consciousness to different parts of body. The body scan can be very useful as a grounding mechanism when facing strong emotions, or if you're having trouble stabilizing awareness on the breath or body.

Mindful Breathing

(Click the red play button above)

Awareness of the breath is one of the foundational exercises for learning mindfulness meditation. It's a popular starting point because the breath is something you can always access. It serves as a valuable anchor for other mindfulness practices.

Explore all of these techniques and learn the neuroscience behind mindfulness practice in our Mindfulness Fundamentals course for educators. The training expands on topics such as emotions and interpersonal mindfulness and supports you to cultivate a regular practice. Join our upcoming session.

Why is Mindfulness Fundamentals required before taking the Mindful Educator Essentials course? Because before you formally teach mindfulness to students - your self-care, self-awareness, and personal mindfulness practice serves as an essential model for your students. Learn more about Our Approach.

Mindful Schools community members frequently request examples of how we explain mindfulness to parents, administrators, and other educators. Here are a few presentations and interviews from our archives.

Conference Presentation

Mindful Schools Trainer Megan Cowan speaks at the Practicing Mindfulness & Compassion Conference about how mindfulness programs make schools more compassionate places. Co-hosted by our partners at The Greater Good Science Center and Mindful magazine.

PTA Presentation

Mindful Schools Trainer Megan Cowan speaks to a large PTA audience. An excellent example of a presentation that explains what school-based mindfulness programs are to parents.

Google Talk

This mindful parenting Google Talk by Mindful Schools Trainer Chris McKenna includes neuroscience and practical techniques and strategies. (1 hr)

Presentation by Jon Kabat-Zinn

Mindfulness pioneer Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn describes his vision for mindfulness in education at a benefit for Mindful Schools at UC Berkeley's Zellerbach Hall, 2012. (1 hr 40 min)

Adult Mindfulness Books

Mindfulness in Education

Mindful Parenting

Teaching Mindfulness to Youth

Explore Mindful Schools' professional development programs to start training your faculty and staff.

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Multimedia Find films, lesson videos, presentations, guided audios, and books helpful for introducing mindfulness to your school. Watch Films About Mindfulness in Education Are you looking for an overview of mindfulness in education to help parents, staff, and administrators understand the power of this work?

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By now there's a good chance you've heard the term "mindfulness." It seems to be everywhere-touted as the new yoga, the answer to stress, the alternative to Xanax. But beyond the buzz, what is it? Jon Kabat-Zinn, the scientist and widely recognized father of contemporary, medically based mindfulness-over 30 years ago he developed a therapeutic meditation practice known as Mindful Based Stress Reduction (MBSR)-defines mindfulness simply as "paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment and non-judgmentally."

That's the short version. To expand on that just a little, mindfulness is a meditation practice that begins with paying attention to breathing in order to focus on the here and now-not what might have been or what you're worried could be. The ultimate goal is to give you enough distance from disturbing thoughts and emotions to be able to observe them without immediately reacting to them.

In the last few years mindfulness has emerged as a way of treating children and adolescents with conditions ranging from ADHD to anxiety, autism spectrum disorders, depression and stress. And the benefits are proving to be tremendous.

But how do you explain mindfulness to a five year-old? When she's teaching mindfulness to children, Amy Saltzman, MD, a holistic physician and mindfulness coach in Menlo Park, California, prefers not to define the word but rather to invite the child to feel the experience first-to find their "still, quiet place."

"We begin by paying attention to breath," she says. "The feeling of the expansion of the in-breath, the stillness between the in-breath and the out-breath. I invite them to rest in the space between the breaths. Then I explain that this still quiet place is always with us-when we're sad, when we're angry, excited, happy, frustrated. They can feel it in their bodies. And it becomes a felt experience of awareness. They can learn to observe their thoughts and feelings, and the biggest thing for me is they can begin to choose their behaviors."

In her private practice, Saltzman, and her Still Quiet Place CDs for Young Children and Teens, teaches mindfulness to children and adolescents with a variety of challenges. "I work with kids individually with ADHD, with anxiety, depression, autism, anger management issues. The lovely thing about working one-on-one is you get to tailor what you offer to them."

Saltzman also conducted a study in conjunction with researchers at Stanford University showing that after 8 weeks of mindfulness training, the fourth through sixth graders in the study had documented decreases in anxiety, and improvements in attention. They were less emotionally reactive and more able to handle daily challenges and choose their behavior.

As a teacher at The Nantucket New School where every student gets instruction in mindfulness, Allison Johnson has learned first hand what a difference it can make for kids. So she tried it at home. "I have a six-year-old son with ADHD," she says. "I brought a chime home. We use it most nights before bed. 'Cause he doesn't love going to sleep. We sit on the floor facing each other, we close our eyes and we ring the chime. Sometimes we incorporate a visualization-like he's floating on a cloud. We go on this little journey. And we ring the chime again and we say 'when you can no longer hear the chime it's time to open your eyes and come back to focus.' And now if he gets in trouble and gets sent to his room, I can hear him upstairs doing it himself. Or when he's getting unusually rowdy he'll say 'okay lets do our mindful breathing now.'" Johnson says since Curren started practicing mindfulness she's seen subtle but noticeable differences in his behavior. "He's more able to bring his focus and attention back to where they were-remembering to raise his hand and not move around so much."

While the research on children and adolescents is really just beginning to gain real traction, there are several small studies showing that for kids who suffer from anxiety and ADHD, mindfulness can be especially helpful. Diana Winston, author of Wide Awake and the Director of Mindfulness Education at UCLA's Mindful Awareness Research Center, started taking teens with ADHD on retreats for what she calls "mindfulness intensive camp" back in 1993. Twenty years later the program is still going strong.

" Teens benefit tremendously," she says. "Kids talk about their lives being transformed. I remember one girl with ADD who'd been very depressed and I didn't think we were reaching her. On the last day of class she came in and said, 'everything is different. I was really depressed. My boyfriend broke up with me and it's been so hard but I'm finally understanding that I'm not my thoughts.' That concept is huge-the non-identifying with the negative thoughts and having a little more space and freedom in the midst of it."

Stress reduction and self-acceptance are two of the major perks of mindfulness, benefits Winston says are particularly important during the drama and turmoil-filled teen years. "Emotional regulation, learning how to quiet one's mind-those are invaluable skills."

Randye Semple, PhD, an assistant professor at the University of Southern California's Keck School of Medicine, has spent her career developing programs to teach anxious kids how to quiet their minds. "When I look at childhood anxiety I see an enormous problem and a precursor to other problems in adolescents and adults," she says. "So I figured if we could manage the anxiety we could head off a lot of the other problems." Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Anxious Children, the book she co-authored, is based on the program she developed. A study she and her co-author, clinical psychologist Jennifer Lee, conducted from 2000-2003 showed significant reductions in both anxiety and behavior problems in 8- to 12-year-olds in Harlem and Spanish Harlem who participated in the program.

Teaching mindfulness to children and adolescents is a growing trend-in private practices as part of therapy and increasingly as part of the curriculum in both Special Ed and General Ed classes throughout the country. "We're at the beginning of a movement," says Megan Cowan, co-founder and executive director of programs at Mindful Schools in Oakland, California. "Jon Kabat-Zinn's work really set the stage for mindfulness to be visible on a mainstream landscape. I think we all have the sense that society's a little out of control. Education is a little out of control. We're all looking for a way to change that. This is meaningful to almost everybody."

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The Power of Mindfulness - Child Mind Institute

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Learn how mindfulness techniques can help combat stress and alleviate mental health and learning disorders. Child Mind Institute explains the benefits of mindfulness for children.