EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE AND ITS ROLE IN SEL

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Traditional perspectives on education have long stressed the importance of cognitive ability and academic skill development. This chapter provides a description of the major structures of the brain, along with the various regions that develop over time and contribute to emotional processing. This will be followed by a discussion of how emotional intelligence and the neuroscience of emotions intersect with social emotional learning (SEL). Brain development begins early in gestation and continues into adulthood. There are four major structures of the brain that form the hierarchy of learning: the brain stem, the limbic system, the cortex, and the cerebellum. Brain development and its relationship with cognitive and emotional processes have significant implications for the support of SEL in educating young people. Advances in the neuroscience of emotions emphasize that connections between cognitive and emotional functions “have the potential to revolutionize our understanding of learning in the context of schools”.