It was while working with students in Bogotá, Colombia, that she had a flash of insight — that movement, dance and other forms of kinesthetic learning increase student engagement and serve as an organic and effective means of teaching empathy-based conflict resolution skills.
Recognizing that a root cause of conflict
is the lack of empathy, building self-awareness
is a key component of an effective empathy education curriculum.
Lahayne believes,
…So for example when you think about empathy as a skill set to reduce aggressive behavior in humans, we are talking about empathy being cognitive, affective and kinesthetic … we help our students and teachers FEEL the physical state of another person with their own body… to build connections in a more authentic profound way and to engage students who would otherwise not be interested in this type of curriculum.
by Akoshia Yoba
