The purpose of this article is to present empirical evidence suggesting the potential benefits of systematically utilizing general education as the institutional foundation for an integrated, multidisciplinary learning environment expressly dedicated to the promotion of civic engagement. Recently, the authors conducted an assessment of student…

This essay draws from the work of William James and three African American pragmatists, W.E.B. Du Bois, Ralph Ellison and Cornel West, to explore the moral relevance of the self as an empowered agent among African American youth. The focus is on Jamesian agency as a function of the individual's awareness of options in context, the self-empowerment…

"Positive Action," a K-12 program, aims to promote a positive self-concept, character development, healthy behavior, and social-emotional skills and to reduce disruptive and problem behavior. The curricula for elementary and middle school students each have seven units per kit, with nine kits per grade level. The high school curriculum…

This study explores the concept of finding pleasure in social and ecological caring from the a/r/tographic stance of the author as artist, researcher, and teacher. I combine place-based and visual culture art education with multicultural children's picture books to promote more connection and pleasure in the teaching and learning process. The…

This packet includes reprints of articles concerning the development of a caring and ethical rural school community. The four sections of the packet overview theories and rationale for developing a caring classroom, successful programs in ethical schools and classrooms, leadership and decision making for building a caring and ethical school…

The redesign of teacher education extends beyond the surface restructuring of preparation programs and includes an intentional reevaluation of the professional development practices for the preservice educator. As an institution that employs an outcome-based model of teacher preparation and that has adopted the New Teacher Standards promoted by…

The Prosocial Attitude Blank (PAB) was designed to assess interpersonal values and ethical awareness of elementary school children. PAB was administered to 405 elementary students as one component of the evaluation of an intervention program designed to reduce interpersonal conflicts, increase literacy skills, and enhance children's ethical…

The papers in these proceedings focus on the critical elements of values and ethics, critical inquiry, and reflection. The following papers are included: (1) "The Moral Imperative of Ethnic Studies in Urban Teacher Education Programs" (C. Ellwood); (2) "Teachers, Values, and the Culture of Education" (M. Kurimay, S.J.); (3)…

Adolescence Education is a family life education training program designed to assist young people in their physical, social, emotional, and moral development as they prepare for adulthood, marriage, parenthood, aging, and social relationships in the context of family and society. This package consists of four individually bound modules: (1)…

This monograph describes an investigation into the family values of colored and white cultural groups in South Africa. Experts in social work and marriage counseling were first surveyed, followed by in-depth interviews in groups with varying combinations of culture, language, social class and age differences. Detailed findings are presented on…

This study examines the role of individual differences in categorizing or domain placing social situations as entailing or not entailing moral harm in accounting for occurrences of everyday moral incidents. It was hypothesized that (1) much of what is experienced as morally injurious in everyday social events between significant others stems from…

An "applied folklore" study investigated the value of certain aspects of folklore theory in an effort to upgrade teaching effectiveness. A case study approach was used to determine if the concept of labeling perspective, as adapted and advanced by folklorist Patrick B. Mullen (1988), could provide useful insights when applied to local…

This handbook has been prepared to address one specific problem: How can the techniques of program evaluation be effectively applied to produce useful information about the operations and impact of moral education programs in secondary schools? The handbook is divided into five chapters. The introductory chapter describes the background and…

Responding to increasing concern about the ethical behavior of professionals, St. Cloud State University (in Minnesota) launched a program in 1986 that is a multidisciplinary effort to integrate material on professional ethics throughout the university at both undergraduate and graduate levels. The program has attracted 30 faculty members from 24…

This paper presents a historical overview of the gradual shift in the moral and philosophical foundations of American society as reflected in the content of textbooks. Working from the premise that textbooks mirror changing social values, the paper cites various studies that trace the trend, over the past 200 years, away from an emphasis on…