The paper reviews L. Kohlberg's theory of moral reasoning and its relationship to cognitive development of children. R. Feuerstein's theories of mediated learning experience (MLE) are reviewed, and remediation for individuals deficient in cognitive functions is addressed. The paper notes the existence of deficient cognitive functions, specifically…

A multidimensional model of the growth of moral reasoning is described that is significantly different from those proposed by Kohlberg and Piaget. A study that tests several aspects of the model on university students is reported. The suggestion that well-developed chains of reasons are a prerequisite for the emergence of metaethical reasoning was…

Gilligan's theory, which identifies two distinct orientations of moral decision-making, care and justice, was extended in this study. Moral dilemmas were used to ascertain percentages of care-based responses versus justice-based responses in 40 men and 39 women. Based on previous research, it was predicted that by increasing the level of…

This study examined the moral reasoning of behaviorally disordered (BD) adolescents and the effect of an alternative educational setting upon the development of moral reasoning in students as a function of the number of years of exposure to this environment. Three groups of students were compared: 28 non-BD students from a traditional school…

This paper argues that just as subject matter is inherently value-laden, educators should not feel trepidation about morally justifying their criteria for choosing curricula to be taught in the classroom. It recommends that true "moral" choices should be made on the bases of relevance to student experiences; moral propriety of subject matter…

Assessed were children's uses of effort and intentionality cues in judgments of morality and disposition. Children of 4, 7, and 10 years were presented with one prediction and four judgment stories. Judgment stories factorially combined two levels of intentionality and two levels of effort. These stories described different actors and the same…

This paper discusses the professional ethics of education and what it requires. After an introduction, the second section deals with the nature of professional ethics, clarifying a variety of ethical principles. The defining traits of an education profession and the ethical issues involved are discussed. The third section focuses on common…

Because increased technology too often is an inappropriate means to deal with contemporary social and educational needs, there is a need for academics to stress ethical and ecological values to students who may otherwise expect to seek a "quick fix" for societal ills through "high tech" solutions without sensitivity to the…

The relationship between a two-semester university-based legal clinic experience and the moral judgment of third-year law school student participants was investigated. A nonstandard form of the Kohlberg Moral Judgment Interview (MJI) was administered to 20 students at the beginning of the clinic and to the remaining 14 students near the completion…

A study was made of aspects of Italian children's moral behavior and moral reasoning in equity and non-equity situations. Subjects were male and female children of low socioeconomic status who were between the approximate ages of 8.5 and 10.5 years. Groups of four children were formed to include subjects of various sociometric status: one high,…

The author traces the direction that morality is taking today. As a result of this direction a new presentation and a new method of teaching morality is examined. (Author/DE)

Religiosity is a complex concept and difficult to define for at least two reasons. The first reason is the uncertainty and imprecise nature of the English language. Colloquially, in "Roget's Thesaurus" (Lewis, 1978), religiosity is found to be synonymous with such terms as religiousness, orthodoxy, faith, belief, piousness, devotion, and holiness.…

The current study was initated as an attempt to further inquiry, in which the child comes to perceive and make attributions to social others, by examining the developmental changes in the bases for such perception. (Author/RK)

This newsletter contains items of interest to anyone concerned with science and society issues. The first section of this issue contains 25 news and communication items including announcements or descriptions of study opportunities, projects, conferences and programs as well as investigations and research into the social issues of science. The…