Explains the Kohlberg moral stages in moral development, discusses the aims of moral and civic education, then describes the continuing experimental work at the Harvard Center for Moral Education. (Author/DW)

Moral development is viewed as a matter of progression in the cognitive reasoning and rationale underlying choices and judgments. Traditionally, retrospective reports of rationales have been used to measure moral development levels, resulting in unreliable information. Information Integration Theory attempts to assess individual differences in…

The Defining Issues Test (DIT) has been subjected to construct validation in a number of studies relating it to the development of moral judgment and to measures of cognitive development and political attitudes. The DIT has been found to have significant positive correlations with the Comprehension of Social-Moral Concepts Test for a variety of…

This Prospectus identifies basic societal values, behaviors, and understandings and develops two major purposes: 1) to bring the social studies programs into focus and guarantee their relevancy for each student and, 2) to provide a usable pattern for an organization by which each teacher can assist students in building better citizenship. Goals…

Four experiments were conducted to explore issues in the development and modification of both moral choices and judgments of achievement using concepts and data from a social judgment perspective. In the first experiment, college students functioning at different reasoning levels indicated on a 20-point scale their strength of belief that an…

Described is a curriculum development effort in U.S. history--the "Reasoning with Democratic Values" series--aimed at stimulating higher-order thinking. Features of cognitive developmental psychology and of the new social studies materials are used in the lessons that ask students to examine and discuss ethical controversies. (RM)

Correlates 46 Dutch high school students' attitudes toward nuclear war, sexism, ethnocentrism, and authoritarianism with their moral judgment level. Finds political attitudes related to moral judgment level. Qualitative data was obtained from interviews with 19 of the 46 students further develops the relationships. (CH)

This book presents a constructivist approach to the development of rationality, morality, and identity in adolescence and early adulthood. It provides a review of post-Piagetian approaches to adolescent cognition, examining classic theories and current research in these three domains. The first chapter focuses discussion on adolescent…

The cognitive-developmental theory of moral development of the handicapped--i.e., a stage-like progress of moral reasoning with age--is only partially confirmed. While there is a development from the less to the more mature forms of moral reasoning, that course of development is not entirely such as the theory assumes. (Author/RM)

This retrospective look at 14 years of working with gifted adolescents elaborates on 4 prominent and prevalent issues: those who are often socially isolated from their peers; fear for their future and the world's future at a higher level than would be expected for their age; get bored in typical academic settings; and seek "existential relief"…

Questions considered are: What are the modal political beliefs and attitudes of junior high school students? What are their capabilities for political learning and what suggestions for improving instruction can be derived from studies of their political learning? (Author/VW)

The work is the report of a study concerning the impact of the inquiry method of teaching on affective as opposed to cognitive achievements. Subjects were 10th grade students given a reading assignment in Asian studies. Control and experimental groups were asked to respond to questions about the material read. Attitude gains were computed for both…

Discusses Erikson's ideas on the importance of historical perspective in identity formation and values. Suggests the developmental processes at adolescence and the way in which the individual and society react and interact have implications for the transmission and nurturing of values by both individual adults and the collective society. (RC)

This article reports a theoretically based study on the model of development of epistemological understanding proposed by Kuhn (2000) [Kuhn, D. (2000). Theory of mind, metacognition, and reasoning: A life-span perspective. In P. Mitchell & K. J. Riggs (Eds.), "Children's reasoning and the mind" (pp. 301-326). Hove, UK: Psychology…