Can virtual reality be effectively used in teaching students empathy?
EdTech innovator Lumination believes it can and offers the results from its recent pilot project with Goolwa Secondary College (GSC) in South Australia as proof.
As world leaders in immersive technology, Lumination utilises artificial intelligence (AI), virtual reality (VR) & augmented reality (AR) to revolutionise the way education is delivered.
The Empathy in VR Pilot Project – an initiative co-designed between Lumination and GSC – looked at the use of immersive technologies in developing the central concept of empathy for middle school students.
When GSC teacher, Joseph (Joe) Davidson, mentioned his interest in using VR to see if it could help develop empathy in students, Shai Coggins, Learning Design Lead, Lumination then developed the course, inspired by Stanford University’s study on The Empathy Machine.
“I designed the initial 10-week program and sourced several resources, including contacting the creators of the Perth Empathy Scale (PES) to get approval for usage and worked with Joe to refine the week-to-week delivery. Joe and I had an email catch-up weekly to determine highlights and challenges per week,” Ms Coggins told EducationDaily.
The students used GSC’s Lumination Learning Lab to complete the unit.
What’s a Lumination Lab?
Lumination Learning Labs are purpose-built, automated, multi-purpose and immersive smart classrooms that encompass virtual and augmented reality technology.
“As part of the Lumination Learning Lab, schools get access to the Lab’s bespoke LeadMe software, which enables teachers to control the smart classroom environment for optimal immersive learning and launch virtual reality (VR) experiences with ease,” Ms Coggins told EducationDaily. “Lumination also includes twelve months of education support as part of their onboarding program, amongst other product features. They get a dedicated educator who works with a group of Lab Champions nominated by the school.”
GSC was the first school to have a Lumination Learning Lab (LLL), which opened in March 2022.
“At this stage, we have about twenty Lab schools in South Australia, five in New South Wales and four in Victoria – either completed or in progress,” Ms Coggins says.
Student empathy levels increased
The unique project ran over 10 weeks for 1.5 hours per session.
Students involved were a mix of years seven and eight, to gain baseline data, it began with all students completing the Perth Empathy Scale (PES) – a 20-item self-report assessment scale that measures overall ability to empathise both on a cognitive level and an emotional level.
The same scale was administered three times in total – including half-way through the 10-week program and, finally, at the completion of the program.
To introduce the concept of learning about empathy, the students went through VR experiences across a variety of themes, including:
- The Gift of Water, aiming to get students to see how water as a resource doesn’t come easily for everyone
- The Gift of Sight, focusing on helping students have a better understanding of visual impairment
- The Gift of Clean and Safe Environment, looking at the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) number 12, Responsible Consumption and Production
- The Gift of Peace, showcasing the issues of migration and racism during World War 2
- The Gift of Freedom, outlining the effects of war and imprisonment
After completing the 10-week unit, testing revealed the GSC students experienced a 12 per cent increase in their overall ability to empathise.
Exploring current research on empathy and VR
According to one research study about using VR to develop empathy towards the ocean, it was found that viewing “future scenarios in VR fostered empathy for the ocean in the research participants. That is, empathy significantly increased at post-test as compared to pre-test”.
Other similar research also found that “virtual reality can help encourage greater empathy between individuals — whether to better understand the life of an unhoused person, gain insight into elderly people’s experiences, or to appreciate other cultures, to name a few”.
What the research says about student engagement and VR
Studies suggest that 92 per cent of teachers see student engagement as a key driver of learning success.
Student engagement levels were also measured in the GCS pilot project, with activities rated on a 10-point scale.
Average student engagement across seven weeks was 70 per cent, based on informal feedback from the teacher.
Mr Davidson’s report noted the top two experiences for his students were:
- Experiencing colour blindness through the app — students were able to express the desired outcome of gaining a better understanding and empathy towards vision.
- The Book of Distance app – an interactive virtual pilgrimage offering an emotional journey through immigration. Participating in this exercise, a number of students began to recognise their personal barriers to feeling and developing empathy
Why do students need increased empathy?
In the Australian Curriculum, empathy falls within General Capabilities under Personal and Social Capability’s elements of ‘Social awareness’ and ‘Social management’, as well as Intercultural Understanding’s element of ‘Interacting and empathising with others’.
Empathy is also the first key concept in the Design Thinking Framework, which is one of the learning frameworks in Lumination Learning Labs. Design Thinking is also one of the key ideas in the Technologies learning area of the curriculum.
Research shows that empathy is a powerful social tool, and according to some studies, students who have higher levels of empathy also exhibit the following traits:
- greater classroom engagement
- higher academic achievement
- better communication skills
- lower likelihood of bullying
- less aggressive behaviours and emotional disorders
- more positive relationships
Immersive edtech set to expand across Australian schools
“There’s a lot of interest in other schools about running the program in their setting. However, there has been no follow-up projects to continue this particular study as of yet,” says Ms Coggins. “We have, however, been working with other schools to preliminary study the Lab’s impact on student engagement and teacher confidence, with more case studies and in-depth research to come.”
Results from this empathy-related pilot project will be presented as a joint workshop to be hosted by Goolwa Secondary College and Lumination at an upcoming school principals’ conference in Adelaide in August.
For schools across Australia, the opportunity to enhance specific learnings using engaging technology that offers insights into a range of experiences using VR, bring global awareness into local classrooms – and, says Ms Coggins, it’s about to become even more accessible for Australian school students.
“We see more and more schools are embracing this technology,” she told EducationDaily. “We believe it will only become more accessible for schools and more essential for students to be skilled in.”
