Considers how teachers can create discussions through their literacy curricula that will develop children's understandings of moral elements--responsibility, friendship, fairness, empathy, or hope. Discusses children responding to stories read aloud, teachers restructuring classroom dialogue, and reinforcing literacy and morality. (SG)

The American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences (AAFCS) Code of Ethics guides members on ethical practice in specific areas, however, becoming ethical does not happen at the moment a major is declared or on graduation day. Ethical values are formed in childhood by the examples provided by parents, teachers, and other significant adults.…

Children between the ages of 3 and 10 years were presented with a set of pictures representing a contract with bilateral cheating options between a parent and child (Study 1) and between 2 peers (Study 2). The children had to (a) evaluate which situations violated the contract when the relevant information was presented, (b) anticipate the…

The Arsenio and Lemerise (this issue) proposal integrating social information processing (SIP) and domain theory to study children's aggression is evaluated from a domain theory perspective. Basic tenets of domain theory rendering it compatible with SIP are discussed as well as points of divergence. Focus is directed to the proposition that…

In this article, I develop the idea that the starting point of moral education is formed by the affective commitments individuals make in the course of growing up. The task of education is to enable children to critically consider and revise these commitments, as part of the development of a reflective personal identity. Ethical concepts like…

This article discusses the notion of a divinely informed, socially constructed morality against the backdrop of the incarnation of Christ. The idea is developed within a discussion of various conceptual variants of morality, and concludes with an elaboration of its relevance to Christian education.

The study of effective character education programs shows that full parent involvement is a must, as it has a profound impact on the students' character development. The complexity of character educations and the benefits of parental involvement are discussed.

Current models of moral functioning such as those of Rest (1983) and Damon and Hart (1988) have maintained that optimal moral development and consistent moral action require the presence of multiple constructs. In order to examine the importance of the presence of multiple variables relevant to moral functioning, structural equation modeling was…

The beliefs both that sentimental education is a vital part of moral education and that habituation is a vital part of sentimental education can be counted as being at the hard core of the Aristotelian tradition of moral thought and action. On the basis of an explanation of the defining characteristics of Aristotelian habituation, this paper…

Theorists suggest that gender differences in moral reasoning are due to differences in the self-concept, with women feeling connected to others and using a care approach, whereas men feel separate from others and adopt a justice approach. Using a self-categorization analysis, the current research suggests that the nature of the self-other…

This article traces the connection between William James's writings in "The Varieties of Religious Experience" and Jean Piaget's work on moral development through Piaget's early work on religious experience. James characterises religious experience as unlocking deep personal power that can sustain a "strenuous mood". These ideas impacted the early…

This paper uses the story of the Wizard of Oz to help explain and understand the vital characteristics and capabilities of a holistic teacher: knowledge, caring and courage. It explores the process of human development as an outcome of developing these faculties and explains their interrelationship so that educators and their students might better…

Catholic schoolteachers face the pedagogical dilemma between remaining faithful to the doctrinal requirements of Catholic Church teaching while also respecting their professional responsibility to promote autonomous, critical thinking and consider the pastoral needs of their students. Although in practice many Catholic educators achieve a…

Although concerns about the moral domain of teaching have been expressed for more than 30 years, empirical studies investigating moral reasoning of in-service and pre-service teachers are sparse. Even fewer studies have investigated the effectiveness of educational interventions to advance moral reasoning in these populations. The purpose of this…

This article explores the theoretical foundations of "social cohesion" as it relates to higher education institutions. In so doing it seeks (a) to understand the core elements of social cohesion--social capital, human capital and ethical behavioral norms that serve a common good--and (b) to establish a flexible framework for understanding the…