December 18

Empathy

At the end of the fourth grade weather lab, I wanted to do a brief lesson about empathy which is the ability to understand and share the feelings of others. I recently heard on a podcast that empathy is often the missing piece from science and engineering classrooms, while the ultimate goal of these disciplines is to help others or the environment. I explained to my students that I have greater empathy for my mom’s arthritis, since I have fractured my wrist. I wanted them to understand how difficult it is to function with only one hand, so I set-up some tasks for them to complete with their non-dominate hand. As they struggled with these everyday chores, they became innovative, and the struggle became productive.

Tasks:
Write Merry Christmas, fold the paper, and put the paper in an envelope.
Tie a ribbon around the box and tie a bow.
Open a water bottle and take off the wrapper around a plastic fork.
Tear off four pieces of tape.
Cut out a Christmas tree.

 


Posted December 18, 2020 by pbright2 in category Engineering, Science

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