Empathy in Schools and How Exquisite Learning Can Help

Introduction
One of the benefits of Exquisite Learning is that it can be used to help students improve their empathy skills. Empathy is one aspect of social and emotional learning that involves understanding and being sensitive to the feelings, thoughts, and experiences of another person. Often times, these feelings are communicated non-verbally or through body language. The roots of empathy can be traced all the way back to infancy (Goleman, 98.) As children grow older, their empathy skills can be shaped by seeing how others react when someone else is distressed; by intimating what they see, children develop a repertoire of empathic response, especially in helping other people who are distressed (Goleman, 99.) Empathy is also a base for moral judgment and action. Many people's altruistic actions when helping a distressed person are strongly tied to their empathic feelings.

Various schools around the country are beginning to recognize the importance of teaching empathy and social and emotional learning to students. The John Dewey Laboratory School at the University of Chicago is one such school that has been doing this for over 100 years. For John Dewey, education is "the process of forming dispositions intellectual and emotional toward nature and fellow man (Palmero and D'Erasmo, 2001.) The article "Teaching Empathy and the Teacher's Responsibility" by James Palmero and Catherine D'Erasmo of Montclair State University discusses how empathy involves a "moral imagination" and that social and emotional learning and are very important in a child's education. A summary of benefits of teaching empathy is written below.

Empathy and Academic Outcomes
(The information in this section comes from Kathleen Cotton's article, "Developing Empathy in Children and Youth.")

Many people have argued against character-related educational activities in schools because they feel that such activities would take time away from activities that promote basic and higher-order thinking. According to Cotton, research shows an impressive correlation between students' training and skills in empathic understanding and their academic performance:

Researchers (Bonner and Aspy, 1984) have identified significant correlations between students scores on measures of empathetic understanding and their grade point averages.
Program evaluation results have shown that schools where students are involved in programs designed to increase empathy and create "caring communities" have higher scores than comparison schools on measures of higher-order reading comprehension (Kohn, 1991.)
Review of research related to empathy training/instruction indicates that this instruction enhances both critical thinking skills and creative thinking (Gallo, 1989.)

Now that we have seen research demonstrating the relationship between empathy and academics, let us look at some classroom strategies that can be employed with Exquisite Learning to foster the development of empathy skills:

Classroom Strategies and Program Designs
In addition to programs and activities specifically designed to promote empathy, researchers have also identified several classroom strategies and program designs which tend to foster increases in empathy and prosocial behavior (Cotton, 2001.)

The activities Cotton recommends below can be incorporated as part of instruction with Exquisite Learning:

Cooperative Learning
Through cooperative learning, learners work with group members of different races, gender, and learning ability. As a result, learners become more accepting and respectful of other people. Learners also develop a "more sophisticated ability to imagine other people's point-of-view (Cotton, 2001.)"

By working in collaborative groups on self-expression artwork, we hope learners will reap the benefits presented by research on cooperative learning.

Empathic Activities
The activities below, recommended by Cotton, can be developed using Exquisite Learning. An example of an Exquisite Learning activity is included in brackets:

Activities that focus initially on one's own feelings as a point of departure for relating to the feelings of others. [Learners can write reflection pieces and create accompanying art reflection pieces. These pieces can then be shared with another classmate as a point for discussion.]
Role-taking/role-playing activities in which one imagines and acts out the role of another. [Learners can be paired to take opposite viewpoints on an issue, such as capital punishment. Learners can then listen to each other's viewpoints in a discussion on Exquisite Learning. Then, learners can express his or her partner's viewpoints through artwork or online discussion.]
Exposure to emotionally arousing stimuli, such as portrayal of misfortune, deprivation or distress. [Learners can work in groups and observe an emotionally stimulating image in the art section of the mirror on Exquisite Learning. Then, learners can talk about their feelings about the image in the discussion space and write a reflection piece.]
Activities that focus on the lives of famous empathic persons (e.g. Martin Luther King, Jr., Mother Theresa). [An image of a famous empathic person could be displayed in the mirror in Exquisite Learning when learners first log in. This person could then be used for inspiration when writing a reflection journal.]

Empathy and Gender
When comparing males and females, females tend to exhibit higher levels of empathy; however, through empathic modeling and activities there is potential to reduce the gap in empathy levels of girls and boys. (Cotton, 2001.) Perhaps through regular use of the Exquisite Learning environment with empathy-promoting activities, this could be one way of reducing the gap.

Final Summary
Empathy is a very important social and emotional skill that people have to varying degrees. It is innate and children continue to develop their empathy skills by observing the environment around them. Schools are slowly beginning to recognize the importance of teaching social and emotional learning skills, including empathy. Research shows that taking the time to help children develop socially and emotionally can improve children's academic ability. Through the use of Exquisite Learning, we hope to provide an environment that teachers can use in the classroom to educate students about social and emotional learning.

Sources:

Bonner, T. D., and Aspy, D. N. "A Study of the Relationship Between Student Empathy and GPA." Humanistic Education and Development 22.4 (1984): 149- 154.

Cotton, Kathleen. "Developing Empathy in Children and Youth." Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory. 31 Aug 2001. <http://www.nwrel.org/scpd/sirs/7/cu13.html>.

Gallo, D. "Educating for Empathy, Reason and Imagination." The Journal of Creative Behavior 23.2 (1989): 98-115.

Goleman, Daniel. Emotional Intelligence. New York: Bantam Books, 1995.

Kohn, A. "Caring Kids: The Role of the Schools." Phi Delta Kappan 72.7 (1991): 496-506.

Palmero, James and Catherine D'Erasmo. "Teaching Empathy and the Teacher's Responsibility." Thinking 15.4 (2001).

Last updated: December 7, 2002