{"id":206875,"date":"2024-02-22T20:34:52","date_gmt":"2024-02-22T20:34:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/2024\/02\/22\/what-role-does-empathy-play-in-learning\/"},"modified":"2025-06-25T17:21:44","modified_gmt":"2025-06-25T17:21:44","slug":"what-role-does-empathy-play-in-learning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/2024\/02\/22\/what-role-does-empathy-play-in-learning\/","title":{"rendered":"What Role Does Empathy Play In Learning?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> [ad_1]<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div itemprop=\"text\">\n<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\">\n<\/aside>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"756\" alt=\"What Role Does Empathy Play in Education?\" class=\"wp-image-55227 perfmatters-lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.teachthought.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Empathy-Is-An-Elevated-Form-Of-Understanding.png\"\/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"756\" src=\"https:\/\/www.teachthought.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Empathy-Is-An-Elevated-Form-Of-Understanding.png\" alt=\"What Role Does Empathy Play in Education?\" class=\"wp-image-55227\"\/><\/noscript><\/figure>\n<p class=\"p2\">by <strong>Terry Heick<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">So much talk about empathy in education recently. Why? What\u2019s the big idea?<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">The role of empathy in learning has to do with the flow of both information and creativity. A dialogic interaction with the world around us requires us to understand ourselves by understanding the needs and conditions of those around us. It also requires extended <a href=\"https:\/\/www.teachthought.com\/critical-thinking\/what-does-critical-thinking\/\"><strong>critical thinking<\/strong><\/a> and encourages us to take collective measurements rather than those singular, forcing us into an intellectual interdependence that catalyzes other subtle but powerful tools of learning.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">See also <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.teachthought.com\/pedagogy\/quick-guide-teaching-empathy-classroom\/\">Teaching Empathy In The Classroom: A Quick-Guide<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>If successful it should, by design, result in personal and social change through a combination of self-direction, reflection, and collaboration with ideas and the people who have them.\u00a0This brings us to empathy.<\/p>\n<p>The role of empathy in learning involves a dialogic interaction with the world around us. This emphasizes knowledge demands\u2013what we need to know. It also encourages us to take collective measurements rather than those singular, forcing us into an intellectual interdependence that catalyzes other subtle but powerful tools of learning.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">But where does it come from? What causes it? What are the authentic sources of empathy in a classroom?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center p2\"><strong>See Also <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.teachthought.com\/pedagogy\/best-books-to-teach-children-empathy\/\">30 Of The Best Books To Teach Children Empathy<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading p2\" id=\"h-empathy-source-analysis-of-other\"><strong>Empathy Source: Analysis of \u2018Other\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p class=\"p2\">Whether by close academic examination, more personal \u2018evaluation,\u2019 or some kind of analysis that\u2019s in-between, \u2018other\u2019 lays the groundwork for empathy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">The act of an infant reaching out for your face as you hold, or making eye contact with someone during a conference, or even reading literature all are framed by empathy\u2013or suffer tremendously without it. There is a moment when one \u2018thing\u2019 recognizes another, followed by some momentary burst of analysis. Who is this person? Are they a threat, an opportunity, or neither? What do I need from them, and them from me? What social contracts or etiquette are at work here that I need to be aware of and honor?<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">Literary study is probably the most iconic case for empathy in a traditional learning environment. A novel requires the reader to see the world through one (or more) of the character\u2019s eyes\u2013to understand their motives and draw close to their worldview so that can have a fictional-but-still-parallel experience.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading p2\" id=\"h-empathy-source-your-interactions-with-them\"><span class=\"s1\"><b><strong>Empathy Source: <\/strong>Your interactions with them<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">This is a powerful opportunity to model empathy. Reinforcement of desired behaviors. Socratic discussion. Grading writing. Evaluating projects. Missing homework. Behavior problems. All of the dozens of interactions you have with students on a daily basis are opportunities for them to see what empathy looks like.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">This doesn\u2019t mean they necessarily will, in turn, use it with others, but there\u2019s no chance at all for that to happen if they don\u2019t even know what they\u2019re looking for.\u00a0Your empathy with them may be the only empathy they\u2019ve ever seen.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\"><b><strong>Empathy Source: <\/strong>Their interactions with one another<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">Another opportunity to see empathy in action is in working with one another\u2014quick elbow-partner activities, group projects, peer response, group discussions, and more. Sharing sentence stems that promote empathetic dialogue can be helpful to students\u2014like training wheels so they know where to start.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">\u201cI can tell you\u2019ve\u2026that must have\u2026\u201d as in, \u201cI can tell you\u2019ve worked hard on this writing. That must\u2019ve taken self-determination, and even some courage.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading p2\" id=\"h-empathy-source-how-content-is-framed\"><span class=\"s1\"><b><strong>Empathy Source: <\/strong>How Content Is Framed<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">How content is framed is another opportunity for empathy. For example, using essential questions that require, reward, and promote empathy can turn a unit into a study on what other people think, why they think it, and what they feel? <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">Grant Wiggins often referred to \u201cWhat\u2019s wrong with Holden Caufield?\u201d from <i>The Catcher In The Rye<\/i> as a powerful essential question, one that requires students to examine another person in an alien context, make deep inferences based on a <\/span>schema that is (obviously) personal, and then\u2014hopefully\u2014empathize with a fictional character,<span class=\"s1\"> not as a quick writing prompt or \u2018higher-level question,\u2019 but a 6-week study.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">Studying fiction\u2014or studying fiction <i>well <\/i>is an exercise in empathy as well. Studying history without empathy is like turning our shared human legacy, full of wonderful nuance and narrative and scandal and hope\u2014into a dry, chronologically-based FAQ. Which sucks. <\/span><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading p2\" id=\"h-empathy-source-where-learning-goals-come-from\"><span class=\"s1\"><b><strong>Empathy Source: <\/strong>Where Learning Goals Come From<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">The relationship between learning goals and empathy may not be clear, but what we choose to study and why we choose to study it are\u2014ideally\u2014primarily human pursuits. When these are handled outside of the classroom, e.g., in the form of curriculum standards, scopes-and-sequences, maps, units, power standards, and the lessons that promote their study, this places the institution immediately at odds with the student and sterilizes the learning experience.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">When students are able to look to other schools, other classrooms, their own lives, or even non-academic \u2018fields\u2019 to see how experts and passionate creatives identify, value, and improve their own knowledge and skills, it can help to tilt the learning experience to something emotionally immediate and relevant and authentic\u2014fertile ground for empathy.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading p2\" id=\"h-empathy-source-transfer-of-knowledge\"><span class=\"s1\"><b><strong>Empathy Source: <\/strong>Transfer Of Knowledge<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">What do we do with what we know? What happens when I try to take what I learned here, and use it there? What are my <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.teachthought.com\/critical-thinking\/habits-that-make-thinkers\/\">thinking habits<\/a><\/strong>? What are the chances I\u2019ll make this transfer unprompted, now and in the future? <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">These questions surrounding students\u2019 transfer of knowledge can all benefit from empathy, and promote its growth. Understanding is a problematic word, but let\u2019s consider for a moment two kinds of understanding\u2014that which is demonstrated within the context of a lesson or unit, and that which is able to leave this fragile academic bubble and can survive on its own outside of it. (Or better yet, be useful in that outside world.) This kind of <i>movement <\/i>isn\u2019t simple, or necessarily natural when they are learning content and goals are all academic. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">In <strong>The Courage To Think Critically<\/strong>,<i> <\/i>I was theorized\u00a0as much:<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">\u201cTo think critically about something is to claim to first circle its meaning entirely\u2014to walk all the way around it so that you understand it in a way that\u2019s uniquely you. That\u2019s not academic vomit but fully human. After circling the meaning of whatever you\u2019re thinking critically about\u2014navigation necessarily done with bravado and purpose\u2014you then analyze the thing. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">See its parts, its form, its function, and its context. After this kind of survey and analysis, you can come to evaluate it\u2013bring to bear your own distinctive cognition on the thing so that you can point out flaws, underscore bias, emphasize merit\u2014to get inside the mind of the author, designer, creator, or clockmaker and critique his work.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading p2\" id=\"h-empathy-source-movement-within-amp-across-learning-taxonomies\"><strong>Empathy Source: Movement Within &amp; Across Learning Taxonomies<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">Another example? Understanding by Design\u2019s \u2018<a href=\"https:\/\/www.teachthought.com\/critical-thinking\/6-facets-of-understanding\/\"><strong>6 Facets of Understanding<\/strong><\/a>.\u2019 Note the progression:<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><strong>6 Facets of Understanding\u2013Peaking With Empathy &amp; Self-Knowledge<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>\u201cFacet 1: Explain<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">Provide thorough and justifiable accounts of phenomena, facts, and data.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Facet 2: Interpret<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">Examples: Tell meaningful stories, offer apt translations, provide a revealing historical or personal dimension to ideas and events; make subjects personal or accessible through images, anecdotes, analogies, and models.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Facet 2: Apply<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">Examples: Effectively use and adapt what they know in diverse contexts.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Facet 4: Have perspective<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">Examples: See and hear points of view through critical eyes and ears; see the big picture. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Facet 5: Empathize<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">Examples: Find value in what others might find odd, alien, or implausible; perceive sensitively on the basis of prior indirect experience.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Facet 6: Have self-knowledge<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">Examples: Perceive the personal style, prejudices, projections, and habits of mind that both shape and impede our own understanding; they are aware of what they do not understand and why understanding is so hard.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">The movement in the 6 Facets here is from outward patterns to inward patterns. Explaining, interpretation, and application are, in large part, outward. The facets then tend inward\u2014perspective, empathize, and self-knowledge.\u00a0<\/span>The lesson here\u2013or one lesson of many\u2013is that understanding is a deeply personal process. It is a matter of knowledge, but also identity, perspective, and empathy.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Why Is Teaching Empathy Important?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The role of empathy in learning is significant because it helps students to understand and connect with the material they are learning. Empathy allows students to step into someone else\u2019s shoes and see the world from their perspective. This can be helpful in subjects like history, where it is beneficial for students to understand the motivations behind historical events. Additionally, empathy can help students to connect with people from different cultures and backgrounds, which can be valuable in a global society.<\/p>\n<p>In order to learn effectively, students must be able to understand and feel what it is like to be in another person\u2019s shoes. This is where empathy comes in. Empathy allows students to see the world from another person\u2019s perspective and develop compassion for others. It is a vital component of social-emotional learning and can help students build relationships, communicate better, and resolve conflicts.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-conclusion\"><strong>Conclusion<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p class=\"p2\">Our TeachThought <strong><a title=\"TeachThought Learning Taxonomy\" href=\"https:\/\/www.teachthought.com\/critical-thinking\/heick-learning-taxonomy\/\">Learning Taxonomy<\/a><\/strong> includes domains of \u2018Self,\u2019 \u2018Interdependence,\u2019 \u2018Function,\u2019 and \u2018Abstraction,\u2019 implying the human, emotional, and connected nature of learning. Learning is about experimenting through, playing with, and otherwise coming to internalize new information and perspective. Knowledge-holding is only one part of \u2018knowing.\u2019<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">Empathy provides not only provides a common ground between people\u2013and a human tone\u2013but also an authentic\u00a0<em>need to know<\/em> what we know and use that knowledge to improve the interactions we value the most.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><em>Adapted image attribution flickr user <a title=\"flickr.com\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/56155476@N08\/6660136797\">flickeringbrad<\/a>;\u00a0The Opportunities For Empathy In The Classroom<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>[ad_2]<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.teachthought.com\/learning\/role-of-empathy-in-learning\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[ad_1] by Terry Heick So much talk about empathy in education recently. Why? What\u2019s the big idea? The role of empathy in learning has to<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":206876,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[173],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206875"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=206875"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206875\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":343228,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206875\/revisions\/343228"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/206876"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=206875"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=206875"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=206875"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}