Facilitating Social-Emotional Growth in the Middle School Classroom: An Evaluation of the Empathy Integrated Curriculum

• In Event: Roundtable Session 15
  In Roundtable Session: Share the Wealth: Learning From Good Social and Emotional Learning Program Implementation

Abstract

The Empathy Integrated curriculum was designed in response to research that suggests students in the United States are becoming less empathic (Konrath, 2010). This curriculum targeted instruction of cognitive and affective empathy through narrative reading experiences in a middle school classroom. Mixed methods evaluation revealed findings that indicated that students became more aware of their own emotional responses while reading, students were able to spend more time verbalizing emotional states, and they were more prosocial in the classroom after implementation. These findings suggest benefits to secondary social-emotional curriculum as an innovative practice for resolving persisting social issues facing adolescents in schools, like bullying, and those they will face in future career and global contexts.

Author

• Alison Michelle Black, University of California - San Diego