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My name is Caitlin Dreismeier and I am a 4th year elementary education major at Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa. I plan to begin teaching next school year in the Cedar Rapids area.
This past May I had the opportunity to conduct research with a group of my peers. For our topic we studied the effect of virtual emotional support animals on anxiety during remote learning. We classified emotional support animals (ESA) as any animal that gives comfort to its handler in-person. We found a way to provide virtual access to these animals for students and people who otherwise may have no access at all. We allowed students to video call with animals (dogs in our case) while they did remote learning classes and assignments. We compared their anxiety levels with groups of students with no ESA and students with an ESA in-person. The research showed that the virtual ESAs were as effective and possibly even more effective in reducing student anxiety during remote learning than the in-person ESAs.
Using this research, we realized we could implement this technique in classrooms and schools in many different ways to help our students feel less anxious during school. We could video chat with an animal and broadcast it on our board during tests so students may watch the animal when they get nervous. We could even allow students to access a video chat or recorded video with an animal individually to take a break and calm down when they become anxious.
My question is; would teachers utilize this strategy/research in their classrooms or schools? Also, if you would, how would you use it to benefit your students?
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