Reconciliatory Action Research: Building Foundations of Allyship Behaviour in a Science 10 Classroom

The purpose of this research was to build and implement curriculum that aims to support grade 10 science high school students with building empathy as a foundation of Reconciliation towards allyship behavior. This study hoped to answer the questions: In what ways does a curriculum that aims to foster empathy as a foundation for allyship behaviour impact the developing empathy of science 10 students? Specifically: Is empathy developing? What kinds of empathy are developing? What are the conditions that allow empathy to develop? This qualitative study analyzed data through coding, identifying emergent codes, and thematic analysis. Students appeared to be developing in the four types of empathy considered in the study: cognitive empathy, intercultural cognitive empathy, affective empathy, and intercultural affective empathy through the opportunities offered in the course. Four pillars (identity development, building relationships, safety, and intercultural opportunities) emerged as important conditions to foster empathy development along what the researcher called an empathy arc-the students’ empathy (cognitive and affective), and intercultural empathy (cognitive and affective) developmental journey.interculturally sensitive learning environmentscognitive empathyaffective empathyintercultural empathy,First Peoples’ Principles of LearningReconciliationReconciliatory actioninterculturally sensitive teaching environment