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It explains how empathy aligns with multiple curriculum ideologies and strengthens critical thinking and social justice. The article highlights the role of powerful geography in building empathy, especially as eco-anxiety makes climate change a safeguarding concern. Classroom guidance focuses on observing beyond images, addressing anchoring and salience biases, and using structured image analysis to deepen inquiry.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":35,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/healthcare/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/fostering-empathy-in-the-teaching-of-natural-hazards-practical-approaches-for-classroom-empathy-building/624375/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/fostering-empathy-in-the-teaching-of-natural-hazards-practical-approaches-for-classroom-empathy-building/624375.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"dawugda","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-29","2026-10-20",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":81},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"Why does the article argue that empathy is essential when teaching natural hazards?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"Because behind each statistic lies personal tragedy, and students need conversation, context, and empathy rather than just absorbing dramatic images.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"How can curriculum ideology support empathy development?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"Empathy builds respect, social cooperation, and critical thinking, and it can fit both progressive and reconstructionist approaches as well as utilitarian or vocational ideologies.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"What classroom method is proposed to counter anchoring and salience bias?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"A structured way of analyzing still images—foreground, background, four-corners, and space—so students observe both what first draws attention and what is often ignored.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},624375,1793084723,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":34,"category_name":35,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":81,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":19,"language":139,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":140,"faqs":141,"seo_title":142,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":143,"read_time":52,"preview_page_count":4},3985747870947,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_3d24733baf745e90a7e4bdd5f77d97b2","Fostering empathy in the teaching of natural hazards  \nWhen starting a new topic on natural hazards, it is typically an exciting prospect for students and even teachers. There are so many images, video clips and outputs from popular culture that can be tapped into to give an immersive and engaging learning experience. Almost every week there is no shortage of news items focussing on a current natural hazard event, allowing teachers to keep those case studies fresh and timely. Then we have climate change, effectively one big disaster movie of multiple threats and hazards.  \nThis is the crux of the issue and the focus of this article. Through my own teaching experience, and from what I have observed, it is easy to be caught up in the spectacle and awe of natural hazards in order to motivate students, sometimes not fully appreciating that behind every single statistic is a personal tragedy. The environmental and societal challenges we are facing today need not just knowledge and understanding, they need conversation, context, and empathy.  \nGeography and the ability to empathise  \nOf the curriculum ideologies identified by Rawling (2000), building empathy would appear to fit naturally into a progressive educational (child-centred) or reconstructionist (radical) one. Those aim to develop attitudes of respect for others, social capital and an acceptance of multiculturalism. However, I would argue that empathy is a skill that enables an appreciation of the ideas of others, develops co-operation and improves critical thinking – all desirable traits for anybody being prepped for the job market, and therefore compatible with utilitarian or vocational ideologies. If the development of empathy through the curriculum is transcendent, it will sitwell with ‘powerful knowledge’. As Mark Enser put it: ‘Powerful knowledge isn’t knowledge that pupils would otherwise encounter in their day-today lives …’. It allows students to ‘better explain and understand the natural and social worlds’and ‘go beyond the limits of their personal experience.’ (Enser, 2021)  \nRegardless of what curriculum ideology prevailed in the past and what combination of these one may subscribe to today, aiding the development of empathy in children has become an increasingly necessary process at both primary and secondary phases. In her book Anne Dolan states that powerful geography can develop empathy in children, allowing them to understand and participate in the environment in which they live (Dolan, 2020). Empathy as a skill helps in acquiring knowledge and understanding of identity and diversity, and instils values and attitudes for social justice and equality. Now that  \nstudents’ eco-anxiety has made climate change arguably a safeguarding concern for schools (Rackley, 2021), these key elements are crucial for empowering young people in the face of unprecedented challenges.  \nStudents must understand the effect of physical natural hazards on people and places, but what can we do in the classroom to develop empathy and avoid treating natural hazardsand climate change as some form of academic entertainment? Here are just a few ideas from my own teaching and through observations of effective teaching by others. While the examples may be from less recent events, it is the methodologies used which are the focus. Indeed, articles such as those written by Alistair Hamill (2021) which focus on more recent events can complement the following ideas.  \nObserving beyond the spectacle  \nOn Friday 11 March 2011, each period of myschool day was spent simply doing one thing:  \nwatching the news, live, as it covered the devastating scenes of the tsunami, triggered by an earthquake, sweeping the east coast of Japan. It made for vibrant discussion and helped demonstrate processes and impacts, but I was left hollow at the end of the day when I realised that I too had been captured by the spectacle. Take a look at Figure 1, a picture of the earthquake’s aftermath. What are your eyes immed","cbCaiqQR4TMgVwBI","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaiqQR4TMgVwBI","pdf",632625,"English","# Fostering empathy in the teaching of natural hazards\n## Geography and the ability to empathise\n## Observing beyond the spectacle\n## Image analysis method: foreground, background, four-corners and space","[{\"question\":\"Why does the article argue that empathy is essential when teaching natural hazards?\",\"answer\":\"Because behind each statistic lies personal tragedy, and students need conversation, context, and empathy rather than just absorbing dramatic images.\"},{\"question\":\"How can curriculum ideology support empathy development?\",\"answer\":\"Empathy builds respect, social cooperation, and critical thinking, and it can fit both progressive and reconstructionist approaches as well as utilitarian or vocational ideologies.\"},{\"question\":\"What classroom method is proposed to counter anchoring and salience bias?\",\"answer\":\"A structured way of analyzing still images—foreground, background, four-corners, and space—so students observe both what first draws attention and what is often ignored.\"}]","Fostering empathy in the teaching of natural hazards - Practical approaches for classroom empathy building | PDF",1792473501]