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1/ Teaching children in a way that encourages them to empathise with others measurably improves their creativity and could lead to other beneficial learning outcomes, new research suggests.
Take a look at our story here (or the short thread below): https://www.educ.cam.ac.uk/facultyweb_content/news/teaching-empathy-measurably-improves-creativity
Take a look at our story here (or the short thread below): https://www.educ.cam.ac.uk/facultyweb_content/news/teaching-empathy-measurably-improves-creativity
2/ This study was carried out by Dr Helen Demetriou and Bill Nicholl at the Faculty of Education, but is part of @DOT_Cambridge: a long-term collaboration with @Cambridge_Eng: https://www.education.designingourtomorrow.com/
3/ The research was with yr 9 D&T pupils at two London schools. One group spent the year following curriculum-prescribed lessons; the others used @DOT_Cambridge thinking tools which aim to foster creativity and engender empathy while solving real-world problems.
4/ Creativity, measured using the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking, rose significantly in the intervention school, where scores were 78% higher than in the control group by the end of the year. Further evidence showed a marked improvement in empathy driving these scores.
5/ The findings also point to a wider impact on engagement with learning. In particular, boys' and girls' responses defied traditional gender stereotypes (boys, for example, showed a surprisingly significant improvement in emotional expression).
6/ The full paper: "Empathy is the mother of invention: Emotion and cognition for creativity in the classroom" is published in @SAGEJournals 'Improving Schools': https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1365480221989500
7/ Do also take a look at this write-up by @GabriellaSwerl in @Telegraph: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/02/03/teach-empathy-help-boys-express-emotions-cambridge-researchers/
8/ Finally, these ideas about empathy and creativity, and user-centred design, also form a key component of our Secondary PGCE D&T course, which Bill Nicholl leads. There's plenty more about this, and teacher training @Cambridge_Uni in general, here: https://www.educ.cam.ac.uk/courses/pgce/secondary/designtechnology/
