Strengthening student empathy in GeoCapabilities - Digital learning innovations and pedagogical strategies for disaster mitigation

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by OmBimo

Indonesia’s exposure to frequent seismic hazards underscores the need for disaster mitigation education that cultivates students’ socio-environmental empathy. The study develops and evaluates a digital learning platform to strengthen GeoCapabilities, targeting empathetic responses to disaster scenarios through integrated disaster mitigation pedagogy. Using a design-based research approach with iterative development and mixed qualitative feedback plus quantitative pre- and post-tests, results show significant improvement in empathy toward disaster impacts. Findings indicate potential scalability across regions.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages22

Reading Time55 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Study Aim and Method

Design-based research approach

Data collection and analysis

Results and Implications

OPEN ACCESS Research Article Contemporary Educational Technology, 2024, 16(3), ep521 ISSN: 1309-517X (Online) Strengthening student empathy in GeoCapabilities: Digital learning innovations and pedagogical strategies for disaster mitigation Sugiyanto 1* 0000-0002-7864-6704 Chatarina Muryani 1 0000-0002-8077-6305 Dannis Ni’matussyahara 1 0000-0001-8295-9079 1 Department of Geography Education, Sebelas Maret University, Surakarta, Central Java, INDONESIA * Corresponding author: [sugiyanto60@staff.uns.ac.id](sugiyanto60@staff.uns.ac.id) Citation: Sugiyanto, Muryani, C., & Ni’matussyahara, D. (2024) . Strengthening student empathy in GeoCapabilities: Digital learning innovations and pedagogical strategies for disaster mitigation. Contemporary Educational Technology, 16(3), ep521. [https://doi.org/10.30935/cedtech/14913](https://doi.org/10.30935/cedtech/14913) ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT | Received: 16 May 2024
Accepted: 6 Jul 2024
INTRODUCTION | Indonesia’s geographical positioning along the ‘ Ring of Fire’ exposes it to frequent seismic activities, making effective disaster mitigation education crucial. Current educational strategies may not adequately foster the necessary empathy and understanding among students regarding the socio-environmental impacts of disasters. This study aims to develop and evaluate a digital learning platform designed to enhance GeoCapabilities in students, particularly focusing on the social-environmental empathy dimension. The objective is to improve students’empathetic responses to disaster scenarios through integrated disaster mitigation pedagogy. Utilizing the design-based research method, this research involved a systematic blend of iterative development and evaluation phases to refine educational interventions. Data collection was achieved through a combination of qualitative feedback from students and quantitative preand post-test measures to assess empathy levels. Data analysis involved statistical testing to determine the effectiveness of the digital learning platform in enhancing empathetic capabilities among learners. The research reveals that the digital learning platform (D-Learning), significantly improves students’ empathy towards disaster impacts. Students demonstrated a deeper understanding and emotional engagement with the content, highlighting an increase in their ability to empathize with affected communities. The findings suggest that the scalability of DLearning can be tailored to different regions, providing a valuable tool for enhancing disaster preparedness worldwide. The integration of technology and empathy-focused pedagogy in disaster education could serve as a model for developing similar educational programs globally, aiming to foster a more resilient and empathetic future generation.
Keywords: digital learning, disaster mitigation, empathy, GeoCapabilities | | --- | --- | GeoCapabilities, a structured approach to enhancing students’ understanding of geographical conceptsand their practical application in addressing global issues, has attracted considerable attention from researchers focused on geography curricula and teacher development worldwide (Bladh, 2020) . Integrating GeoCapabilities into the educational curriculum is crucial for fostering students’ geographical understanding and their ability to navigate and address global challenges (Biddulph et al., 2020) . The positive impact of this approach includes the development of critical thinking (Maude, 2020), spatial awareness (Mitchell et al., 2022), and global citizenship skills (Franklin et al., 2022; Labianca, 2021; Vega, 2022) . Despite its proven benefits in fostering geographical understanding and critical thinking, there remains a significant gap in integrating empathy and digital learning platforms into GeoCapabilities, especially for enhancing disaster preparedness among students. GeoCapabilities is intrinsically linked to the enhancement of student empathy by enriching

FAQs

What problem does the study address about disaster mitigation education?

Current educational strategies may not adequately foster students’ empathy and understanding of disasters’ socio-environmental impacts. The study targets this gap through GeoCapabilities-focused digital learning.

What is the main goal of the digital learning platform in this research?

To enhance students’ GeoCapabilities, particularly the social-environmental empathy dimension, improving empathetic responses to disaster scenarios through integrated pedagogy.

How did the researchers evaluate whether empathy improved?

They used a design-based research method with iterative development and evaluation, combining qualitative feedback with quantitative pre- and post-test measures and statistical testing.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by OmBimo