Throughout my learning journey of researching how animals can be incorporated into classrooms and help children with their social emotional learning, I was able to answer my main question; which was how animals can positively impact students, and how they’re ‘help’ isn’t just limited to classrooms. Animals help people in so many ways and teach students how to positively treat those around them.

Summary of my Inquiry Posts:

• Introductory – Benefits of Animals In and Outside the Classroom
• Inquiry #2 – Why Have Animals in the Classroom?
• Inquiry #3 – ‘Equellness Kids’ (Equestrian & SEL)
• Inquiry #4 – ‘The Other Side’ – The Negative Effects of Animals in the Classroom
• Inquiry #5 – The Benefits of Volunteering with Animals
• Inquiry #6 – How I Would Incorporate Animals Into My Lesson Plans
• Summary – My Learning

Throughout my learning, I used the Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle to keep my Inquiry question on track.

• Description: What is my Essential Question? – Benefits of Animals In and Outside the Classroom. What do I want my outcome to be?

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• Feelings: I asked myself what my feelings toward this project are, and why am I wanting to know more about this topic? I love animals and know that they have helped me develop my SEL.

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• Evaluation: What research do I need to compile to answer my essential question? What questions am I trying to have answered. Factual sources and some from around the community.

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• Analysis: Then I asked myself what went well? What didn’t? What sense can I make of the situation? Research was easy to find, but also a lot of it was repetitive, so trying to come up with other ways to answer my question was hard.

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• Conclusions: What did I learn from my Inquiry Project? That animals do improve students social emotional learning and hold many benefits in and outside the classroom.

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• Action Plan: How will I incorporate this learning into my studies and as a future teacher? Have animals incorporated into my lessons.

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I have learned that animals are so beneficial towards humans and their emotions. They allow students to positively regulate themselves and learn so many key factors from Social Emotional Learning, such as empathy, friendship, and responsibility.

I was excited to have free rein with how I formatted this project, how I researched it, and what I researched on. I had a lot of fun learning and I hope others enjoyed what I have learned as well!

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Step further: I used Diffit for teachers to create a mock habitat lesson plan after our GenAI class! Just a little example of how you can incorporate them into your lessons.