Having teachers study themselves as learners of a comparably hard abstract subject increases their appreciation of pupils' difficulties and sympathy with their efforts¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · causal r1 · q1
Currency · newest study 1922 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q1 i? The experiment seems useful for increasing teachers' appreciation of pupils' difficulties and as a warning against imputing poor results to perverseness or lack of effort. → Thorndike 1922

Evidence¶

Thorndike 1922¶

Thorndike, E. L., & Upton, C. B. (1922). An Experiment in Learning an Abstract Subject. The Journal of Educational Psychology, 13(6). https://doi.org/10.1037/h0065229

q1 · i? · causal · r1

The authors' opinion, based on answers to end-of-week questions, notes on learning, written work, and the test: the experiment increases "appreciation of pupils' difficulties and sympathy with their efforts." No measure of empathy change was taken.

"The experiment seems a useful one as a means of increasing the subject's appreciation of pupils' difficulties and sympathy with their efforts, and as a means of increasing the experimenter's knowledge of learning."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Gifted, highly trained adults working a novel abstract task produce error-ridden problem work comparable in character to that of school pupils — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Professional development from CHSRI and CPS is valued by some small-school staff but viewed by others as irrelevant, hard to schedule, and poorly connected to school needs — related