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Teaching empathy to our future citizens of the world may be the most important work that we can do as educators. And it’s not something we can force. It has to be an organic outgrowth of the other lessons we build.<\/p>\nTeaching empathy to our future citizens of the world may be the most important work that we can do as educators. And it’s not something we can force. It has to be an organic outgrowth of the other lessons we build.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s look at how we might make it happen with virtual reality.<\/p>\n
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Look at the Scoring Criteria from the state. Proficient means \u201cI can… employ empathy when considering others in a variety of contexts\u201d. And \u201ctake positive action to resolve conflicts, promote equity, and\/or solve community problems\u201d.<\/p>\n Go Vermont! Teaching our kids to be better citizens and human beings; just one of the many reasons that I love this state.<\/p>\n When Charlie Herzog, 6th grade educator at Flood Brook School, in Londonderry VT, began to design learning experiences for a unit on refugees, he wanted to grab his students\u2019 attention.<\/p>\n I mean, really GRAB it.<\/p>\n But, he wondered, do rural Vermont students even understand the concept of refugee-ism?<\/p>\n Herzog and his team wanted to make sure. He wanted to be sure that students found a way to connect and have compassion for children in the world who have very different lives than their own.<\/p>\n Herzog had an idea to test: Can virtual reality technology increase empathy by placing us in a person\u2019s world?<\/p>\n According to Theresa Wiseman, there are four elements of empathy. These are :<\/p>\n Herzog and his team borrowed our classroom set of VR Cardboard viewers and asked his students if they were willing to bring in their own device (mostly iPhones) for the class period.<\/p>\n In the video, viewers meet Hana, a Syrian refugee in a refugee camp in Lebanon. We meet an 11 year old boy from Eastern Ukraine named Oleg and a 9 year old boy living in the swamps of southern Sudan named Chuol. Each child\u2019s story is honest, gripping, and heart-breaking.<\/p>\n Herzog had only one 45-minute session with each small group of students. I sat in on that session, and I can tell you: the whole time that these middle schoolers watched the documentary you could have heard a pin drop. I have never seen anything like it.<\/p>\n Ever.<\/p>\n Every student was completely absorbed and mesmerized. The only sound was of hearts and minds slowly opening.<\/p>\n Following the 11-minute VR video, students formed a circle to discuss the experience. Not only did they think the virtual reality aspect was cool, they were emotionally affected by the content.<\/p>\n![\"can](\"https:\/\/tiie.w3.uvm.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/floodbrookkid1-300x225.jpg\")
I mean, it\u2019s not in the curriculum. And yet in Vermont\u2019s Transferable Skills<\/a>, there’s Responsible and Involved Citizenship, and the third indicator of that is to \u201cdemonstrate ethical behavior and the moral courage to sustain it\u201d.<\/p>\nBringing empathy into classroom lessons<\/h2>\n
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The topic has cultural relevance as Vermont welcomes refugees from Syria and other war-torn countries.<\/p>\n\n
\n<\/b><\/li>\nWhat type of virtual reality content can teach empathy?<\/h3>\n
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<\/a>Herzog used the free New York Times VR app which features a library of virtual reality videos. Most importantly, the app features the documentary film The Displaced<\/i><\/a>.<\/p>\nHow can you measure empathy?<\/h2>\n
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