Term
Summer 2025
Capstone
Capstone Project
Degree Name
MAT
Facilitator(s)
Karen L. Moroz
Content Expert
Elizabeth Weise
Abstract
Recent research has shown that elementary school students are spending time online at unprecedented rates, and that this excessive screen time has negative impacts on the physical and psychological health of children. The research question addressed in this project was: what is the association between screen time, academic achievement, executive function, and emotional regulation in elementary school-aged children? Excessive screen time has been found to negatively impact children’s emotional regulation, but the data regarding the association between academic achievement, executive function, and screen time were inconclusive, resulting in a partial rejection of the hypothesis. The research suggested that screen time negatively impacts children’s attention span, their ability to emotionally regulate themselves, and their use of impulse control. Two possible solutions to these findings have been suggested, including teaching digital citizenship (DC) concepts and social-emotional learning (SEL) in the classroom. Social-emotional learning curricula such as the Toolbox Project and PBIS were evaluated in this study, and have been found to improve students’ emotional regulation and social-emotional skills, potentially helping to counteract the effects of excessive screen time. Digital citizenship encourages students to become safe and responsible online users, and the teaching of digital citizenship in the classroom has positive implications for reducing digital device related physical and psychological impacts. The curriculum designed for this project focuses on introducing the idea of digital citizenship and screen time to students, and encourages them to think critically about their time spent online. The goal of the mini-guide portion of the project is to introduce teachers and families to the dangers of excessive screen time, while making recommendations for avoiding the development of negative digital device habits.
Project Type
Curriculum and Mini-Guide
Keywords
Curriculum, Digital Citizenship
Recommended Citation
Carlson, Katherine, "Assessing the Relationship Between Screen Time, Academic Achievement, Executive Function, and Emotional Regulation: The Role of Digital Citizenship in the Upper Elementary Classroom" (2025). School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects. 1136.
https://digitalcommons.hamline.edu/hse_cp/1136
dc_type
text
dc_publisher
DigitalCommons@Hamline
dc_format
application/pdf
dc_source
School of Education Student Capstone Projects