How Social-Emotional Learning Enhances the School Environment

As an essential part of education, social-emotional learning (SEL) allows children to develop knowledge and apply emotional skills to individuals. This includes displays of empathy, support, and respect to others.

SEL is an essential part of all curriculums. It teaches children how to deal with their emotions and interact with others in a personal and collective way. SEL also advises students how to manage their goals, create effective relationships, and care for others.

Association with Academic Performance

Research shows a positive association between a student’s emotional skills and academic performance. Perhaps this is due to their perception of the school environment, or more advanced development of their interaction with classmates. This allows them to manage and achieve their academic goals much more effectively.

Moreover, you can expect the attitude towards learning, especially group work, to improve as well, in line with the development of their emotional skills.

Reduction in Anxiety & Behavioral Issues

Participating in SEL may cause a reduction in anxiety and behavioral issues both in and outside of the classroom. The reason mainly boils down to the capacity to manage their own emotions and actions.

Learning to understand individual and other’s emotions creates less stressful situations due to newfound empathetic nature. Additionally, this includes the ability to realize the root of the emotion and how to react calmly and rationally.

Developing SEL Skills During COVID-19

The importance of developing SEL skills in young children is paramount; however, with the recent and ongoing pandemic, the interaction between students is somewhat limited or non-existent. This poses a threat to the development of children.

Children returning to school are highly encouraged (if not required) to wear masks and socially distance, which makes the development of SEL more challenging. Therefore, we can expect new and innovative ways to further develop and advance these skills, given that many young children and students have already missed out on approximately one to two years of emotional interaction with other people.

In addition to remote learning, children can communicate remotely via Zoom or Facetime (with supervision from their parents) if in-person contact remains prohibited. Although viewed as far from ideal since children require human contact for development, it offers an available option at the moment.

To Conclude

Social-emotional learning remains a crucial component when it comes to the overall development of young children, especially regarding how they interact with others, and how they understand and manage their own emotions.

Nonetheless, given the current pandemic, opportunities for students to advance these skills have been limited. Therefore, we require greater intervention and effort into developing these skills throughout the next few months, ensuring the next generation does not miss out on these necessary skills.

ICAS offers a digital tool for schools to implement social-emotional learning into the curriculum. Learn more here. 

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Everything you need to know about vaping during the pandemic regarding our youth age group, and an effective intervention system.  

Vaping is becoming a bigger problem by the day for schools with more students picking up the bad habit as a result of remote learning. As most schools have not provided in-person learning, worries grow as students may have picked up bad habits, perhaps translating these to the classroom and school environment during the educational hiatus.

According to CNY Central, students are likely to have picked up these habits, such as vaping, due to a lack of supervision, with parents being at work, and teens having access to things their parents are unaware of. With increasing health risks surrounding vaping, and other bad habits picked up during the pandemic, the return to school is not going to be an easy one.

For school staff and principals, the road ahead will no doubt be rocky, containing many bumps along the way. Despite this, there are interventions and things you can do to make the transition a bit easier and safer for all students.

Vaping and Covid-19

A recent study from the University of Stanford found that those who regularly vape are up to seven times more likely to become infected by the deadly virus. This is perhaps due to the damage vaping does to the lungs, compromising the immune system, and having adverse side effects on the user.

While many young people revel in the idea that their age will protect them against the virus, vaping argues differently. So, not only is vaping in itself dangerous but now there is a greater risk due to the increased risk of transmitting the virus and experiencing severe side-effects, too.

Preventing vaping in schools

To combat the rise in vaping, it’s important to have a plan of action. School staff needs to be aware of the situation, monitoring students and ensuring they reinforce healthy habits, as opposed to unhealthy ones, such as vaping. The Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) launched a campaign to discourage minors from using vaping devices. Facts Over Flavor is the new Arizona youth prevention campaign, which targets 9-13-year-olds. The campaign uses stories to combat mistaken beliefs about tobacco use and electronic vapor products.

This blog post will discuss more on vaping, specifically on our youth during the pandemic, concluding with information on our ICAS vape detector.

Using technology to help battle vaping in schools

One effective solution to preventing vaping is a vaping detection system, is the ICAS vape detector. Unlike other vaping and smoking intervention methods, the vape detector can be placed in remote areas where cameras are not allowed, for example, in locker rooms and bathrooms. When vaping is detected, this sends a real-time alert to staff, enabling them to intervene, prevent the vaping, and confiscate the vaping devices.

Currently, the ICAS vape detector has been installed in hundreds of different schools across the United States, including states such as New York, Florida, California, Texas, West Virginia, and many, many more! Improve the social environment and safety of your school with the vape detector today – it’s all about putting the safety of the students first, and there’s no better way.

To find out more about the ICAS vape detector, including availability, click here.

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Over the last year or so now, we’ve all been living with the pandemic that is the coronavirus.

It’s affected everybody’s life in some way or another, whether homeschooling kids, being isolated from loved ones, or perhaps even losing your job.

Many industries have been impacted by Covid-19, with extra pressure on companies to work to the highest of standards, with hundreds of clients relying on them to keep their businesses running as smoothly as possible during these unprecedented times.
In these industries, customer service is one of those things that has taken the biggest hit. Business owners are becoming more and more anxious, uneasy, and impatient, looking for quick solutions to the ongoing problems we are currently facing as a nation.

Despite these unprecedented challenges, the ICAS team has not stopped serving its’ clients and will not stop helping you do your job to the best of your ability during these difficult times.
Here are our key services currently available, we can follow up with an opportunity for a free consultation.

The value of customer service. 

Customer service should be the backbone of business; without it, your business could fall apart. We pride ourselves on client relations. ICAS, has been committed to providing excellent customer service to all those in need during this pandemic.

We believe the best way to help our clients is to help them succeed in business. We work with our clients to create a loyal and respectful partnership that will last for years to follow. We couldn’t do what we do without our clients, and they couldn’t run their businesses as efficiently as they do without us. It is a two-way street.

Services available

● Structured Cabling
   Providing reliable connectivity
● Digital signage
   Helping to tell your story
● Technology infrastructure
   Improving organization efficiencies
● Video security systems
   Securing business
● Technology relocation
   Helping right size your workspace
● And more!

Cabling

Our team can provide a quick, efficient cabling solution for your business; whether installing voice, video, or fiber optic cable our certified fitters are here to help you when you need it most.

Digital signage

Digital signage is the use of screens to display signs and notices, think doctor’s waiting rooms, restaurants, and law firms displaying their logo and information, bright and clear for all to see. These signs are fast, efficient and doubling up as a monitor to display other relevant information, e.g., public announcements.

Plan a project with ICAS and find a first-rate customer service experience. Our team of experts is supportive from start to finish. ICAS services are available in the Tri-State Area (NY, CT, NJ), Long Island, and Florida.

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The COVID-19 Pandemic has caused officials to respond to safety protocols by suggesting individual temperature checks before entering facilities.

As we know, an elevated temperature is a sign of possible infection, especially during these times of COVID-19. While states continue implementing various phase changes, individuals may enter society without presenting obvious signs of infection, such as a fever. Body temperature kiosks and thermal scanners are here to ensure the safety and protection of public businesses, institutions, facilities, and citizens.

Technology is Always Advancing

New technology, designed in response to pandemic uneasiness, will monitor the temperature of anyone entering an enclosed public space. Temperature scanning technology is commonly seen in forehead thermometers, thermal imaging cameras, tablets, and kiosks. Kiosks are becoming increasingly popular in spaces with a high influx of visitors, and we soon may see them in numerous facilities we enter.

Body temperature scanning kiosks allow the community to feel more secure in their decisions to go back to work, attend a doctor’s appointment, or shop. The devices are contactless, single or multi-user, positioned at facility entrances, quick, and easy to use.

Contactless services have been on the rise since the beginning of the pandemic. Because of social distancing guidelines, people do not desire to be in the close presence of others. Forehead scanning thermometers require other individuals to operate them, but users of the kiosks simply position their forehead in front of the screen by themselves while their temperature reading is provided to them in a matter of seconds.

Why Should These Devices Be Purchased?

You may be thinking, “why should I buy this instead of the forehead thermometer?” After all, forehead thermometers are cheaper and smaller. However, the answer is that these types of thermometers can take an elongated amount of time to scan and read from a close distance while requiring an employee of the facility to handle them. This results in the inability to socially distance 6 feet apart.

Body temperature scanners come in a variety of forms and can be installed on kiosks, walls, turnstiles, and more. The automatic appliance can read a single person, and even scan up to about 20 people at once. It can also be purchased with or without face recognition, depending on your own facility’s needs. Human temperatures are scanned quickly and efficiently while alerting officials of any abnormalities.

Important Places of Installation

With the fall season coming quicker than expected, schools are formulating reopening plans for the academic year. CDC guidelines will need to be followed, such as wearing protective face coverings, social distancing, and potentially administering half-capacity classrooms, but monitoring symptoms will be essential in ensuring each student and staff member is in a safe and secure environment.

Although schools are one of society’s major concerns at the moment, other public spaces and facilities would benefit from installing the devices at their doors. School buses, public transportation, offices, small businesses, and shopping malls all have an inflow of different visitors multiple times a day. Installing body temperature scanners, on top of encouraging face coverings, can be one more step in encouraging individuals to bring normalcy back into their lives while ensuring no one with a main symptom is present.

The Bottom Line

Body temperature scanners may in fact be the new norm. Advancements in technology are shifting towards promoting health and safety in public spaces for citizens to feel at ease when going out. Designs of these devices also include friendly shaped cameras, such as a panda, for young children in schools to feel more comfortable. 

For more information about the details and benefits of body temperature kiosks and thermal scanners, contact the experts at ICAS. ICAS offers the sale and installation of the Safe 3 Body Temperature Measurement devices, by ICAS Corp., in the Tri-State Area (NY, CT, NJ), Long Island, and Florida. Visit safe3usa.com or icascorp.com for additional information or to request a demo.

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Some public-facing businesses and institutions are using body temperature kiosks to protect their workers, students, and the general public.
The world has changed drastically in just a few short months. The impact of the COVID-19 crisis has left countless businesses, municipalities, and families uncertain and frightened of the pandemic’s path moving forward. The way communities gather, do business, or tend to basic human needs have been dramatically altered, and with no clear end in sight, adjustments in behavior and emerging technology are proving to be crucial in the recovery process.

With the COVID-19 virus often being transmitted quietly through asymptomatic individuals, those who are working or visiting public spaces present an elevated risk to the general public and other essential workers. Many institutions and businesses, including ICAS, are employing the use of cutting-edge thermal scanning technology to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 through close monitoring of body temperature

Protecting the Public While Protecting Their Staff

Data has shown us that many individuals carrying the COVID-19 virus are completely unaware they are infected, leading to the potential spread of infection to others. An elevated temperature, which is a main symptom of COVID-19, can help identify possible infection in any individual before entering a building. As companies and facilities begin reopening and phasing the way back into society, they are turning to thermal scanning and body temperature kiosks to preemptively detect individuals who are unknowingly presenting a fever.
The non-invasive and contactless body thermal scanners and body temperature kiosks are able to efficiently detect temperature immediately. The devices can be installed indoors or outdoors and positioned at the entrance of the facility. Once the body is scanned, the screen will alert the individual with a green or red signal, ultimately determining whether or not entry is permitted. Reducing the spread of the virus and protecting essential workers, businesses, visitors, and institutions from infection is crucial in the continued well-being and advancement of our communities.

School Security: How Will Schools Reopen?

Public and private institutions around the United States are deciphering the safest way to administer education in the fall. Guidelines from the CDC require social distancing and wearing face masks, so the implementation of temperature checking in schools can ensure a safer environment for students and faculty. The thermal scanning and body temperature kiosk, along with many other precautions and practices, may aid in the reopening of institutions so children can return to face-to-face classroom time.

The Bottom Line

Body temperature kiosks and thermal scanning are consistently being integrated into public-facing facilities to promote the safety and health of each patron.  To learn more about purchasing and installing a body temperature kiosk for your public space or institution, contact ICAS today.  Our team of experienced cabling and security experts services Tri-State Area (NY, CT, NJ), Long Island, and Florida.  Together, we can slow the spread and ICAS can provide technology to help get back to life as we knew it.

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