DEVELOPING EMPATHY THROUGH EPISTEMIC ACTIVITIES: TEACHERS' EXPERIENCES LIVING AND LEARNING IN BASE 7.

This research report describes new insights into how teachers develop empathy for learners and build capacity for more responsive teaching. To develop empathy, we introduce an epistemic activity for teachers involving an unfamiliar base system that promotes the construction, communication, and critique of knowledge. Teacher responses from two professional learning groups provided data for analysis. A phenomenographic approach was used to analyze survey data and report teachers' experiences. This study suggests that teachers developed empathy--putting themselves into a students' sense-making experience and seeing the value in their work. Additionally, specific interactions that arose from the investigation influenced teachers' future teaching practices. Results show that teachers recognize and appreciate students' feelings and desire further sense-making opportunities for their future practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]