Common Read for the Common Good: A Course Project To Foster College Students' Empathy

• Published in: Journal of family and consumer sciences Vol. 113; no. 4; pp. 69 - 75
• Main Authors: Graves, Nicole A., Reinke, Jennifer S.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Alexandria American Association of Family & Consumer Sciences 31.12.2021
• Subjects: 21st century; 21st Century Skills; Classroom Environment; Classrooms; Cognition & reasoning; Cognitive ability; Cognitive Development; Collaboration; College Science; College students; Colleges & universities; Compassion; Conflict Resolution; Critical Thinking; Elementary Secondary Education; Emotional Development; Emotional intelligence; Emotions; Empathy; Families & family life; Family and Consumer Sciences; Family Life Education; Helping Relationship; Home economics education; Individual Development; Interpersonal Competence; Interpersonal Relationship; Labor Market; Learner Engagement; Learning; Learning Theories; Literature Reviews; Middle Schools; Postsecondary Education; Professionals; Professions; Prosocial Behavior; Reading; Secondary Education; Social Emotional Learning; Soft skills; Success; Teachers; Thinking Skills
• ISSN: 1082-1651; 2331-5369
• DOI: 10.14307/JFCS113.4.69

According to the Family Life Education Content and Practice Guidelines, Certified Family Life Educators are expected to demonstrate mastery of subject matter such as families and their relationships to other institutions in society, family strengths and weaknesses, and the development and maintenance of interpersonal relationships (National Council on Family Relations, 2015). The skills of collaboration and creativity cannot be fostered in classrooms that only include testing of cognitive skills (Markham, 2018). [...]empathy should be taught, modeled, and supported in classroom environments from pre-K through post-secondary education. The integrative elements of the FCS-BOK state that FCS professionals approach their work and research through the perspectives of lifecourse development and human ecosystems (Nickols et al., 2009). [...]there is a recognition that human development is a complex process of historical and contextual interactions between individuals, families, and communities. According to Johnson's interpretation of humanistic learning theory, the primary focus of education should be on human development and personal growth and thus educators should pay attention to affective dimensions of student learning.