Nurturing Empathy

Exploring Teachers’ Insights from Minnesota’s Nature Preschools

Abstract

Empathy, defined here as the knowledge and sharing of others’ feelings (KnafoNoam et al., 2009), is an essential competency that facilitates connection and  compassionate action that is important to nurture in early childhood. Nature preschools have been found to be effective in fostering empathy in young children (Ernst et al., 2022), however it is unclear how the nature-preschool approach supports children’s empathy development. Grounded in the constructivist paradigm, the purpose of this qualitative interview inquiry was to explore teachers’ experiences of the ways nature preschools nurture the development of empathy in young children. The resulting conceptual model emphasizes the importance of the natural environment, school culture, and role of the teacher in supporting children’s empathy development.