University of Cambridge — ScienceDaily — 2 February 2021
A year-long University of Cambridge study found that teaching children to empathise with others measurably improves their creativity. Pupils at a London school who used engineering design thinking tools to foster empathy showed creativity scores 78% higher than the control group by year-end — despite starting 11% lower. Boys showed marked improvement in emotional expression (64% higher), while girls improved more in cognitive empathy and perspective-taking (62%). Lead researcher Bill Nicholl said: “Teaching for empathy is a missing link in the creative process and vital if we want education to encourage the designers and engineers of tomorrow.” The study is published in the journal Improving Schools.