Moral Education for Social Justice

Larry Nucci is an adjunct professor in the Graduate School of Education at UC Berkeley and professor emeritus of Educational Psychology at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Robyn Ilten-Gee is an assistant professor in Education at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, Canada.

• ContentsForeword  Carol D. Lee  ix1.  Situating Students’ Moral Development Within the Context of Social Justice Education 1PART I: MORAL DEVELOPMENT AND CHARACTER FORMATION 72.  Defining the Moral Domain 9Morality and Social Convention 9 Morality and Religious Rules 11 The Personal Domain 17 The Social Experiential Origins of Children’s Morality 19 Social Interactions and the Personal Domain 21 Moral Complexity 24 Informational Assumptions 27 3.  Issues of Development 29Age-Related Changes in the Personal Domain 30 Developmental Dynamics Between the Personal and Conventional Domains 34 The Development of Concepts of Social Convention 35 The Development of Concepts of Morality in Childhood and Adolescence 45 Development and Cross-Domain Interactions 56 4.  Character as a Developmental System 58The Limits of Traditional Views of Character 59 The Components of Character 61 Linking the Character System to Identity and the Self 66 Conclusion 66 PART II: SOCIAL LIFE IN SCHOOLS AND CLASSROOMS: CREATING ENVIRONMENTS THAT PROMOTE MORAL DEVELOPMENT AND SOCIAL JUSTICE 695.  Schools and Classrooms as Moral Institutions: Rules, Norms, and Procedures 71Children’s Concepts About School Rules 72 When Worlds Collide: School Rules and Social Justice 77 6.  Promoting Moral Wellness and Social Justice Through Classroom Management, Climate, and Disciplinary Policies and Practices 82The Big 5: Basic Elements of a Moral Classroom Climate 83 Facilitating Moral and Social Development Through Classroom Management: The Elementary Grades 89 Restorative Justice 98 PART III: MORAL EDUCATION AND CRITICAL PEDAGOGY ENACTED: THE CURRICULUM, DIGITAL MEDIA, AND PRAXIS 1037.  Critical Pedagogy and Domain-Based Moral Education: Complementary Frameworks for Comprehensive Social Justice Education 105Overview of Critical Pedagogy 106 Alignment in Constructivist, Cognitive Foundations 107 Alignment in Fostering Reasoning Transformations 109 Alignment in Targeting Informational Assumptions 111 Alignment in Classroom Strategies 112 Critical Consciousness and Critical Moral Education: Even for Young Children! 114 8.  Using the Academic Curriculum for Moral Development with a Social Justice Orientation: The Basics 117Goals 119 Basic Principles of Lesson Planning 122 Putting This into Practice 123 From Peer Discourse to Critical Moral Perspectives: Creating Discussion for Engaged Reasoning 126 9.  Lesson Plans for Moral Development and Social Justice: Some Examples 138Morality 139 Social Convention 145 The Personal Domain 152 Complex Multidomain Issues 155 10.  Critical Digital Pedagogy as a Component of Moral Education for Social Justice 163What Is Critical Digital Pedagogy? 164 Examples of Critical Digital Literacy 174 11.  Integrating Moral Education Within the Cycle of Praxis with Dr. Johari Harris, University of Virginia 177Extending Curriculum-Based Moral Lessons to Include an Action Project 178 Integrating Moral Development Within an Action Project 187 Pivoting and Responding to an Emergent Issue 191 Issues of Grading and Assessment 192 12.  Closing Thoughts 195Addressing Student Emotions and Potential Resistance 196 Walking the Walk: Steps for Educators 199 Conclusion 201 References 203Index 213About the Authors 223

“This brand new book includes brilliant new combinations and mixtures of moral education, character education, social justice, and other notions and theories proposed to help K-12 teachers help guide and shape responsible adults. Nucci and Ilten-Gee are to be commended for collapsing all the theory into one book for more focused access by teachers and by teacher educators.”—Critical Issues in Teacher Education