SEL is trained in relationships, not on a screen

Digital games and gamification have a clear strength: they can make learning fun! But for those of us who developed Pomelo, the question is bigger than whether a game can engage students.

This is where we see an important limitation in using digital games as the main arena for social-emotional learning (SEL):

1. The screen should not crowd out relational learning

The Swedish Public Health Agency's (Folkhälsomyndigheten) recommendations on children's and young people's screen use rest on a simple but important principle: digital media must not displace the things children need in order to feel well – among them sleep, physical activity, schoolwork and relationships. For children aged 6–12 the rule of thumb is no more than 1–2 hours of screen time per day, and for young people aged 13–18, 2–3 hours.

That does not mean digital tools are bad. But it does mean we need to be careful about what the screen replaces. When it comes to social-emotional learning, that question becomes particularly important. If we want to develop children's ability to understand and manage relationships, it may be paradoxical to place yet another part of the training in an environment where the real relationship is absent. For social and emotional skills, the relationship is not merely a place where learning happens. The relationship is the training ground itself.

2. SEL is used in relationships – so it needs to be practiced in relationships

Social and emotional skills are not just knowledge. They are about being able to manage your emotions, understand others, cooperate, resolve conflicts and make social decisions – in real situations.

A student can learn what to do when they are angry, but that does not automatically mean the student can use the strategy when a friend provokes them, when group work goes wrong, or when they feel unfairly treated. There is, in other words, a difference between learning about a skill and being able to use it.

For a skill to become usable, it needs to be practiced in the contexts where it is actually going to be used. Here there is a particular challenge with digital games: students need to be able to generalize what they have learned in the game to real social situations. A recent research review on gamified SEL points precisely to the need for more knowledge about how the learning transfers and lasts over time.

3. The teacher and the class are part of the learning itself

Research on SEL emphasizes the importance of the teacher and the social climate in the classroom. The teacher is not only the one who conveys knowledge about social and emotional skills. The teacher is also a model for how those skills are used.

At the same time, it is not only the individual student who learns. The whole group learns together. Students get to practice listening to one another, seeing different perspectives, handling differences and understanding the consequences of their actions. Individual and collective learning happen at the same time. That is an important difference from practicing a social or emotional skill on your own in front of a screen.

4. Engagement is the means – not the goal

We take a positive view of the fact that digital games can create engagement and enjoyment. That is an important precondition for learning. But engagement is not the same thing as behavior change.

The purpose of SEL is not for students to become good at identifying emotions or choosing the right strategy in a game. The purpose is for them to build a larger repertoire of social and emotional strategies that they can use when they need them – in the classroom, during break, in friendships and later in life.

5. Unclear research findings

Research on prosocial games gives no unambiguous answer as to whether playing actually leads to more prosocial behavior in everyday life. Harrington and O'Connell (2016) found both positive and negative associations between prosocial gaming and various measures of prosociality. In some analyses, prosocial gaming was linked to more helpfulness and cooperation, while other analyses showed negative associations with, among other things, empathy and teacher-rated prosocial behavior.

The findings remind us that what we practice in a game does not automatically transfer to real relationships. Making a prosocial choice in a digital environment is not necessarily the same as being able to make it when you are actually in a social situation.

That is why Pomelo is based on a relational SEL in which social and emotional skills are practiced where they are meant to be used: in relationships, in the classroom and in everyday situations, guided by the teacher's leading role.

1. The screen should not crowd out relational learning​

2. SEL is used in relationships – so it needs to be practiced in relationships​

3. The teacher and the class are part of the learning itself​

4. Engagement is the means – not the goal​

5. Unclear research findings​

1. The screen should not crowd out relational learning

2. SEL is used in relationships – so it needs to be practiced in relationships

3. The teacher and the class are part of the learning itself

4. Engagement is the means – not the goal

5. Unclear research findings