ERIC Number: EJ850417
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2009-Sep
Pages: 9
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1751-2271
EISSN: N/A
Capturing the Complexity of Moral Development and Education
Nucci, Larry; Turiel, Elliot
Mind, Brain, and Education, v3 n3 p151-159 Sep 2009
This article discusses challenges educators face when attempting to sequence moral education. Two factors are identified as primary sources hindering efforts to engage in effective moral education: (a) the premature application of research findings from developmental psychology to classroom practices and (b) the underestimation of the complexity of interactions between development in students' social and moral understandings and their applications in social contexts. Research is reviewed demonstrating that morality develops alongside concepts about societal conventions and zones of personal discretion and privacy. Results of an ongoing study are presented pointing toward a U-shaped pattern in moral development in which frequency of moral choices is higher among younger children and older adolescents than among early adolescents. Research examining contextual moral decision making is discussed in relation to efforts to sequence moral education.
Descriptors: Ethical Instruction, Adolescents, Developmental Psychology, Moral Development, Teaching Methods, Young Children, Early Adolescents, Decision Making, Context Effect
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A