Teaching Emotional Regulation and Awareness Through a VR-Based Rhythm Game

Programs designed to promote social-emotional learning (SEL) in high-school students are increasingly being used in schools to facilitate academic and life success. Among a wide range of skills, these programs teach young students how to identify and manage their emotions (CASEL, 2015). Virtual reality holds increasing potential to support SEL programs given the great interest of adolescents in this technology (Yamada-Rice et al., 2017) and the opportunity it provides to practice these skills in a safe but novel way (Slovák & Fitzpatrick, 2015). Additionally, SEL and emotion regulation schemes based on music listening and rhythmic performance are particularly compelling programming for teens, due to the popularity of music among adolescents, the inherent emotional expressivity of music, as well as our natural ability to parse those emotions (Dingle et al., 2016; Faulkner, 2016). This paper explores the use of VR and music in emotional regulation education and proposes the development of a VR rhythm game that complements self-awareness and self-management learning in schools. The game seeks to help students develop skills such as relaxation techniques, emotional expression, emotional literacy through rhythm gaming and performance.