Discusses how McCadden's ideas about teaching, children, and morality change during his time observing a kindergarten class. Notes that McCadden notices the subtle nuances of interactions among a teacher and her students and ably interprets their significance for both. Asserts that McCadden fails to connect his work with relevant research. (JS)

Assessed young children's perceptions about what misconduct behaviors peers are likely to commit at school and the grocery store. Found more moral than conventional misbehaviors were generated; moral acts were expected more often at school whereas conventional misbehaviors were expected in both contexts; and expectations of peers' misbehaviors…

Discusses Montessori theories for development of social, moral, cognitive, and emotional dimensions of the human personality during the second plane of development--age six to puberty--as these theories relate to the theory of optimal experience. (JPB)

Asked Dutch university and Russian high school students to sort statements in terms of moral sophistication to investigate hierarchical stage structure of moral stages. Found that sorting statements representative of stages below one's own was straightforward; sorting statements above one's stage was difficult, suggesting that reflective…

Values are principles or standards that people have decided are desirable to live by. The question of whether values can or should be taught to college students has been debated for decades, with the pros incorporating moral concepts into curricula and the antes scorning such efforts as not only inappropriate but also intellectually dull. In this…

Examines James Davison Hunter's claim that the moral education establishment is responsible for the death of character. Declares that moral education must grapple with Hunter's finding that effective moral education requires coherent moral culture with a clear conception of public and private good. Compares post-Soviet and current U.S. moral…

The author discusses the 1990s trend in schools in Lipetsk Oblast to back away from previous policies of including social, cultural, civic and moral training for students. During the same period, says the writer, parents began to show less interest in the effectiveness of instruction and upbringing. These combined trends resulted in increased…

The Moral and Social Action Interdisciplinary Colloquium (MOSAIC) is an international multidisciplinary network of scholars working within the fields of the philosophy, psychology and sociology of moral development, moral education and moral thought. MOSAIC runs an annual conference, traditionally in June or July. This conference attracts an…

Sociologists and psychologists have shown increasing interest in moral emotions such as pride, shame, and guilt, including their developmental role. While these emotions have an important part in normal development, the chronically shame-prone person has feelings of worthlessness, incompetence, and helplessness; a guilt-prone person dwells on…

Based on the belief that critical thinking patterns, language abilities, and social skills that develop from birth to age 6 are foundational to children's sociomoral development, the Phoenix Project was developed to explore the factors contributing to and affecting children's sociomoral development. This pilot project was carried out by the…

For more than 30 years, Kohlberg's theory of moral development has been tested across the world. This paper reports on two studies that investigated people's state of moral thinking and whether or not there are phenomena that cannot be explained in terms of Kohlberg's theory. The first study examined the moral thinking of a group of students, ages…

This paper discusses the concept of literature as a moral laboratory in which author and readers run complex thought experiments about human actions and their consequences. The paper warns that discussion of the role of literature in building moral character and moral communities needs to be based on a better understanding of what literature is…

To develop students who embrace the ethics of justice and caring, the ethos of the classroom and school must promote the virtues of justice and caring. This paper, by the principal of the Hong Kong International School (HKIS), explores how the school can more intentionally develop a school ethos that contributes to the development of student…

This report describes the development of social responsibility in schools through law-related education (LRE). LRE through which students become better informed and effective citizens provides an understanding of the law and its effects on daily life. The Office of Education (1978) defines LRE as those organized learning experiences that provide…

Two studies of the development of children's moral relationships with nature addressed such questions as: (1) What does it mean to say that we have an obligation not to harm the natural environment? (2) Does the natural environment feel pain? (3) Does it have rights? or (4) Is moral obligation an inappropriate construct by which to understand the…