Teaching children empathy
The problem of school bullying is as present in schools today as it has always been. It not only has been known to have a serious psychological impact but also has resulted in death in more severe cases. While some may believe that compassion cannot be taught, an EC funded program, VICTEC has aimed at addressing the emotional and empathic aspects of the learning process. Their focus is on Personal and Social Education (PSE), specifically dealing with the issue of bullying and aggression in children. Showing children realistic bullying scenarios not found in educational literature is a way to evoke emotional responses that bullying victims feel and thus to create empathy with the characters. The FearNot! Demonstrator therefore consists of The Trailer, a one-episode scripted sketch combined with a questionnaire to gain feedback. The scenarios consisted of stories from sources such as a UK-based educational software company as well as University of Hertfordshire's Drama Department. The feedback collected concerned various aspects. These included believability of characters and stories, the amount and nature of interaction and what feelings the single episode evoked both in the user and for the characters. The results showed that the children found the characters believable.The successful involvement of children and teachers in the design of aspects of FearNot! can be considered as an important achievement. Through creating empathy with the virtual actors, this pedagogical process allows children to discover alternative choices and actions for a safer environment.
