Prior research concerning young children's moral development has been conducted primarily in same-age environments. This study investigated whether preschool children's moral (helping) behaviors are related to younger peer-directed internal state language (talking about younger peer's feelings, wants, and abilities), perspective-taking skills, and…

Individuals such as Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. successfully employed nonviolent strategies to attain significant political goals. Despite the implications of these achievements, psychologists rarely have studied predispositions to nonviolent behavior empirically. This study investigated the relationships among nonviolent…

This paper presents a brief synopsis of recent trends in moral education and suggests ways in which a blending of idea and product technologies can promote the development of four specific moral sentiments: sympathy, duty, fairness, and self-control. Four integrated strategies that teacher educators can use to help preservice and inservice…

Many indicators point to a crisis of confidence and credibility in the role of the teacher as a professional and moral leader. In response, many educational researchers are recommending that reflective teachers examine the moral and ethical issues embedded in their everyday thinking and behavior. A study was conducted, therefore, to identify and…

Current literature on youth development supports the theory that out-of-school programming has an effect on youth development. However, little research has been conducted on types of out-of-school programs and comparisons among involvement in various activities in relation to developmental assets. Hence, the purpose of this study was to analyze…

An analysis of the opinions of 126 Saudi Arabian and of 166 U.S. students about 6 instances of law violations indicated that the gender of the student making the moral judgment was not a dominant factor in the student's selecting consequences to be experienced by people who committed the acts represented in the 6 cases. However, there were…

This paper describes the developmental approach to moral education guided by the view that the student is an active constructor of knowledge who progresses through a succession of increasing psychologically and philosophically robust stages of moral reasoning. The developmental approach to moral education attempts to avoid the arbitrary norms of…

Citing papers on a wide range of issues in preschool education, this bibliography contains annotations for 800 articles excerpted from 85 journals published in Czechoslovakia, socialist countries, and capitalist countries. Contents are entered in the following categories: (1) social and ideological basis of preschool education; (2) theoretical…

A brief summary of social studies research from 1976 to 1983 is divided into five parts. "Cognitive Thinking and Cognitive Process Research" presents a definition of critical thinking, recommendations for cognitive process instruction, and results of cognitive process research concerning the relationship between learning style and…

Moral education, a primary component of Japanese education, has no precise equivalent in Canadian education. The focus of moral education is development of personal attitudes and social values. The content of this discipline is a kind of secular humanism which has engendered in the postwar Japanese the values, attitudes, behaviors, and virtues…

One thread that runs through the definition of what students are to become as a result of their participation in the U.S. school enterprise is the ability to think analytically and behave ethically. This paper describes an effort at curriculum design in which attempts were made to increase critical thinking skills and moral development in…

This paper examines the appropriateness of the case study approach, commonly used in medical and law schools, for prospective and inservice teachers in schools of education. Developing courses in which case studies would be used to illustrate moral dilemmas would aid teachers in examining their ethical principles, weighing moral issues, and…

The development of moral judgment of students was studied in two types of college courses requiring readings, lectures, and discussions. In one of the courses, students gained exposure to or served disadvantaged people; they combined reflection on this experience in the light of readings and lectures. The other course was a more traditional…

This paper reviews 20 cross-cultural studies conducted with the Defining Issues Test (DIT). All or part of the samples in the studies were non-Americans who had not been a part of the populations presented in the DIT manual. The studies were aimed at the comparison of moral reasoning structure and development across cultures. Several aspects of…

Prepared as part of an evaluation report of a junior high school course in moral education (Skills for Ethical Action, SEA), this volume describes course implementation, acceptability, and effectiveness on a lesson by lesson basis. The purpose was to provide data for use by SEA program staff as they revised the course so that it would be more…