A Neo-Kohlbergian Approach: The DIT and Schema Theory

Macromorality concerns the formal structure of society, as defined by institutions, rules, and roles. Micromorality concerns the particular face-to-face relations that people have in everyday life. Kohlbergian theories are most useful for issues of macromorality. The Defining Issues Test (DIT) derives from Kohlberg's approach but makes several departures, including defining cognitive structures in terms of schemas instead of stages, reformulating the definition of postconventional moral thinking, and using different research strategies. The validity of the DIT is based on seven criteria (briefly discussed), and hundreds of studies have produced significant trends. Recent research derived from schema theory produces novel phenomena that link our theory of moral schemas more closely with information processing and decision making.     

Does Day-care Experience Affect Young Children's Judgments of Home and School Rules?

The current study was designed to determine whether children's ability to distinguish moral rules from conventional school-based rules, and conventional home- based rules was affected by the amount of experience they had in day-care. Preschoolers (N = 42), ranging in age from 35 to 61 months, were interviewed about: (1) the legitimacy of authority to abolish a rule, (2) the accept- ability of behaviors that were permitted by an authority, and (3) the seriousness of behaviors that were prohibited by an authority. The results revealed that previous day-care experience did not affect children's judgments. Moral events were distinguished from conventional events on all questions. In addition, home-based conventional events were distinguished from school-based conventional events suggesting that children consider the social context in which conventional events occur.     

Determinants of Study Progress: The Impact of Student,Curricular, and Contextual Factors on Study Progress in University Education

The subject of this research is the impact of student characteristics, curriculum, and contextual factors on the careers of students in university education in The Netherlands. A theoretical model including various measurements of these factors was evaluated by means of linear structural equation modelling. Students in the ‘prestatiebeurs’ (performance scholarship) system, which requires a shorter nominal duration of a given study programme, achieve better results compared to those in the ‘tempobeurs’ system, which allows more study time. Women make better progress in their studies than men do. Students in technical education obtain fewer study points than others, even though they spend more time studying and have earned better grades in secondary school. In general, paid work during higher education has a negative effect on study progress, while the amount of time spent studying has a stronger influence on the study progress of men than of women.     

Toward an Understanding of Authentic Learning: Student Perceptions of an Authentic Classroom

Advocates of educational reform often describe classroom instruction as inauthentic. That is, most classroom learning activities are structured around artificial contexts for learning, and students only engage in tasks and remember information at superficial levels. Some teachers are attempting to break traditional classroom practices by creating authentic contexts for learning. To date, most of the research on authentic classrooms has described the processes teachers have used to develop the classroom environment (learning activities, resources, etc.); however, few have examined authentic classrooms from the students' perspective: “What do students think about authentic classrooms?” The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine a unique learning environment at a large, Midwest high school to understand how students perceived that environment. Most of the students reported a positive experience and described the classroom as fun and exciting with real-world relevance. However, there were several students who did not share these views, and many students were not successful.

     

“Intermediate” Concepts and the Connection to Moral Education

This paper provides a brief overview of Rest's (1983) conception of the important processes that contribute to effective moral decision making, summarizes efforts to design and assess moral education programs based on Rest's Four-Component Model, and describes new directions in the assessment of moral judgment development that are specifically directed toward professional ethics education. Based on preliminary studies, we recommend that, in addition to measuring each of the processes in Rest's model, educators design profession-specific measures of moral concepts that better reflect the content of professional ethics education. Labeled intermediate concepts measures, these assessments attend to concepts that are more specific than the abstract moral schemas tested by Kohlbergian measures of moral judgment and more general than concrete codes of professional ethics.     

Knowledge constructing through hypermedia authoring

According to prominent learning theorists, learning is much more than gathering information in a well-designed, teacher-centered environment; learning is promoted when students pursue individual interests, when they build on prior knowledge, and when they engage in hands-on and authentic activity. Although a great deal of literature exists describing ideals such as these, research examining the implementation of these ideals in classrooms is scarce, and using technology for more than information giving is even scarcer. The purpose of this study was to examine a graduate course at a large, Midwestern university to discern how educational theory translates into classroom practice. In the course, students learned about educational theory by designing and creating a hypermedia chapter for a World Wide Web-based book. Qualitative data were collected across a 16-week semester and revealed both student and teacher perspectives regarding the course, including the strengths and limitations of a student-as-multimedia-author approach. The findings indicated that most all students were highly satisfied with the course, that some transferred learning, and that students developed skills and knowledge with instructional design, educational theory, and technology.     

“Well,You Can’t Force Them”: Altercasting in the Home Health Care Context

Home health aides are often low-paid, low-status workers, performing their job in an isolated and interpersonally complex environment. This study, made up of semistructured interviews with 36 home health aides, explores compliance-gaining challenges faced by “low status, remote workers.” It was found that altercasting, a compliance-gaining technique using social roles to govern behavior, is well suited for the home care context. Aides were found to activate four altercast roles, including parent, trainer, employee, and friend. It is suggested that by using positive altercasting as a compliance-gaining technique, aides are able to both persuade their client to complete necessary tasks of daily living at the same time they construct and maintain the moral identity of a good caregiver.