Empathy and Education

In "The Power of Empathy in the Classroom," Paula Franzese goes further, and shares with her readers the philosophical, cognitive and behavioral science underpinnings to her approach as well as specific tools she uses in her "dazzlingly effective" teaching method.

Named an "Exemplary Teacher" by the American Association of Higher Education, Franzese makes clear that the key to effective teaching is empathy:

"Without empathy, we are teaching content instead of students. With empathy, we are better able to discern when a student is lost and when another has just made a connection. We see when a class member is engaged or disengaged.

 

We see where our students are and where they could be. Empathic teaching helps us to reach the whole class, including those at the margins and those who appear to be either left out or left behind. It requires that we call our students by name and ask that they put down their laptops and cell phones so that the power of human connectivity can do its work."

 

When we think of quality education, what normally springs to mind? Math and reading skills, history, science, spelling, and things along those lines are usually a pretty good start. However, there is a piece of education that seems to be missing in a lot of children today. And it has the potential to create very serious problems.

Empathy in today's day and age is on a sharp decline. It is becoming a struggle for children to relate to other people, leaving them closed off and isolated. One study shows that children who entered college after 2000 had a shocking 40% decrease in empathy levels than the generation before them. So what's causing this? And how can private schools help change it?

by Pamela Malinowski, eighth grade science teacher

In a science lesson coordinating with a recent guest speaker and reading in English class, eighth graders used Design Thinking and simple machines to create devices for people with disabilities.

 

The students in my eighth-grade science class had an introduction to Design Thinking last week. Instead of designing a wallet or some other similar device, my hope was to expose them to some experiences with which they may not be as familiar. Each student, upon entering the room was assigned a certain disability: they either were confined to a wheelchair or they had an arm amputated. At each station was a task they were asked to accomplish. These tasks included pouring cake batter from a bowl into a cake pan with only one arm, cutting carrots into thin strips with one arm, and seeing what was cooking on a stove from the vantage point of a wheelchair.

 

In total there were 11 different scenarios, and each student had a chance to try his or her task to gain a sense of empathy for living without being fully physically abled.  

Some Baldwin County preschoolers at the early learning center are learning empathy skills, with the help of Georgia College students for a behavioral study.

 

She says before empathy training, she was often at the school having to reprimand Christian for his behavior, but working with his emotional coach provides the one-on-one attention he needs, improving his behavior in his every day classroom.

 

Georgia College Professor Dr. Tsu-Ming Chiang heads up the program that works to teach basic social skills. Empathy, impulse control, and anger management.'

 

Jobie Peeples, WMAZ

A club called We Dine Together at Boca Raton Community High School makes sure that no one sits alone at lunch

 

Just imagine how different your teenage years would have been if the coolest kids in school all of a sudden decided you mattered.

 

“We’ll get to know each other better,” Jean said to another student.

 

It obviously takes a lot of empathy to devote your lunch period to this. Either that, or firsthand experience.

 

“I went from a school where I always had friends -- to coming to where I had nobody,” said club member Allie Sealy.

 

Allie transferred to Boca High two years ago. She says with no one to sit next to, lunch can be the most excruciating part of the day.

 

By STEVE HARTMAN CBS NEW

How do we teach "empathy"? It’s a fair question, followed up with, “How do we have the time to teach something like ‘empathy’ in our academically rigorous classes?” Often bundled up and pushed aside as non-compulsory “character education”, this sort of work can sometimes seem arbitrary and time-consuming. However, the science shows there is nothing further from the truth. In fact, an empathic school is a smarter school.

Multiple studies have now shown a strong correlation between student empathy and academic achievement. Vicki Zakrzewski, Education Director at the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley, notes, "Scientific research is starting to show that there is a very strong relationship between social-emotional learning and cognitive development and performance.

 

How Does This Fit Into My Curriculum, Though...

"Resource Highlight: A Mile in Our Shoes...

Where Do I Start?...

• 1. Teaching Point of View...
• 2. Argument vs. Persuasion: Civil Discourse...
• 3. Teaching Listening...
• 4. Empathic Civilization: Jeremy Rifkin...

 

 by Keith Lambert,
Education World Associate Contributing Editor

Lambert is an English / Language Arts teacher in Connecticut.

 

Today, we’re excited to announce the launch of our empathy project, a collaboration to spark empathy and understanding in our classrooms and communities. As educators on the frontlines, we’re constantly navigating the complexities of building inclusive spaces within diverse communities. But now more than ever, striving for safe and supportive environments for all learners feels urgent.

We recently heard from Jazmin, a high school English Language Arts teacher in El Paso Independent School District, about a story that reminded us of the importance of empathy for and between students. “Our football team arrived on a Dallas field for an away game to a crowd of students yelling: ‘Go home’ and ‘Build a wall’”, she said. “We really didn’t know how to repair after that.” How does a classroom repair after that? How might we surface shared experiences so that we feel more connected? This is what we want your help in solving:

How might we build empathy for and across students so that we serve their diverse needs and better understand each other?

 

Discover

Share insights! Empathize. We’re not designing yet. Post inspirations, interview others, and get insight from outside of education.

 

MISSIONS

• Conduct an Interview
• Share a Story
• Find Analagous Inspiration
• Shadow a Student
• Other

 

Ideate

Share your ideas!

 

It is so important students develop empathy and even more important teachers have empathy – to build on relationships and connect with every student in our classrooms. To truly help our students, we must first know how it feels to be in their shoes.

 

That’s why it is so critical to self reflect on our day, and imagine how our students feel inside and outside of their classroom. When we begin to imagine how it feels to be a student in our classroom, we’ll be able to have much more of an impact and the students in turn will develop empathy because they are living it and seeing it daily in their classroom from a teacher who cares. It comes down to the golden rule: Treat others they way you want to be treated. Be kind. To yourself. To others. Always.

Social Skills and Empathy are  Educational Issues

 

These are not just political or social issues, but educational ones as well. There has been a call amongst educational leaders to bring soft skills such as empathy back into education, and to make them a prime focus. We saw thought-leaders calling for these issues to be dealt with in education at this year’s Campus 2016.

 

Valuing diversity and tackling social exclusion were two of the most powerful talks at this year’s event which made an impact on the audience of 700 teachers and students. 

 

‘The significance of empathy, human interaction and authentic care for one another were clearly present in the speeches of the expert keynote speakers at the Campus Seminar. The speeches were inspirational, energetic, comforting and gave hope.’

 

Pekka Peura

The story of a group of sixth graders learning to bridge political divides after the U.S. election.

 
A quest toward empathy

Feeling an obligation to define our terms, we asked students to first distinguish empathy from sympathy. Empathy (“feeling into”), they decided, is like putting yourself in someone else’s shoes, while sympathy (“feeling with”) means feeling bad for them. The distinction is not perfect, but the working definition allowed us to begin investigating our empathic capacities and the barriers that stand in the way.

 

According to the GGSC, “Emotion researchers generally define empathy as the ability to sense other people’s emotions, coupled with the ability to imagine what someone else might be thinking or feeling.”

By Daniel Goleman and Peter M. Senge

 

 

More than three decades of research shows that telling our kids they are smart and praising achievement is not the way to get results. A new article in Scientific American, “The Secret to Raising Smart Kids,” suggests that “focusing on ‘process,’ rather than intelligence or talent, produces high achievers in school and in life.” This process consists of personal effort and effective strategies.

 

One process we are talking about today is building empathy into the classroom setting, and how developing emotional intelligence is key to success inside and outside of the classroom.

In the book “Unselfie: Why empathetic kids succeed in our All-About-Me World,” educational psychologist Michele Borba talks about the importance of empathy, why children are having a harder time developing it and how to help children learn empathy to succeed.

Empathy is the ability to put yourself in someone’s shoes and understand what they are going through; it’s the ability to feel what they are feeling. Why is empathy so important? With ongoing societal issues like bullying, youth mental health concerns, teaching empathy to children is more important than ever.

 

by Kylie Rymanowicz,

Michigan State University Extension

When faced with kids being cyberbullied, parents feel compelled to use tools of the adult world to solve the problem, even going so far as passing laws.

 

“We created a culture of entitlement where there is no empathy,” Lucas explained. “These kids have never had empathy fostered. They have no clue about putting themselves in other peoples’ shoes.”

 

With help from the Molak family’s David’s Legacy Foundation, AHJS hosted Michele Borba, educational psychologist and author of the book Unselfie: Why Empathetic Kids Succeed In Our All-About-Me World. After spending the day at various AHISD campuses on Monday, Borba spoke to parents at AHJS in the evening.

 

BEKAH MCNEEL

When executed properly, “Design thinking teaches students the value of empathy for others, collaboration with team members, and the many intricacies of creative problem solving,” says Stein Greenberg.

 

 

Are we talking about empathy?

Well, yes, we're talking about empathy, and we're talking about the structure of engagement with the child, and at the core of successful programs is parenting. It's not so much having a pretty building.

 

.....What is important is finding this empathy, this ability to work with people, the engagement.

By empathy all I really mean is, you work with a child, you stay with a child, a child asks questions, you answer the questions. You don't discourage the questions and you promote them. At the same time you have a firm line where you say, "Yeah that's a mistake. You could go do a little better," and so forth.

We need a national empathy project, Professor Heckman.

I see seven ‘dots’, if you will, that begin to paint this emerging picture of schooling in the future:

 

Empathy underlies collaboration
As social-emotional learning becomes more necessary to help students navigate life and work, empathy is getting more popular by the day, for good reason:...

 

Empathy is healthy
In the last twenty years, discussions about emotions have taken a radical turn....

 

Empathy promotes whole-child learning
A critical dot, overlooked in our brain-centric world, is that empathy may activate the heart....

 

Empathy ‘opens’ us up
The frontal lobes of the brain, at least as much as we know now, are the seat of planning, execution, problem solving and creativity—...

 

Empathy powers up inquiry and project based learning
Instruction is clearly headed in the direction of student-centered approaches such as inquiry and PBL....

 

Empathy triggers creativity
Beyond rounding out the skills of collaboration and communication, empathy, design and collaboration are interconnected pieces of the creative puzzle....

 

Empathy unites
The list could have started here, but on a planet that is now close to completing the globalizing process, empathy assumes a special role as the key emotion critical for seven-plus billion people to live in harmony and cooperative relationship...

 

Thom Markham, founder and CEO of PBL Global,

PUTTING EMPATHY INTO ACTION
Here you will find different campaigns and programs to help parents and educators inspire kids to make a difference for others, share their story and celebrate those who are going above and beyond to BE FEARLESS BE KIND.  

What Is Empathy?