Empathy is a key contributor to moral, pro-social behaviour and an important element of socio-emotional learning (SEL). Schools deliver SEL programmes during adolescence to develop a range of skills including empathy. As education becomes increasingly digital, more research is needed to understand the role digital technologies may play in students’ empathy development. Virtual reality (VR) has been touted as a possible way to provide more realistic experiences to enhance empathy. To investigate this, an intervention of an empathy-provoking documentary (Clouds over Sidra) was shown to adolescents aged 13 to 15 years using either virtual reality (n = 63) or 2D projection (n = 53). Participants completed the Adolescent Measure of Empathy and Sympathy (AMES survey) before (time 1), immediately (time 2) and two weeks (time 3) after viewing the documentary. There was no difference in empathy between the 2D and VR conditions. However, for both conditions, there was an increase in empathy immediately after viewing the documentary but not at the two week follow-up. The results suggest that while empathy could temporarily increase when one is exposed to a novel emotive experience, a one-time intervention does not appear to produce a lasting change. This is an important consideration for schools in considering virtual reality technology for use in SEL.

同理心是道德、亲社会行为的关键因素，也是社会情感学习（SEL）的重要组成部分。学校在青春期提供 SEL 课程，以培养包括同理心在内的一系列技能。随着教育变得越来越数字化，需要更多的研究来了解数字技术在学生同理心发展中可能发挥的作用。虚拟现实（VR）被认为是一种提供更真实体验以增强同理心的可能方式。为了调查这一点，我们使用虚拟现实 ( n  = 63) 或 2D 投影 ( n = 53)向 13 至 15 岁的青少年播放了一部引发同理心的纪录片（《锡德拉上空的云》）  。参与者在观看纪录片之前（时间 1）、立即（时间 2）和两周（时间 3）完成青少年同理心和同情心测量（AMES 调查）。 2D 和 VR 条件下的同理心没有差异。然而，对于这两种情况，观看纪录片后同理心立即增加，但在两周的随访中却没有增加。结果表明，虽然当一个人接触一种新的情感体验时，同理心可能会暂时增加，但一次性干预似乎不会产生持久的变化。这是学校考虑在 SEL 中使用虚拟现实技术的一个重要考虑因素。