Decoding Spatial Empathy: Using Digital Storytelling to Overcome Barriers in Geographic Understanding

Abstract

This study applies the Decoding the Disciplines framework to address a persistent bottleneck in geographic education: students' difficulty developing spatial empathy in increasingly hybridized learning environments. Spatial empathy—the ability to deeply connect with and understand places and their inhabitants beyond cognitive recognition—requires students to overcome ontological and epistemological barriers rooted in colonial perspectives of space. Through careful analysis, we identify expert mental moves that geographers employ, including multi-sensory engagement with place, recognition of temporal layers and multiple narratives, embodied spatial cognition, connecting personal experience to broader contexts, and transferring spatial understanding across physical and digital realms. We created immersive 3D audio experiences featuring pandemic-related campus narratives and measured their impact on 47 university students. Results demonstrate significant differences in emotional responses between students who experienced campus closure (more negative emotional tone, higher intensity) versus those who didn't, though both groups reported high empathy levels. Qualitative data revealed three key themes: perspective-taking, accessibility awareness, and sensory connection to place. Digital storytelling effectively modeled expert mental moves by making tacit knowledge visible and fostering embodied engagement through sonic pedagogies. This approach offers geography educators a framework for teaching place-based concepts in hybrid contexts while challenging visual dominance in spatial representation. Our findings extend the Decoding paradigm to encompass multi-sensory dimensions of spatial understanding, demonstrating how immersive soundscapes can bridge disconnections from place while fostering mutual understanding across diverse experiences.

Bibliographic data

McPhee, S. W., Telfar, P., & Forby, L. (2025). Decoding Spatial Empathy: Using Digital Storytelling to Overcome Barriers in Geographic Understanding. Transformative Dialogues: Teaching and Learning Journal, 18(3), 12-32.

External source

https://doi.org/10.59236/td2025vol18iss31911