Putting Your Peers in Someone Else's Shoes: Perspective-Taking in Dialogical Contexts

• In Event: Fairmont Roundtable Session One
  In Roundtable Session: Informal and Peer Learning in the Humanities (Table 7)

Abstract

Perspective taking (PT) is the aptitude to consider others’ thoughts, feelings, intentions, and motivations in a particular situation. Our goal was to gain a deeper understanding of PT by focusing on its dynamic and social nature. Qualitatively analyzing small group dialogues in an 8th-grade humanities classroom, we explore the interplay between the level of PT acts and dialogical moves. Our findings indicate that PT in a group dialogue context is a complex practice in which students engage with different perspectives and evaluate how their perspectives differ (or do not differ) compared to the perspectives of others. Specifically, higher levels of PT acts stemmed from explaining one’s own perspective by inviting peers to put themselves in someone else’s shoes.

Authors

• Shai Goldfarb Cohen, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
  Presenting Author

• Ofri Wagner Lebel
  Non-Presenting Author

• Amit Lavi
  Non-Presenting Author

• Gideon Dishon, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
  Presenting Author