EMPATHY CURRICULUM WINS PRAISE; LESSONS CUT HOSTILITY IN TEENS, STUDY SAYS.

Byline: Don Holland Staff Writer

Local middle school students who studied the consequences of aggression last school year showed a marked decrease in their tendency toward verbal or physical spats, University of California researchers said Wednesday.

The study of 513 seventh- and eighth-graders at Los Cerritos and Colina middle schools in Thousand Oaks and Blackstock Junior High in Oxnard could become the foundation for school programs around the country aimed at reducing teen violence, said Barbara J. Wilson, a UC Santa Barbara professor who led the ``Choices and Consequences'' study.

After watching videotaped court cases involving teen-age defendants the students showed:

A 4 percent drop in their reported verbal and physical aggression.

An 8 percent rise in empathy.

``This was a huge change, but it was only a three-week curriculum,'' Wilson said following a Washington, D.C. press conference announcing the findings. ``One can only imagine what would happen if a school was to present these cases over the course of a year so that you reinforce these even more.''

Jacquie Meir, an eighth-grade teacher at Los Cerritos Middle School, said her students seemed to become more empathetic as a result of the lessons, which were taught for 50 minutes a day for three weeks last school year.

``They did exactly what the program wanted,'' Meir said. ``They put themselves in the shoes of the kids in the videos. They seemed to have a greater respect (for each other). And it seemed like they thought more about what they were going to say before they said it. For a three-week program, I was impressed.''

The experimental curriculum is centered around three actual trials involving teen-age perpetrators and victims.

After watching the trials, the students discussed what they had seen, focusing on the choices that had been made and the unintended consequences. Students also did role-playing exercises, and wrote about their feelings and the real-life consequences of bad decisions.

After the study, students not only made fewer snide remarks toward each other, but they even began to show greater empathy toward figures they read about in their history books, Meir said.

The study also found that the students showed a 10 percent increase in their knowledge of legal terms.

``I think it should be the starting point of every history class, because all of history should be based on looking at choices, consequences and putting yourself in somebody else's shoes,'' Meir said.

The curriculum was developed by Court TV, which funded the research.

The study should help convince parents and school officials of the importance of teaching empathy and the consequences of aggression.

``One of the beauties of this study is that we can say if you do this, you're going to find effects, you're going to see changes,'' Wilson said. ``I'm confident that we've demonstrated scientifically that it works and it's time to get (the curriculum) out there.''