Bullying is awful, but a Finnish program is teaching bystanders to empathize and intervene.
“In the game, students can practice how to be nice to someone and what kind of nice things you can say to someone who would like to be included in the group or is new in the school,” said Alanen.
By asking the kids what they would do in certain situations and giving feedback and advice about it, the program can help teach the students to be more empathetic and supportive of bullying victims. And the data shows that the program works too.
Juvonen’s analysis found that KiVa reduced the odds of a given student being bullied by about one-third to one-half.
By James Gaines
