Educating kindness Science has shown that acts of kindness – | The world is good

Educating kindness

Science has shown that acts of kindness – such as helping someone in need, or giving to charity – improve our health, help build better relationships, and can even be contagious. Such acts promote the production of ‘feel-good’ chemicals like oxytocin, serotonin and dopamine in our brains.
That’s why the charity kindness.org is keen to promote kindness, and an understanding of the science behind it, in schools. The result will be happier students and more caring classrooms, they say – and society as a whole stands to benefit.

Its Learn Kind curriculum looks at the science of kindness, along with the development of skills such as self-awareness, empathy and emotional literacy. The pilot began in 2020, when it was taught in 15 countries, including the US, the UK and Thailand, reaching more than 38,500 students globally. Deemed a success, Learn Kind has now been adopted by 260 schools worldwide.