Sixth and tenth graders and college students were asked to apply moral judgments which they had made about a familiar context to contexts in cultures different from their own. Most subjects contextualized their judgments with respect to cultures with different informational beliefs but made nonrelativistic judgments with respect to cultures with…

A study measured the effectiveness of a college course that instructed students to critically evaluate therapeutic claims for foods, nutrient supplements, weight reduction products and diets, and alternative health care. Pretests and posttests of experimental and comparison groups found experimental group students had desirable changes in source…

Examined 6-, 8-, and 10-year olds' conceptions of flags as social conventions and their understandings of the symbolic and psychological consequences associated with transgressions toward flags. Found that despite age-related increases in understanding of flags as meaningful collective symbols, children at all ages considered transgressions to be…

Moral (rather than "corporate") accountability in education is essential; so is a human-centered leadership approach. Findings from an Australian study that investigated elementary principals' responsiveness to teachers' learning show how these leaders exercised their moral, professional, and contractual accountability to support a…

Describes results of a research project conducted in Illinois to obtain detailed information about preferences of public library customers and about how much value they place on various types of library services. Discusses rural perceptions of public library contributions, willingness to pay more for service, and implications for library…

Makes a case for rereading the fact-value dichotomy that currently divides the contemporaneous literatures dealing with children's moral reasoning development and their evolving theories of mind. Presents findings from two research programs, in which children's beliefs about truth and rightness are combined, to illustrate the natural…

Investigated 4-, 8-, and 11-year-olds' ability to categorize intentionally false and true statements as lies and truths. Found that older children were more likely to categorize false statements as lies and true statements as truths than were 4-year-olds. Antisocial lies were rated as most serious, and "white lies" as least serious.…

This chapter considers whether there are grounds for believing that an inquiry-based approach to teaching and educational development will enhance practice. (Contains 1 table.)

A teacher encourages her students to develop a language of critique through their study of candidates' platforms in a presidential election. It is concluded that the critical literacy/social justice curriculum in elementary classrooms is an effective learning experiences for students.

Past research (e.g., J. M. Loomis, Y. Lippa, R. L. Klatzky, & R. G. Golledge, 2002) has indicated that spatial representations derived from spatial language can function equivalently to those derived from perception. The authors tested functional equivalence for reporting spatial relations that were not explicitly stated during learning.…

This article explores the notion of sound judgement by citizens in environmentally attentive democracies. The argument is against indoctrination, and in favour of greater continuity and progression throughout all phases of education. A democratic education that is attentive to issues of environmental sustainability will need to draw on the…

The striving for status has long been recognized in sociology and economics. Extensive theoretical arguments and empirical evidence propose that people view status as a sign of competence and pursue it as a means to achieve power and resources. A small literature, however, based on arguments from biology and evolutionary psychology, proposes that…

A previous keynote to the Act Reflect Revise Conference, focused on the significance of Creating Our Own Knowledge (Whitehead, 2000) for enhancing educators' professional knowledge-base. This 2005 keynote develops the theme of creating the author's and his colleagues' own knowledge in living theories of their productive lives in education. The…

The importance of paying attention to the technology agenda in the educational policies of the United States was demonstrated by Cynthia Selfe (1999) in her analysis of the 1996 initiative "Getting America's Students Ready." Selfe showed how the technology literacy project enjoyed considerable public support induced by popular utopian…

Although transition outcomes for youth with disabilities have shown some improvement and transition support practices have been identified, many young people continue to face transition barriers that preclude their full participation in key adult life activities. While research efforts have largely been professionally driven, there is emerging…