The purpose of this study was to analyze the contents related to empathy that appeared in the 2022 revised social studies curriculum and Middle School Social Textbooks and to derive implications.
As a result of the study, it was confirmed that in the ...
The purpose of this study was to analyze the contents related to empathy that appeared in the 2022 revised social studies curriculum and Middle School Social Textbooks and to derive implications.
As a result of the study, it was confirmed that in the revised curriculum, comments related to empathy decreased compared to the 2015 revised curriculum, but changed in the direction of emphasizing cultural diversity and empathy for social minorities. In addition, as a result of analyzing the three units of the middle school social textbook, personal empathy and social empathy appeared together, and social empathy activities accounted for a higher proportion. Personal empathy was centered on social discrimination and conflict issues in activities related to locality, globalization, understanding religion and cultural diversity, and social empathy. In particular, in the ‘Human and Social Life’ unit, activities to understand the positions of social minorities and seek solutions appeared actively. As a result of the analysis of the developmental stage of social empathy, it was rare that only the exposure stage was independently presented in the textbook, and most of them were linked to the explanation and experience stage. In the explanation stage, there were many activities to analyze and understand the structural causes of social problems, and in the experience stage, students were organized to develop practical empathy skills through role plays, case studies, and problem-solving search. However, in the geographic area, social empathy activities were relatively few, and the focus was on personal empathy. Based on these analysis results, this study made several suggestions to strengthen empathy education in social studies education. First, social empathy education needs to be systematically conducted by further reflecting the contents related to empathy in the social studies curriculum. Second, when developing social studies textbooks, it is based on personal empathy, but it is necessary to strengthen social empathy activities so that students can understand and practice social problems structurally. Third, the stages of empathy development should be clearly distinguished, and in particular, the stages of experience should be expanded so that students can internalize their empathy ability and connect them to actual social practice. Finally, in order to effectively carry out empathy education, teachers' teaching and learning capabilities should be strengthened, and related training and support should be expanded.