#813: A Mixed-Method Analysis of Facilitator Sensemaking around Social-Emotional Learning in a Refugee Summer Program

This study utilizes a mixed-methods approach to analyze facilitator sensemaking around social-emotional learning (SEL). Using Latent Dirichlet Allocation (topic modeling) and grounded theory coding, we analyze two corpora of SEL literature to identify key topics that comprise dominant and critical SEL frameworks. Our findings reveal that while dominant SEL frameworks emphasize institutional language, critical SEL frameworks better reflect the complex cultural negotiations that facilitators navigate in their practice. Qualitative analysis of facilitator interviews validates these computational findings, illustrating how facilitators draw on their own cultural backgrounds as underscored in critical approaches to SEL. This study supports the need for SEL frameworks that can accommodate multiple ways of understanding social and emotional development in culturally diverse contexts.