Amanda Moreno talks with DNAinfo Chicago about Erikson’s mindfulness study
Assistant Professor Amanda Moreno, PhD, and Erikson Institute’s groundbreaking research on mindfulness and young children in Chicago classrooms were featured in a recent DNAinfo story, which asked “Can ‘calm spots’ calm Chicago’s youngest students?” Moreno’s answer: Yes.
Students who were “having multiple breakdowns a day are down to one or two or none,” Dr. Moreno says in the story. “Other schools said their standardized test scores have improved because a mindfulness technique was done right before a test. And teachers are using these tools, too, to help calm themselves down.”
The mindfulness research project, funded by the U.S. Department of Education and other Chicago-area donors, is being conducted with the Luster Learning Institute, designers of the Calm Classroom program being used in the study. It is reaching more than 2,000 students over four years.
“Mindfulness isn’t going to be the magic bullet, but at the same time, mindfulness is a very powerful tool to create an environment that is more compassionate,” Dr. Moreno says in the story.