Researching Aesthetics, Empathy, and Education

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

This session highlights the myriad intersections of aesthetics, empathy, and education as explored in educational research in diverse settings. In some cases, empathy is cultivated in educational settings through aesthetic means; in other instances it is through arts-based inquiry that empathy is cultivated for and between participant and educational researcher. With this year’s conference theme focusing on the power of educational research, this session seeks to demonstrate the potential insight to be gained from innovative modes of inquiry, utilizing the constraints and affordances of visual and performing arts media, focused on the pressing need for empathy in a policy context characterized by competition and high-stakes accountability.

Sub Unit

• SIG-Arts and Learning

Chair

• Tracie E. Costantino, Rhode Island School of Design

Papers

• Cindy’s Story of Returning to Learning in Art Education - Anita Sinner, Concordia University; Pauline Sameshima, Lakehead University; Cindy Walker, Concordia University - Montreal

• Reparative Pedagogy: Empathic Aesthetic Learning - Pauline Sameshima, Lakehead University; Dayna Slingerland, Lakehead University

• Fanning the Fires or Leading With Empathy? Aesthetic Learning “Tipping Points” in Improvisational Theater - Jen Katz-Buonincontro, Drexel University

• Empathy and the Prosthetic Eye - Michael Emme, University of Victoria

Discussant

• Boyd Eric White, McGill University