Using Technology to Support Empathy
“Fiction gives us empathy:
it puts us inside the minds of
other people, gives us the gifts of
seeing the world through their eyes.”
Neil Gaiman, Author
it puts us inside the minds of
other people, gives us the gifts of
seeing the world through their eyes.”
Neil Gaiman, Author
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The 4- and 5- year old children of Room 12 adopted an usual pet. While we often welcome fish, guinea pigs, hamsters, mice, and even crickets into our classroom communities, this group of children welcomed a robot, BB-8. Designed and built by Boulder-based robotics company Sphero, BB-8 is as cute a robot as you could hope to find.
His* personality quickly endeared him to the class members who adopted him and drew interest from other classes in the school. Concerned that the robot's novelty would be disruptive to the work taking place in other classrooms, the Room 12 children decided to create videos to introduce BB-8 to the rest of the school. *The children have always referred to BB-8 as a "he". We follow their lead.
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The first attempt demonstrated the children's complex theories regarding BB-8; however, the video lacked a way to translate their verbal theories for emerging-verbal infants and toddlers.
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To effectively tell BB-8's story to the different age groups represented at our school, the children had to study the different age groups' environments, resulting in a deepening of their empathic connections. Once they had collected data, the children analyzed their documentation to determine elements that seemed to appeal broadly to children of the different age groups.
Infants
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They determined that infants like mirrors, colored lights, balls, and soft music.
Using this understanding of infants' interests, they designed a set for BB-8 to explore that incorporated these elements. Because this was the first video created, the children designed the set and shared video responsibilities with their teachers. In this video, BB-8 was driven by the teachers. In later videos, the children took over the driving role.
Using this understanding of infants' interests, they designed a set for BB-8 to explore that incorporated these elements. Because this was the first video created, the children designed the set and shared video responsibilities with their teachers. In this video, BB-8 was driven by the teachers. In later videos, the children took over the driving role.
Toddlers
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The children's study of the toddler rooms revealed that toddlers are drawn to large objects to build with, things that are squishy, and pets.
They invited Nibbles, one of our school guinea pigs, to meet BB-8 for this video. |
Preschool
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In the preschool rooms, they noticed lots of LEGOs. Thomas, age 5, reflected that this was a big difference from the infant rooms: "There were definitely NOT LEGOs in the infant rooms.”
The children in Room 12 built a LEGO city for BB-8 to explore in the video for preschool-age children. |
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Prekindergarten
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Knowing that children their own age enjoy dance parties, they invited BB-8 and his friend SPRK, another robot, to a dance party, using their favorite music as a backdrop.
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Video Screenings
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Introducing the videos to the children in the different classes offered the children of Room 12 the opportunity to see the results of their research.
The infants moved through the videos, interacting with the projected image of BB-8 and his dream-scape. |
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The 3, 4, and 5 year-old children roared with laughter watching BB-8 navigate his LEGO city and dance party. They also asked questions to help them understand BB-8 in new ways.
"Do you need to potty train BB-8?" - Marley, age 5 |
Through their study of the different age groups, with the goal of captivating and educating different audiences, the children developed a deeper sense of empathy, seeing the world through the eyes of the younger children, to create age-appropriate visual stories that would introduce BB-8.
It is through experiences such as these that we can imagine a future in which we are not dominated by, but live in symbiosis with, technology.
It is through experiences such as these that we can imagine a future in which we are not dominated by, but live in symbiosis with, technology.