«Can I change mine?» Role Experimentation in Adolescents’ Digitally Mediated Social Emotional Learning

Abstract

Schools are increasingly focusing on ways to increase adolescents’ self-efficacy in areas of their life from relationships to sleep. Commercially available apps such as mood and sleep trackers may be able to sup-port this process. This paper draws on Rubtsova’s explication of “role experimentation” and on Vygotsky’s reading of Freud to delineate dynamics within adolescent personality development. This theoretical back-ground is utilized in a study of seven 12—13 year-olds in a secondary school in London. Participants used an app designed by other students to track their sleep for two weeks. Their data mediated dramatic situations while discussing their experiences with their peers in the study. This process supported self-reflection and helped participants develop concepts for talking about their everyday life in subsequent one-on-one interviews. In negotiating peer and student roles, participants experimented with scientific and everyday concepts, allowing them to see their own data and the experiences it signified from a new angle.