Empathy in middle school engineering design process

This work-in-progress studies empathy in middle-school engineering design pedagogy. A model of empathy in engineering as a core skill, as a practice orientation and a professional way of being that can be taught in university programs has been proposed [1]. Does an emotional intelligence model of empathy need to be taught earlier than at the university level? The engineering design process has been included in the science standards for k-12 schools since 2013[2]. One of the purposes of this inclusion is the ability to reach a diverse population of students by applying real world problems in their curriculum. The design process typically includes the steps of defining the engineering problem, developing solutions and optimizing the design. Although the word “empathy” is not used, these problems are defined from an empathetic perspective as “situations people want to change” of “social and global significance.” However, the standards do not discuss how to define a problem or how to teach empathy. In the winter of 2016 a study was conducted to evaluate the influence of empathy-based lessons on girls' interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Some information is known about empathy in lessons. Girls may be more interested if lessons are altered to include an element of caring [3]. Other studies indicate children's empathy increases with type of media provided in lesson (computer versus robot) [4]. The study in this article was a qualitative case study of 50 children, grades 6, 7, and 8, boys and girls in an after-school 4-H Science Club. The lessons were conducted once per week. The lessons were previously conducted in an all-girls after-school STEM program with similar available inexpensive materials. Both schools had similar demographics. The students and coordinators(instructors) were observed, pre- and post-surveys were conducted, and interviews of both students and coordinators were audio and/or video-taped. Although responses varied by lesson, initial results indicate many students and coordinators did not understand the meaning of empathy situated in engineering design.