Abstract
Empathy is an important trait for society in general and in the design fields. However, there is a scarce amount of literature on empirical research that examines empathy development in design education. This paper presents a case study of a Service Learning Project (SLP) that exposes students to the development of empathy by proxy in a Research I university in the south-west United States. It describes a teaching exercise that enables students to develop an empathic response through a four-week SLP within a studio course. Thirty-seven sophomore interior design students, two life specialists from the local hospital, one faculty and a liaison between the latter participated in this study over the course of two years. A mixed method strategy was used to collect data from students during two sophomore studios. The study found how faculty promoted student empathy through ‘Design, Make, Gift a Dream’ (DMGD) project.
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Biography
Milagros Zingoni is an assistant professor at The Design School, at Arizona State University. Originally from Argentina, Milagros believes that innovation comes from communication between disciplines and collaboration between the community and professionals with perhaps different backgrounds but similar goals. Her studios focus on community and commitment to public engagement through participatory design-build collaboration.