The Empathy Project: Using a Project-Based Learning Assignment to Increase First-Year College Students’ Comfort with Interdisciplinarity

Abstract

IntroductionOur university is diverse in a number of ways, including the more traditional categories of race, ethnicity, religion, and socioeconomics. This contributes positively to students' intellectual and emotional development, and adds quality and depth to discussions in class. The University's academic and political diversity are also important assets and encourage interdisciplinary courses to truly span departments and to promote the critical thinking of our students. Part of the University's commitment to interdisciplinarity is evident in the existence of and support for the required interdisciplinary first-year course, Focused Inquiry.Focused Inquiry is a required year-long seminar-style class that develops and hones the core skills deemed necessary for success in college and beyond: critical thinking, written and oral communication, ethical reasoning, civic responsibility, quantitative reasoning, information fluency, and collaborative learning. Focused Inquiry is housed in its own department, with full-time faculty from many different disciplines. The faculty members are committed to the interdisciplinarity of the course and to teaching in a learner-centered manner.Interdisciplinarity is often a new concept for our students-one that is a recurring theme in our course-as can be seen below in a reflection on a conversation with one of my students. Empathy and interdisciplinarity are both concepts that are current and relevant-across professions, in research, and in academia. This paper describes a large, interdisciplinary, project-based assignment, the Empathy Project, which allows students to delve into and increase comfort and skill with interdisciplinary thinking and collaborative learning, while improving the core college skills of written and oral communication, ethical and quantitative reasoning, and critical thinking. As I revised the assignment based on student feedback and results, I found that group conferences and time in class to work collaboratively were beneficial. Additionally, building increased scaffolding into the assignment, including greater student and group accountability, helped students develop and maintain self-direction. Students reported that the project was interesting and challenging and appreciated the opportunity to work with other students, to create something entirely different, and to be able to bring creativity into their projects.Keywords: interdisciplinarity, active learning, pedagogy, first-year students, project-based learning, constructivism, student While our specific targeted skill set of Focused Inquiry, described previously, might not explicitly appear in the freshman curriculum at other universities, the skills are likely woven into many courses at other institutions, especially for first-year students. Thus, the experiences in this relatively small (22 students) face-to-face class could be applicable to classes at other levels and in other learning environments, as well. In Focused Inquiry, one of our core skills is collaborative learning. As I discuss furth...

Project-based learning approach to increase medical student empathy

“…A previous study by Hutchison [7] found projectbased learning was an effective instructional strategy for teaching empathy for college students in the interdisciplinary context. Project-based learning is an instructional model of inquiry-based learning and is rooted in constructivism which asserts knowledge and comprehension are constructed by the learner and are built upon his or her past experience [8].…”

“…Project-based learning is an instructional model of inquiry-based learning and is rooted in constructivism which asserts knowledge and comprehension are constructed by the learner and are built upon his or her past experience [8]. Although research indicates project-based learning is effective in developing student empathy [7], little is known about using this instructional strategy to teach empathy to medical students. Thus, this study presents a project-based learning approach to develop empathy in entry-level medical students.…”

Desafios da Interdisciplinaridade no Ensino Superior: o Papel do Coordenador de Curso nos “Projetos e Atividades Especiais – PAES”

“…Embora a pesquisa de Self e Baek (2017) ter demonstrado que os alunos podem não perceber a eficácia da aprendizagem em equipe, a empatia gerada entre discentes a partir de projetos interdisciplinares foi captada por Hutchison (2016). Esses projetos permitiram aos alunos melhorar as habilidades básicas da comunicação, escrita e oral, raciocínio ético e quantitativo e pensamento crítico.…”

Raspberry Pi: An Effective Vehicle in Teaching the Internet of Things in Computer Science and Engineering

“…Project-based learning (PBL) can provide great opportunities for students to enhance their engineering understanding and skills [12][13][14][15][16][17]. Students can not only gain theoretical knowledge from lectures, but also obtain valuable hands-on experience in real-world project practice, where they can actively improve their abilities in self-motivated learning, self-efficacy beliefs [15], problem solving, adaptation to interdisciplinary thinking and collaborative learning [16].…”

“…Students can not only gain theoretical knowledge from lectures, but also obtain valuable hands-on experience in real-world project practice, where they can actively improve their abilities in self-motivated learning, self-efficacy beliefs [15], problem solving, adaptation to interdisciplinary thinking and collaborative learning [16]. The PBL approach also helps with improving the achievement of low-performing students [17].…”