IMPROVING UPPER ELEMENTARY STUDENTS' HUMANE ATTITUDES AND PROSOCIAL BEHAVIORS THROUGH AN IN-CLASS HUMANE EDUCATION PROGRAM

ABSTRACTHumane education is a long-standing field of education that endeavors to nurture kindness, compassion, and concern for nonhuman animals, people, and the environment. Despite its long history, however, few randomized control studies have evaluated its effectiveness to promote the development of relevant outcomes. The current study sought to address this dearth by investigating the effects of a humane education program on not only participating students’ attitudes, but also their behaviors. Classes of under-served, fourth-grade students in two major US cities were randomly assigned to participate in either a school-based humane education program or a chess club (the control group); all students participated in their respective activity during the same period once a week for 11 weeks. Data were collected on the attitudes (n = 236) and behaviors (n = 167) of participating students exactly one week before and exactly one week after these programs were conducted. Students self-reported their attitudes a...