How to Build Empathy in Students

Listening with Understanding and Empathy

“It’s really hard to build empathy in a student, in a child. They can only see their point of view. But for some reason, when they’re watching a cartoon, they can see the cartoon’s point of view. And then all of the sudden they’re looking at something through another person’s eyes.” -Janelle Vargo

Many people don’t know that young children are developmentally unable to put themselves into another person’s shoes and see their point of view. However, because most children have been watching cartoons since infancy, animation has a unique way of allowing a child to see another point of view. When animation is used in the classroom, it is an effective tool to model positive classroom behaviors as well as cognitive concepts such as the Habits of Mind.