Teaching Children Empathy and Compassion through Virtual Reality Games

The amalgamation of a largely Islamic north and a Christian south to form Nigeria is considered by many a political expediency that ignored the cultural, social, and religious diversity and complexity of its people. Its more than 250 ethnic groups and 500 languages across a population of about 200 million have heightened tribalism. The mono-product nature of Nigeria’s economy makes control of its oil wealth another source of contention. Such tensions contributed to a bitter genocidal civil war between 1967 and 1970 that killed more than 6 million people, 1 million of whom were children. This diverse nature of Nigeria is a major cause of discrimination, stigmatization, and inter-ethnic violence across the country. Studies have shown that empathy and compassion both lead to a better understanding of the suffering of others. One way this works is through perspective-taking, which is a major characteristic of Virtual Reality (VR). The immersive nature of virtual reality (VR) will afford participants the privilege to walk in the shoes of people in ethnic groups different from theirs, helping them appreciate their identity and share in their sufferings. We, therefore, propose that teaching adolescents empathy and compassion through virtual reality can help to reduce ethnic discrimination in Nigeria. To build love and unity, we propose a two-year intervention and research project to foster empathy and compassion in the younger population who make up more than 60 percent of the population, and who will be the adults and leaders of tomorrow. It will be an immersive virtual reality (VR) experience where teenagers take the perspectives of ethnic groups different from theirs, to appreciate their identity and share in their sufferings. The intervention and research study will be conducted in five schools in Lagos, Nigeria, among 540 teenagers aged 13-18. The study will be VR gameplay sessions to assess whether the immersive experience of playing VR games will elicit and enhance empathy and compassion among teenagers. To check the outcome of these interventions on their knowledge, thoughts, emotions, and behaviour with respect to empathy and compassion, participants will be evaluated pre-, and post- (immediately, 2 months, and 6 months after the) interventions. Teachers at the study schools will be trained on the new VR teaching models, so as to incorporate them into the Civics and Social Studies curriculum of secondary schools.