RESEARCH BEHIND THE TOOLKIT
This research was conducted by Daisy Margel, a Grade 12 student at The York School in Toronto, Canada.
"Theatre has been a part of my life since I could belt my first note, and since then, my relationship with it has evolved far beyond the stage. As I became increasingly interested in education and psychology through my own academics, I began to recognize theatre not only as a form of creative expression, but as a powerful way of stepping beyond our own experiences and learning to understand those of others.
This curiosity became the foundation of my research into the relationship between theatre-based learning and empathy development in young learners. By drawing on research across psychology, education, and theatre pedagogy, I created this toolkit to translate research into accessible classroom practice and explore how theatre can become not only something students perform, but a way through which they learn to understand one another."
- Daisy Margel
The research featured within the Teacher Toolkit aims to examine the extent to which theatre-based learning and role play can improve empathy development and engagement in middle school classrooms, with particular attention to cognitive, emotional, and compassionate empathy. Drawing from research across psychology, education, and theatre pedagogy, the findings have been translated into this teacher toolkit, designed to bridge research and classroom practice through accessible, evidence-informed activities and resources.
KEY FINDINGS:
01. Theatre Builds Bridges Between Perspectives
Across the research, theatre emerges as a unique space for encountering experiences beyond one’s own. By engaging with unfamiliar characters, circumstances, and perspectives, students can practice crossing social and experiential boundaries while developing greater understanding of how others experience the world.
02. Theatre Engages Empathy Through Both Feeling and Understanding
The research suggests that theatrical empathy is multidimensional. Students are not only encouraged to emotionally connect with another person, but also to interpret their motivations, circumstances, and point of view. Role play can therefore engage both the emotional and cognitive dimensions of empathy, while creating opportunities for compassionate responses.
03. Active Participation Can Transform the Classroom
Theatre-based learning shifts students from passive recipients of information to active participants in the learning process. Through role play, embodiment, collaboration, and reflection, research suggests that drama-based approaches can support student engagement, communication, perspective-taking, and empathy, while allowing academic ideas to be experienced rather than simply discussed.
The information above is supported by Empathy and Theatre in its argument that empathy can act as a “bridge” between unfamiliar social experiences, theatrical empathy is multidimensional and theatre-based learning shifts students from passive recipients of information to active participants in the learning process.
Why is Theatre-Based Learning Valuable for Middle School Students?
Middle school represents a formative period in which students are developing not only academically, but also socially and emotionally. Theatre-based learning allows each student to actively explore this development by allowing them to embody unfamiliar perspectives, collaborate with peers, interpret emotions, and reflect on experiences beyond their own. Theatre allows students to become active participants in the learning process, promoting increasing engagement which leads to a higher retention rate of information.
For middle school students in particular, theatre can provide a structured environment in which to practice understanding others at a developmental stage when identity, relationships, belonging, and social awareness are becoming increasingly significant.