In this article, John Covaleskie briefly sketches a set of interlocking propositions about democratic education. First, he argues that "democratic life places moral demands on those who hold the office of citizen": democratic citizenship requires a certain degree of particular virtues, where virtue requires the development of both…

This design-based research study examines the pedagogical role of social, digital annotation (SDA) in teaching reading as rhetorical invention, particularly the kind of invention necessary for thoughtful democratic participation in the contemporary discursive era, often described as troubled. In this dissertation study, I deployed a…

The social landscape of the United States can be mapped by using a series of cultural fault lines. This topography portrays conditions that descriptions of the surface fail to illuminate. Many of these schisms are the by-product of ideological positions that diminish personal responsibility and thoughtful civic discourse. If left unattended, these…

This paper reports findings from a study about school staff's perceptions of the preferences for social interaction that young people have with similar and different others. This tension was explored empirically using scenarios of moral dilemmas to conduct in-depth semi-structured interviews with school staff from special and mainstream secondary…

In this article, the author discusses youth culture and raises concerns about the tricky social terrain modernity offers for youth identity. He discusses familiar "topoi" or thematics that seem to drive most work on youth culture, suggests that justice and fairness are moral imperatives, and that acknowledging the worthiness of difference is one…

Comments on a article by Blass (January 2009) who pointed out his historical perspective on human welfare problems facing a democratic society. The author would like to add some information from the cognitive-developmental framework that seems most pertinent to these larger issues of obedience and disobedience. It is relevant to note that a number…

Cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT), founded on the seminal work of Vygotsky and evolving in the subsequent work of Leont'ev and Engestrom, continues to emerge as a robust and increasingly widely used conceptual framework for the research and analysis of the complex social mediation of human learning and development. Yet there remains…

When schools react to contemporary events and focus on complex moral problems they commonly fail to make basic distinctions between the morally serious and trivial, the moral and the non-moral, and problems and dilemmas. We need to teach the distinction between moral and other values, and between what is intrinsically good, what is right in…

The meaning of equality has been radically altered since the Enlightenment. In the 18th century, equality acquired political and economic meanings specifically in the contexts of democracy and capitalism. Today, the context in which equality is understood and practiced is technology as our most immediate and compelling environment. Moreover, the…

This article examines the democratic potential of online communities by investigating the influence of network heterogeneity on social tolerance in an online gaming environment. Online game communities are potential sources of bridging social capital because they tend to be relatively heterogeneous. Causal analyses are conducted using structural…

The main purpose of this study is to investigate devotion to democratic values and conflict resolution abilities of elementary school students. In the direction of this general purpose, the level of the students' devotion to democratic values and conflict resolution abilities were investigated by the Devotion to Democratic Values Scale (DDVS) and…

The aim of this inquiry was to evaluate the existing literature on moral evaluation and development, to develop a model to clarify the concepts of moral judgement, development and commitment, and to specify their sources, structures, and interrelations. The purpose was to try to resolve whether these concepts are best understood from an…

Teaching about moral issues is discussed in this transcript of "Options in Education," an electronic weekly magazine. Directed toward educators and students, the program covers news, features, policy, and people in the field of education and is available for broadcasting to member stations of National Public Radio. Seventeen montages…

It is the responsibility of the teacher to present students with a limited and simplified version of the facts since a many-sided issue would only confuse students. A guiding principle must be based on respect for the past achievements of Americans. (JN)

Assessing the current state of civic engagement in the United States, this document argues for increased participation from the citizenry, and discuses a number of programs supporting this effort. Although individuals remain actively involved in many civic activities through church, voluntary, and political associations, recent decades have…