Building Inclusive Classrooms Through Empathy, Equity, and Participatory Research

Manion and Childs partner with the WITS Foundation to conduct research with educators, students, families, and communities to test and refine design principles for inclusive classrooms.

We aim to understand the tools and curricula that teachers need to foster inclusive classrooms and help students feel supported in schools. Social psychologists consistently emphasize the important role of empathy in binding our communities and providing a foundation for how we live together. Empathy fosters diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), which are essential to our collective well-being. Yet, in many contexts, DEI policies are increasingly under threat (LoBue & Douglass, 2023). Schools play a pivotal role in shaping how children learn to be citizens. When students feel a sense of belonging, they thrive academically and socially (Kuttner, 2023).