Using puzzles as a mind-map systemic representation to enhance psycho-social safety and student's well-being at elementary and middle school in the Czech Republic
Abstrakt
Intended course: Primary prevention on individual and group level. As any environment, a school environment is strongly influenced by elementary evolutionary processes such as cooperation, competition, or the fear of exclusion from a group or its resources.
At worst, moments of increased violence (e.g., Zimbardo's experiments) can occur. Therefore, there needs to be a conscious focus on safety and well-being topics (e.g., as a part of primary prevention programs).
Learning goals: An essential condition for communicating safety is, however, the ability to name behaviors, emotions, and perceptions correctly, and in practice, pupils and professionals often sim- ply lack the vocabulary. Then comes the tendency (both among pupils and adults) to use meaning- less, sometimes pejoratively connotated expressions/judgments when not knowing how to describe behavior in an accurate manner.
Those statements can sound like "you're behaving badly," "control yourself," "don't look at me that weirdly," "he/she is mean to me." It is nearly impossible to comply and make a change when the mistake is not understood. Many people lack the set of skills to re- spond directly and politely (e.g., the crucial question: "What do you mean by that?)".
Often, when some children have self-regulating issues, they are negatively labeled by peers and teachers. In practice, we realized that the easiest and correct intervention is simply to look for lacking social skills, physiological reasoning, and the use of accurate words in the description of behavior.
If is- sues are named correctly, and intentionality is taken away, attitudes of teachers and peers often change. They start acting supportively, even speeding up the process of learning, changing, or heal- ing.
It gets even more complicated with avoidance, withdrawing, and absenting behavioral cues such as not reacting, refusing help, not answering, not joining in group activities, that can lead to hurting a specific partner in interaction or can threaten own position in a group. These passive behaviors are often excluded, not just only from scientific journals and research coding lists, but also in the awareness of practitioners.
We answered these issues in two manners. First, by testing the school climate and psychosocial safety by using more behavior descriptive questions.
Second, by letting the children create behav- ioral and emotions manuals themselves according to the specific needs. Description of the Puzzles technique: Communication in social interactions is a complex process and cannot be fully simplified.
There is rarely just one way of solving a situation, and therefore, a puzzle proved to be a helpful and universal metaphor. It also helps to keep in mind the complexity of variables and suggest relationships between them.
The puzzle can be used with the entire class (during prevention and social skills development lessons) or with one child during an individual consultation. We use puzzle pictures to figure out the specific recipe, a system of how to act in this particular situation (in line with CBT protocols).
In our case, we use this technique to help children and adolescents respond to conflicts and cope with discomfort. Through the activity of replacing one single dysfunctional puzzle with a new one making the entire scheme work better, also new thinking patterns are transferred.
Furthermore, it allows the freedom of experimenting and creating themselves. The idea of just needing a better working puzzle instead of blaming themselves (for being too hyperactive, shy, overweighed, etc.) takes away many obsta- cles in learning.
The puzzles technique can vary in its form. From a black and white small, quickly drawn down scheme to a prepared cardboard blank puzzles, or elaborated pictures made in Arts classes.
The number of puzzles and specific shapes are dependent on the need for educative and social interven- tions. Simple symbols or shapes such as a circle, a house, or a human body proved to be useful.
Balancing between time requirements (45 mins school hours) and creating functioning schemes, students provide on average 5-12 puzzles. Examples of use: In full classes, students compose and draw manuals.
They list specific behavioral displays of, e.g., friendly behaviors, or behaviors leading to getting positive attention, and the final puzzle (in this case usually in the shape of the human body) stays in their classroom as a change- able/transformative support tool. At the individual and intra-personal level, but still, within the entire class group, we focus on self- regulation skills, within-person long-term goals, or adapting learning habits.
For example, when pupils are experiencing troubles with self-regulation (e.g., sitting on a chair for a long time), they suggest some activities that could help them to cope and draw a puzzle scheme. Activities can be walking during breaks, avoiding sugary drinks, using a stress-relieving ball, drawing, standing up, writing down a joke to prevent feelings of tension, and also as a handout for intervention needs.
This technique is also usable when the attention is not focused internally but towards an interaction- al partner. For example, when children have safety concerns of being called names by a peer, they usually compose puzzle recipes from preventive acts, e.g. staying close to specific classmates, prac- ticing assertive methods, asking for a supportive hug, making agreements with specific classmates to be more receptive to those behaviors, having a descriptive scheme of how to approach responsi- ble adult for help etc.
This technique is also helpful for team building aims. With the same logic, each member gets one puzzle as a piece of the group, and depending on the topic, they can think of what picture they form as a class.
Positive outcomes include communicating expectations and needs, own roles and posi- tions in the group, delivering feedback, and describing the group. Evaluation: Summarized, this approach allows for changing thinking patterns both on an individual and on a group level in schools and, moreover, to create a real individual approach towards every student's specific needs and individual differences.