In order to extend research on children's Theory of Mind (ToM) within moral development, researchers have proposed a novel area of research, Morally Relevant ToM. It has been argued to better account for the moral and social considerations that children are required to make when using their ToM abilities in real life situations. To further the…

The article discusses the importance of quantitative empirical character assessment for better understanding the formation of character and for promoting virtue and thereby also human flourishing. Attention is given to a number of challenges in developing character survey items along with criteria for evaluating items and examples of successes and…

The present study aimed to examine how to improve the effectiveness of moral exemplar-applied interventions based on the pillars of the self-determination theory framework, autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Past research has mainly focused on the relatedness and attainability of moral exemplars for predicting motivation outcomes. The data for…

Dialogic teaching -- in which teachers and students address controversial issues -- has become increasingly common in school education to promote civic participation in deliberative democracy. This study addresses this question: when leading whole-class discussions on controversial issues, what discursive moves could teachers adopt to enact…

Most secondary and postsecondary institutions take a behavioral approach in dealing with student cheating--punishing those caught with grade reductions and/or suspensions. While some form of punishment may be necessary, it is not sufficient. As an instantiation of negative morality, academic misconduct offers an opportunity for moral education.…

K-12 education as an enterprise always has two main aims; to teach basic skills and knowledge and to cultivate moral citizenry. There is substantial evidence that empathy can promote morality and character development through education. To shed light on what has been done and to identify the pathways already established, a thematic review of…

This paper reports from a symposium exploring the application of Virtual Reality (VR) in RE. The contributors presented empirical case-studies of interventions and instructional designs that had been tested in classroom settings ranging from primary to teacher education. The presentations illustrate the ways in which VR can be understood as a…

The basis for the inclusion of Christian Religious Studies (CRS) into the primary school curriculum in Nigeria was particular to the learning of morals and the development of societally acceptable values and attitudes. Presently, Nigeria is experiencing a high level of social vices, immoralities and an unprecedented amount of anti-social…

The development of children's lie-telling abilities is considered to be a social and cognitive milestone. While occasional lying is developmentally appropriate, the use of frequent, antisocial lies as a maladaptive problem-solving mechanism can indicate behaviour problems. Since lying is often considered a moral transgression, researchers should…

This mixed-methods study is an exploration of fifth and sixth grade students' interactions with an online game called "Quandary," a comic-book-esque game aimed at stimulating ethical decision-making. Building on the domain-based moral education framework, researchers designed and implemented a short-term intervention in three classrooms…

This article reports on a pilot study aiming to examine a role-modelling character education project through an Aristotelian framework, by adopting a virtue-led approach. Aristotle famously believed virtues should be taught to children at a young age through habituation, which gradually develops into "phronesis"-guided virtuosity, and he…

In this article, we discuss the benefits of Bayesian statistics and how to utilize them in studies of moral education. To demonstrate concrete examples of the applications of Bayesian statistics to studies of moral education, we reanalyzed two data sets previously collected: one small data set collected from a moral educational intervention…

Purpose: The aim of the research was to examine if adolescents can develop abilities of democratic interaction through Community Theatre. Design/methodology: Firstly, two instruments were applied, a questionnaire covering socio-moral problems, of the students and a Questionnaire, covering the Educational Ideologies of the professors. Then, a…

The purpose of this study was to add to the limited body of knowledge on the effect of the media ethics course, specifically to investigate the effect of the course on the growth in moral judgment reasoning of students through a quasi-experimental pre-test, post-test analysis using the Defining Issues Test 2 (DIT-2). Results demonstrated…

The important role of the teacher in developing morally sensitive individuals is widely acknowledged. This paper examines the integration of context-specific moral development interventions within a four-year undergraduate teacher education programme in Ireland. The intervention strategy employed a case-based pedagogical approach where…