Improving students' emotional intelligence and academic achievement. (c2013)

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the efficacy of the Self-Science program in improving the emotional intelligence and academic achievement of upper elementary students. The study was implemented in grades 4, 5, and 6 in one private school with a sample size of 39 elementary students. The students’ age ranged between 8 -12 years. Self-Science was the program adopted to determine whether emotional intelligence and academic achievement could be improved. The participants’ emotional intelligence was assessed using the Six Seconds Emotional Intelligence Assessment Youth Version (SEI-YV), and the students’ school grades served as achievement data. An exploratory pretest/posttest design was adopted to evaluate the effectiveness of the Self-Science program in improving the students’ emotional intelligence and their academic achievement. Results showed that the Self-Science program did not lead to significant changes in the students’ emotional intelligence (F=1.38, p=.24) or in their academic achievement (t= .72, p = .48). Moreover, no significant correlation was found between emotional intelligence and academic achievement. Further research on whether emotional intelligence could be enhanced should be conducted on larger samples and for a longer duration.