Ocean of Wisdom School
A K-4 MN Charter School Initiative by local community members in Minnesota to create a school that cultivates the development of children's social-emotional skills as well as academic knowledge. The Charter School is expected to open in Fall 2025 and will provide students with a state-of-the-art general education curriculum embedded within the whole-school implementation of the Social, Emotional, and Ethical (SEE Learning) program. Additionally, the school will offer optional opportunities for students to learn foreign languages such as Tibetan.
Social, Emotional, and Ethical Learning (SEE Learning®)
Framework and curriculum
The SEE Learning framework and K-12 curriculum is designed to foster the development of social, emotional, and ethical competencies that promote lifelong learning, well-being, and flourishing for individual students. This evidence-based program was developed at Emory University, as envisioned by the Dalai Lama in collaboration with many scholars, researchers, and founders of the social and emotional learning (SEL) field, such as Linda Lantieri, Daniel Goleman, Mark Greenberg, and Kim Schonert-Reichl.
The SEE Learning program is being implemented in over 30 countries and will become the core feature and philosophy of all teaching and learning at this charter school. Today's youths need skills to navigate the complex and uncertain social, cultural, technological, and ecological challenges ahead of them that the current education system may not sufficiently prepare them for. By creating a safe and compassionate environment where students and teachers can critically reflect and develop their own social-emotional skills, and academic knowledge, the goal of school is to provide education to the heart and mind. SEE Learning will foster the cultivation of skills such as attention, resilience based on trauma-informed care, interpersonal skills, compassion for self and others, systems thinking, and ethical discernment.
Research has shown that effective SEL programming can lead to:
- Improved academic performance: Studies have found that students who participate in SEL programs have 10% gain in academic performance.
- Enhanced social and emotional skills: SEL helps students develop skills such as self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making.