Empathy and Animals: Honing Students’ Social Skills
By : Drh. Mikeu Paujiah, Dipl. Montessori and Maryam Smeer
Translator : AWI Team
Empathy is the ability to understand and feel the feelings of others. Through empathy, we can respond to things in a loving and caring way.
In education, teaching empathy to students is an important part of character building. One effective method to develop empathy is through interaction with animals.
As we know, animals have a unique ability to communicate non-verbally. Therefore, animals can be a bridge for students to learn about feelings, responsibility, and relationships between living beings.
In addition, interacting with animals can teach students about the expression of emotions as well as the needs of living things. Of course, it’s because all that animals do without using words, so this can hone students’ empathy.
Image 1. JAAN Domestic Shelter
Through interaction with animals, students can learn about:
Emotion Recognition
Animals often display clear emotions. They may express joy, fear or sadness. This can help students recognise and understand the same emotions in humans.
Response to Other Needs
In animal care activities, students learn to respond to their needs such as feeding, grooming and sheltering. It can all strengthen a sense of responsibility and caring.
Read Also : Having a Pet is Good for a Child’s Growth
Positive Relationship Building
The relationship built between students and animals can be a strong foundation for developing empathy skills. This will help them in forming healthier, caring and concerned relationships with their fellow humans
Through interaction with animals, students can learn about:
Emotion Recognition
Animals often display clear emotions. They may express joy, fear or sadness. This can help students recognise and understand the same emotions in humans.
Response to Other Needs
In animal care activities, students learn to respond to their needs such as feeding, grooming and sheltering. It can all strengthen a sense of responsibility and caring.
Read Also : Having a Pet is Good for a Child’s Growth
Positive Relationship Building
The relationship built between students and animals can be a strong foundation for developing empathy skills. This will help them in forming healthier, caring and concerned relationships with their fellow humans
Source :
Brelsford, V. L., Meints, K., Gee, N. R., & Pfeffer, K. (2017). Animal-Assisted interventions in the classroom-asystematic review. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 14(7), 669. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph14070669
Verhoeven, R., Butter, R., Martens, R., & Enders-Slegers, M.-J. (2023). Animal-Assisted education: Exploratory research on the positive impact of dogs on behavioral and emotional outcomes of elementary school students. Children, 10(8). https://doi.org/10.3390/children10081316
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