The authors draw from their work with teachers and students to address issues of social justice through the regular curriculum and everyday school life. This book illustrates an approach that integrates social justice education with contemporary research on students' development of moral understandings and concerns for human welfare in order to…

This study examined the application of Lesson Study for professional development (PD) for a domain approach to moral education. A comparison was drawn between the effects of Lesson Study with 17 teachers and 144 students representing middle schools in the same district as a prior study employing intensive traditional PD. In Lesson Study, groups of…

This article presents outcomes of two studies examining the impact of preservice teachers' preparation on their practice, knowledge, and self-efficacy for supporting students' social and moral development and conducting moral education in the classroom. The studies centered on the Developmental Teacher Education program at the University of…

Eleven teachers and 254 urban middle-school students comprised the sample of this study examining the social and moral development outcomes of the integration of social cognitive domain theory within regular classroom instruction. Participating teachers were trained to construct and implement history lessons that stimulated students' moral…

This article discusses challenges educators face when attempting to sequence moral education. Two factors are identified as primary sources hindering efforts to engage in effective moral education: (a) the premature application of research findings from developmental psychology to classroom practices and (b) the underestimation of the complexity…

The Arsenio and Lemerise (this issue) proposal integrating social information processing (SIP) and domain theory to study children's aggression is evaluated from a domain theory perspective. Basic tenets of domain theory rendering it compatible with SIP are discussed as well as points of divergence. Focus is directed to the proposition that…

A personal area of behavior comprising matters of choice and privacy, and differentiated from convention and moral obligation, is a psychological requirement for the construction of a distinct and bounded self. Accurate investigations of this dynamic require differentiation between cultural ideology and conceptual frames of individuals. (Author)

Research suggests children readily distinguish between moral wrongs and social norm violations. Moral concepts consistently focus on issues of justice and compassion regardless of religious belief. Moral education can be compatible with, and independent from, religious doctrine. Two principals for such education are suggested as useful for…

In an attempt to clarify the confusion about the teaching of morality in the classroom, the author discusses the distinction between the concepts of morality and convention. Young children can distinguish between rules and moral principles, and successful moral discussion is more likely to occur in classrooms employing cooperative goal structures.…

Discusses the Defining Issues Test as an invaluable tool for research and practice in moral education. Explains that because such instruments are based upon previous developmental research, they are unsuitable for research on moral development. Argues that these measures stand in the way of generating new knowledge. (CAJ)

This study investigated social interactions and the development of social concepts in preschool children in terms of two conceptual domains, the moral and the societal. The former has to do with concepts of justice and fairness, the latter with social conventions, rules and social organization. Subjects were children 3 to 5 years of age enrolled…

Responds to Robert Kunzman's article about the functional relationship between morality and religious faith. Argues that Kunzman's position undermines religious freedom by not recognizing the diversity among religious belief systems and imposes the beliefs of the religious on those who do not hold religious commitments. (CAJ)

Observations and interviews of 20 middle-class preschoolers and their mothers were conducted to examine the emergence of the personal domain. Found that preschoolers make a conceptual distinction between personal and moral or conventional issues, and that mothers were more likely to negotiate with children over personal than social events. (MDM)