Empathy Improves Creative Abilities in Pupils

Teaching children and encouraging them to empathize with others improves their creativity and can also lead to other beneficial learning outcomes.

Bill Nicholl and Ian Hosking led the research. It focused on challenging pupils to solve real-world problems by taking others' perspectives and feelings into account.

The study lasted for one year and included grade nine pupils (ages 13 to 14) from two schools. Children from one school followed curriculum-prescribed lessons, while the other group's design and thinking lessons used a set of engineering design thinking tools that aimed to foster students' ability to think creatively and to induce empathy, at the same time solving real-world problems.

The creativity of both sets of pupils was assessed at both the start and end of the school year with the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking.

Findings showed a statistically significant increase in creativity among pupils at the school where the thinking tools were used.

At the start of the year, pupils' creativity scores from the control school (standard curriculum) were 11% higher than those at the intervention school (design and thinking). However, creativity scores among the intervention group were 78% higher than the control group.

Pupils from the intervention also scored much higher in specific categories within the Torrance Test that indicate emotional or cognitive empathy (such as 'emotional expressiveness' and 'open-mindedness') were also examined by the researchers.

The authors state that encouraging empathy improves creativity in pupils and can deepen their general engagement with learning.

Evidence also showed that both boys and girls in the intervention school responded to the D&T course differs from traditional gender stereotypes. Boys showed improvement in emotional expression, with a 64% higher score in that category at the end of the year. At the same time, girls improved more in cognitive empathy, scoring 62% higher in perspective-taking.

The 'real-world' challenge required pupils at the intervention school to design an asthma-treatment 'pack' for children aged six and under. They were given various creative and empathetic 'tools' to do so - data about the number of childhood asthma deaths in the UK and a video depicting a young child having an attack. They also tried to explore the problem and test design ideas by role-playing as patients, family members, and medical staff, which helped understand each stakeholder's perspective.

Nicholl, senior lecturer, said, "Teaching for empathy has been problematic despite being part of the D&T National Curriculum for over two decades. This evidence suggests that it is a missing link in the creative process, and vital if we want education to encourage the designers and engineers of tomorrow."

Dr. Helen Demetriou, researcher, believes that the study awakened something in these pupils by encouraging them to think about others' thoughts and feelings. The research shows that it is possible to teach empathy and that doing so can support children's creativity and broader learning.

Findings also indicate that the intervention enabled students to overcome some of the barriers to learning that are often created by assumed gender roles. For instance, boys often feel discouraged from expressing emotion at school, yet, in this study, they made significant creative gains in that area.

The researchers also conducted in-depth interviews with pupils at the intervention school and a third (girls-only) school who also undertook the asthma challenge. Along with the Torrance Test results, these interviews also showed that pupils had empathized deeply with the challenges of children with asthma, which influenced their creative decisions in the classroom.

The pupils used phrases like 'stepping into their shoes' or 'seeing things from another point of view' when discussing the patients or their families. "I think by the end of the project, I could feel for the people with asthma... if I were a child taking inhalers, I would be scared too," said a participant.

The authors conclude that these findings point to a need to nurture 'emotionally intelligent learners' across other subjects, too, and not just D & T, particularly in the context of emerging scientific evidence that our capacity for empathy reduces with age.

Demetriou says, "This is something that we must think about as curricula, in general, become increasingly exam-based. Good grades matter, but for society to thrive, creative, communicative, and empathic individuals matter too."

Source-Medindia