This article summarizes Habermas' critical theory of education, examines relevant features of the development of children's capacity to enter into rational argumentation, and examines the significance of this development for a critical theory of schooling. (IAH)

Reports on a study of the effect of community service on 71 undergraduate students. Finds that community service work combined with discussion of relevant moral issues is an effective way of moving students into the postconventional stage of principled moral reasoning. Discusses other benefits of community service work. (CFR)

This paper discusses a cross-sectional study that assessed the moral development profiles of undergraduate pharmacy students (n=71) using Rest's Defining Issues Test. Analysis showed no significant difference in mean level of principled moral reasoning between first and fourth professional year undergraduate students. (GLR)

Two studies of high ability students' communal notions about the purposes of school and the fairness of classroom practices suggest that the moral and intellectual development of high ability students would be best fostered by collaborative learning practices and by educational programs that encourage them to seek knowledge that will be of value…

Discusses Montessori theories for development of social, moral, cognitive, and emotional dimensions of the human personality during the second plane of development--age six to puberty--as these theories relate to the theory of optimal experience. (JPB)

Lawrence Kohlberg, a psychologist, coined the term "Just Community" to describe a community built on trust and resolution, in which each member participates democratically in the development of the rules and regulations that govern their community life (Kohlberg, 1985). In a school, this means that students and teachers alike actively participate…

Two studies of the development of children's moral relationships with nature addressed such questions as: (1) What does it mean to say that we have an obligation not to harm the natural environment? (2) Does the natural environment feel pain? (3) Does it have rights? or (4) Is moral obligation an inappropriate construct by which to understand the…

The potential for the coherent integration of the cognitive and affective aspects of student development through a constructivist approach is discussed in this paper. Educators should be concerned with students' learning with regard to developing values and characteristics, especially respect and responsibility. The obstacles that hinder the…

Designed to accompany the Project CONSTRUCT Validation Survey, this booklet begins with an overview that presents answers to commonly asked questions about the project, a process-oriented curriculum and assessment framework for working with children aged three to seven. The remainder of the booklet is divided into three sections which correspond…

This book contains papers in revised form that were delivered during the Fordham University 1976 Institute on Moral Education. The eight papers are titled: (1) The Teacher as Moral Educator; (2) Ten Years as a Moral Educator in a Catholic School; (3) Moral Education at the College Level: A Blueprint; (4) Moral Education at the Elementary School…

The first part of the paper presents a description of Piaget's theory of moral judgment and makes a case for the relationship between the theory and the phenomenological approach to self concept development. It is proposed that both the development of self concept and moral judgment are greatly influenced by the examples of and interaction with…

This study examines the interactive roles of social, cultural, and cognitive developmental factors in determining children's moral and achievement judgments. A total of 1485 male and female Iranian children/students of diverse social background (ranging in age from 4-18) served as subjects. Subjects were asked to evaluate (reward/punishment) the…

It is stated in the introduction that growing numbers of educators and researchers are concerned with how students develop values and they are examining strategies for values clarification. This monograph presents historical background and recent trends in value education. It discusses the values clarification approach and the cognitive…

Writing samples representing argumentation, exposition, narration, and description were gathered from 52 fourth-grade pupils. Significant differences were found among the four modes of writing and among high, medium, and low ability groups, for T-unit length and clauses per T-unit; lesser differences also were found for clause length.…

This paper presents a cross-sectional investigation of adolescents' and young adults' reflective epistemological development. Three groups of 8 subjects (4 male and female) ages 10, 14, and 18 were given Piagetian tasks, the Kohlberg moral judgment questionnaire, and an epistemology interview covering such concepts as knowledge, thought, feeling,…