"Walk a mile in someone else's shoes" - Analysing the effect of using educational tools in the classroom on empathy expression in pupils

Abstract

This thesis aimed to expound the effect of educational tools on the expression of empathy in secondary school pupils after reading The Hate U Give. The research followed a case study format due to the small number of participants. The research consisted of a pre-test, an intervention that utilised an experiment group and control group, a post-test, and two focus group interviews. The educational tools were designed with a specific purpose. The experiment group worked with tools that focussed on eliciting expressions of empathy and the control group used tools without this focus. This research found that tools that have a specific goal to elicit empathy lead to more empathy expressions. Additionally, the findings suggest the tools have more effect on aspects of cognitive empathy than on affective empathy. Finally, the interviews revealed pupils from both groups argue the educational tools made them consciously think about character’s emotions and other perspectives.

Keywords: Narrative imagination – cognitive empathy – affective empathy – educational tools – citizenship education – English.