Helping students understand, empathize, and collaborate across differences is an essential part of education. Understanding new perspectives enriches people socially, by providing ways to connect with others; cognitively, by offering new ways of thinking; and emotionally, by building empathy. As communities become more diverse and needs for inclusion are at the forefront, understanding others' views and experiences is an increasingly valuable skillset. However, without exploring one's own thinking patterns, individuals may reflexively judge different ways of thinking. Therefore, teachers and students both need guidance to challenge unconscious assumptions and biases. This chapter will present a Socratic tool, Change Your LENS, to guide the process of examining assumptions, identifying influences on one's thinking, and actively exploring new perspectives. Both theoretical foundations and practical information for implementation will be discussed with a focus on how to use the tool to understand differences and challenge long-held assumptions.
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