The Effectiveness of Social-Emotional Learning on the Achievement of Fifth-Grade Science Students in Islamic Education and Their Social Thinking

Abstract

Aims: This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) on the achievement of fifth-grade science students in Islamic education and their social thinking. Methodology: The researcher adopted the semi-experimental approach. The participants consisted of (64) students distributed equally between two groups: the first group an experimental group studied Islamic education utilizing social learning, while the second group represented a control group studied Islamic education by the normal teaching method. The research tools consisted of an achievement test consisting of 40 multiple-choice items and a social thinking scale consisting of (14) items. Before applying the tools, the psychometric properties (validity - reliability) of both tools were verified. The equivalence of the two research groups was also confirmed in some variables that are believed could affect the results of the experiment, which included (age - IQ - general average degree - prior knowledge - social thinking). Results: After statistically analyzing the data, the results indicated the superiority of the experimental group over the control group in both the achievement test and the social thinking scale. Conclusions: It can be concluded that socio-emotional learning has an effective impact on improving achievement in Islamic education for fifth grade science students compared to other methods, as it encourages freedom of thought and expression. The researcher recommended that educational institutions encourage Islamic education teachers to adopt socio-emotional learning strategies and require authors of Islamic education textbooks to provide diverse activities that motivate students to understand and acquire knowledge, rather than limiting themselves to theoretical examples.