Presents six different investigations of character enhancement that attempts to answer three questions: (1) who are you; (2) what is your destination; and (3) who is your captain? Intends to build relationships among ideas such as perspective taking, seeing and making connections with the other, and understanding more about ethical development.…

Provides information on standards-based educational reform in the United States. Explains that the civics standards recognize the centrality of moral dispositions and values in citizenship but avoid developing these qualities. Presents information on what the public holds important, suggesting that the public wants schools to teach values. (CMK)

Presents a theory from political science to serve as the unifying construct for the study of government and civics at the secondary level. Concludes with a series of assertions of what should guide the thinking related to the development of secondary level government and civics curriculum. Includes references. (CMK)

Examines role that constructivist teachers play in fostering moral development in young children. Traces development of perspective taking, autonomy, and self- regulation, and examines effects of different teaching and parenting practices on children's character development. Provides suggestions for teachers to promote optimal moral development by…

Provides the results from the Homerton pilot study where year 5/6 pupils were asked about their perceptions of nature and the environment in order to assess the current environmental education policies. Indicates that children overall have a positive attitude, but there are certain limitations and dichotomies involved that environmental education…

Annual Higher Education Research Institute college freshman survey (n=275,811) at 469 institutions found more eschew political extremes, preferring to call themselves "middle of the road." About half believe abortion should be legal, a decline of 14% since 1990. Freshman did not seem as interested in coursework as they did in previous…

Analyzes the moral potential of drama through five theoretical lenses: (1) the nature of dramatic narrative; (2) the association between drama and learning rules; (3) drama as a public communal artform; (4) dialogue and dialogism in drama; and (5) the relationship among emotion, reason, and moral engagement in drama. (CMK)

Contends that watching and responding to plays can enhance the moral consciousness of students. Outlines a framework for using plays in moral education, discussing pre- and post-performance strategies. Demonstrates the value of Canadian drama for cultivating moral consciousness and explores two Canadian plays in detail. (CMK)

Analyzes the confusion in the language of political economy in Great Britain that generates and sustains moral infantilism in the civil polity. Critiques the limits of recent approaches to moral education. Sketches the relationship between the use of interpretative understanding and Jungian insights in support of poetry in moral engagement.…

Attempts to construct an account of how teachers acquire their professional identities as a means to informing professional development. Discusses four significant traditions (craft, scientific, moral, and artistic) in education. Considers implications for practice. (CMK)

Examines the status of mandated character education in schools throughout Georgia using a questionnaire sent to public school principals. Reveals that the principals' degree of acceptance of character education is fairly strong, while the degree of implementation is significantly below the level of acceptance for 13 attributes of character…

This research examined the influence of undergraduate degree and ethics education on the moral reasoning of social workers. Statistical analyses found MSW social workers with liberal arts undergraduate degrees more likely to prefer postconventional levels of moral reasoning, defined as greater complexity of thought and principled reasoning. The…

There have been persistent criticisms of Rorty's "liberal ironist" as the postmodern picture of the educated in the liberal utopia. While the modernist (Enlightenment) liberal Thomas McCarthy, who believes in universal rationality as the basis of public morality, criticizes Rorty's view of the liberal ironist for fostering the poverty of public…

Professional education poses compelling pedagogical challenges that can and should inform all sectors of education, including undergraduate liberal education. It is about developing pedagogies to link ideas, practices, and values under conditions of inherent uncertainty that necessitate not only judgment in order to act, but also cognizance of the…

When evaluating instructional practices, adolescents (n = 128, ages 14-19) coordinated knowledge of epistemology, fairness, and motivation in their conceptions of procedural justice. Adolescents ranked the fairness and effectiveness of instructional practices differently for controversial and noncontroversial topics. They raised epistemological,…