Social-emotional learning has become a bit trendy lately. However, it’s more than merely a trend. SEL is a critical part of student soft skill development. In my latest article, I explore the relationship between project-based learning (PBL) and social-emotional learning (SEL). It’s an idea that Matinga Ragatz and Mike Kaechele explore in their upcoming book The Pulse of PBL and their thinking on this subject has definitely shaped my thinking on this powerful overlap as well. In fact, before you dive into this piece, you might want to check out Mike Kaechele’s articles on the Marriage of SEL and PBL  as well as how to combine SEL and PBL in your classroom.

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Student Soft Skill Development

Ricardo was a shy student. By “shy,” I don’t mean he didn’t enjoy talking in front of the class or he rarely raised his hand. It was more than that. If I called on him, he would freeze up entirely. On several occasions, I would see that he had the right answer and I would even give him the heads-up that I would be calling on him. However, when I pointed to him, he would stutter and stammer or merely shrug his shoulders and say, “I don’t know.”

It was easy for me to relate to Ricardo. When I took public speaking as an elective my freshman year, I froze up entirely and had to quit ten seconds into my first speech. My teacher let me try a second time and I scripted out the entire speech. However, two sentences into it, my voice cracked and I simply couldn’t get the words out. I tried a third time. It was rocky but I managed to complete the four minute speech.

I wanted Ricardo to find his voice and build confidence. I wanted him to develop the critical skill of communication. However, it wasn’t working during direct instruction and guided practice. Instead, he had a breakthrough during an independent project. Each student completed a Geek Out Blog and Ricardo chose engineering and robotics as his topic. At the end of the project, students had to share their geeky interests with the class over the course of a week. I offered students the chance to record and edit videos instead of doing a synchronous presentation. All they would have to do would be to press “play” and let the projector do its job. This prerecorded process blended together a high-stakes element of launching to an audience with the low-stakes opportunity to make mistakes and revise their work.

Ricardo’s video was well-produced, with creativity and humor infused through the entire thing. When it was finished, I asked him if he would be willing to answer questions and he came alive during this question and answer process. This moment was a reminder for me of the valuable soft skills that students develop in project-based learning.

Project-based learning provides an authentic opportunity for students to develop critical soft skills.

The Critical Need for Soft Skills

When Google began Project Oxygen, they assumed the best predictor of employee success would be university program and grades. Instead, the top of their list was, “being a good coach; communicating and listening well; possessing insights into others (including others different values and points of view); having empathy toward and being supportive of one’s colleagues.” In other words, the most critical factors for success involved soft skills.

Later, when they studied their teams in Project Aristotle, they found the top skills were, “equality, generosity, curiosity toward the ideas of your teammates, empathy, and emotional intelligence.” Some would call these “soft skills,” but as classroom teachers, we know that there’s nothing soft at all about these skills. If anything, these critical skills are could be called “hard skills,” because of the inherent challenge in mastering them. You can call these critical skills, timeless skills, and vital skills but they aren’t soft by any means.

Project-based learning provides an excellent context for having students develop these soft skills. I saw this with Ricardo, who emerged as a leader in small group STEAM projects. In fact, he was a STEAM punk! He was an excellent problem-solver and a great listener. He was humble and empathetic. And yet, PBL alone doesn’t guarantee soft skill development. I learned that lesson the hard way with a specific collaborative project that very same year.

Halfway through the first semester, a new student arrived. Miguel had failed out of the eighth grade once already and he had spent time at a juvenile detention center. He arrived to class with his arms crossed and rarely looked up at all. He had an expression on his face that said, “I don’t want to be here and I’m not even sure you want me to be here, either.” I remember placing him in a group with Ricardo on a highly engaging roller coaster project. However, he never engaged. Instead, he’d stare out the window or occasionally stare at his phone. This continues for days and days as the project progressed.

At one point, though, he leaned forward and said, “What if . . .”

“Go on,” Ricardo said.

“It’s nothing,” he answered.

“Just say it,” Ricardo said.

“What if we had a gap at the top of the loop?”

“The car would fly off,” another student said.

“I just thought maybe the circle force . . .”

“Centrifugal force?” Ricardo asked.

“Yeah, that. I thought it would keep the car on the track,” he answered.

“There’s not enough time to change the roller coaster,” Ricardo pointed out. Other group members agreed. That afternoon, Miguel came by to ask if he could work on the roller coaster project by himself. For the next two weeks, he came in before school and worked on his own project. The truth is, he had great ideas but his group hadn’t given him a chance. It was a reminder that PBL alone won’t lead to soft skill development. For that, we need specific strategies that develop social-emotional learning.

The Relationship Between PBL and SEL

About a year ago, my friend Mike Kaechele approached me with a book idea about the relationship between SEL and PBL. Mike is a true expert on this overlap. I’ve known Mike for years and his ideas around PBL helped me reshape my practice as a teacher who used PBL. I had the honor of observing his classroom for two years in a row and I was amazed at his focus on SEL within PBL. At the time, I didn’t know what SEL was. I preferred the term “soft skill development,” but I immediately noticed how well his students interacted with one another and how they were developing these critical soft skills through the intentional way that Mike crafted the learning experiences.

Mike eventually partnered with PBL and SEL expert Matinga Ragatz. Matinga is a renowned PBL expert who worked in so many different contexts helping teachers make PBL a reality. They built their upcoming book The Pulse of PBL on the following framework provided by CASEL. Full disclosure, I am the co-owner of Blend Education, who will be publishing their book. I am so excited about it. Look for a podcast episode and webinars on this topic in the future!

If you’re not familiar with the CASEL Framework, here’s how it works:

As a refresher of project-based learning, check out this video:

Project-based learning can help facilitate soft