The ability to focus, empathy, courage and responsibility are important determinants affecting the development of pro-social behavior. In the modern education system, they are rarely appreciated. They are being pushed away, often far from pragmatism and academic knowledge. In the same time the modern world needs a person able to see deeper and more thorough, that is able to discover what seems to be hidden from the sight of others.

The aim of this study was to verify the usefulness of field activities in the development of selected social attitudes. The participants moved around with their eyes closed assisted by their colleagues. The study was conducted during the obligatory winter camps of the Faculty of Tourism and Recreation in the Academy of Physical Education in Warsaw in 2014–2016. 86 students were tested, amongst them there were 37 women and 49 men. The experimental group consisted of people carrying out their snowboard training and experiencing temporary shutdown of visual perception during the activity. The results were compared with tests carried out on the third and fourth stage of education. The basic research method was a pedagogical experiment, that involved participant observation tool. To collect more detailed data a diagnostic survey was also used. The study used collecting material techniques – a survey, a complementary interview and a video recording the behavior of respondents during the activities. People with experience in practicing snowboarding with eyes closed (experimental group) did much better in difficult terrain showing lower level of feelings of anxiety and greater courage, composure and accuracy in performing given tasks. Respondents playing the guide role presented rarely seen in everyday situations empathetic attitude in response to their colleagues stress reactions. The results allow to draw conclusion that the use of similar activities at different levels of education can be an effective tool in building positives interpersonal relationships in educational institutions and beyond. Studies show that getting such effects as increased levels of concentration, accuracy in action, coping with stress – which connects to more effectively undertaken in difficult conditions – can be possible only through systematic training using a temporary shutdown of visual perception.

LOGOS OF THE CROSS

The existential story of Edith Stein is characterized by the pursuit of truth and by placing herself at its service. Starting from the philosophical discourse she reaches the word of the cross, the Logos of the analogy that relates separate determinations. Going through the various stations of her Way of the Cross in order to achieve her union with the Beloved, Edith Stein realizes the commandment of love: donate life to “save” forever every existence.

The aim of the text is to present the educational potential of selected books by Iwona Chmielewska - a Polish artist, illustrator, graphic artist. The attention was paid to the content of selected works by the author, which can be treated as tools conducive to work on the development of readers’ imagination and empathy. By analyzing the entire architecture of selected picture books by Chmielewska, they can be seen as an unlimited field that can be used to design „educational opportunities”. The text is an idea of going out to children with an art book, an encouragement to look for others with a similar wealth of metaphors and symbols, so that this type of literature becomes the subject of various forms of school and extracurricular education. The text is structured as follows: explain the meaning of the term picture book; emphasizing the importance of picturebooks in contemporary culture; an attempt to define the characteristic style of Iwona Chmielewska’s books; consider the importance of empathy and imagination for the cultural sensitization of the reader; presenting proposals for educational activities inspired by the books by Iwona Chmielewska. The content analysis method used in the methodology of qualitative research was used.

In the domain of interpersonal relations empathy has been widely regarded as a valuable tool for peacebuilding. Past research has shown that if enough empathy is extended to a victim of violence, insight into the victim’s plight tends to give pause to the aggressor and also prompt bystanders to help. While the victim is the sole recipient of empathy in an interpersonal conflict, elevating the concept of empathy from an individual level analysis to a group level analysis encounters further complications. In intergroup conflicts, both parties in the conflict stand to receive empathy. In light of this, one theoretical question is whether both kinds of empathy, those directed to the ingroup members and the outgroup members, have similar utilities in peacebuilding. We reference the literature on intergroup contact and intergroup threats, to scrutinize the role of empathy in intergroup conflicts. We argue that ingroup and outgroup empathy have the opposite effects on group violence – directing empathy to the outgroup results in the denouncement of aggression, whereas directing empathy to the ingroup may lead to a desire to counterattack. Thus, rather than boosting the overall amplitude of empathy, striking the right balance is the key of leveraging empathy towards peace.

Education for pre-service teachers should focus on developing the competencies necessary to understand and practice learners’ cognitive and emotional characteristics. In this study, after applying the competency programme for understanding and guiding students with learning difficulties to pre-service teachers, the effects of the programme on teacher efficacy, teaching passion, and empathy were verified. As a result, it was found that participating in the experimental group to which the competency programme was applied was more effective than the control group in enhancing teacher efficacy, teaching passion, and empathy of pre-service teachers, and discussion and suggestions were provided.

Empathy of future teachers and their intercultural sensitivity

This article is empirical. It presents the results of a study aimed at determining the level of empathy and intercultural sensitivity of future teachers. Preparation of teachers to fulfil the pedagogical role of school, especially in the current situation caused by the war in Ukraine and the enrolment of approximately 200,000 Ukrainian children into the Polish education system, involves the necessity of adequate training of candidates for this profession. What is significant in this context is the definition of empathy, which should be understood as the ability to respectfully understand the other person and the inner power that guides and motivates an individual to pro-social behaviour. Another important element of that definition is cultural sensitivity understood as an indicator of cross-cultural communication ability, manifested in the readiness to interact with people from different cultures. The study was conducted employing a diagnostic survey with the use of a revised version of the Empathic Understanding Questionnaire by Andrzej Węgliński and the scale of intercultural sensitivity developed by Guo- Ming Chen and William Starosta in the Polish adaptation of Dariusz Majerk and Mariusz Korczyński. The survey involved students in pedagogical faculties from various higher education institutions in Poland. The results of the study reveal the need for pedagogical preparation of future teachers to fulfil their professional role to the highest possible extent.

Game as a tool for developing intercultural competence on the example of the Culture Crossover Project

In today’s world of rapid socio-cultural changes, which also include increased migration movements and the formation of culturally diverse societies, there is a need to implement methods and tools of educational work for the formation of attitudes of tolerance in multicultural communities. One of the effective educational tools used in intercultural education can be game. One of the most valuable types of games in this area are those that allow learning about cultures and the cultural differences resulting from them, referring not only to observable behaviour, but also to the hierarchy of values that form the core of the identity of a given social group – national, ethnic or religious one. The article is devoted to the presentation of an educational game created as part of the international Culture Crossover project. The theoretical and methodological assumptions of the game refer to Milton Benett’s DMIS and Geert Hofstede’s cultural dimensions. The educational goal is to increase cultural awareness and develop empathy towards culturally different people by taking into account various elements of intercultural learning – from information about a particular culture, through knowledge of cultural norms and the ability to adopt local perspectives to critical understanding of the worldviews of other cultures.