The role of narrative and dramatic processes in mediating and shaping both moral judgment and moral action, two processes central to moral development, is examined. The notion of the "moral audience," in which individuals seem to rehearse, review, and redefine their moral actions, is proposed and illustrated. (LB)

Studied 8- and 11-year-olds as evaluators of peer group entry and limited resources. Found older children evaluated peers more positively than did younger for limited resources conflicts. Found all children evaluated the focal peer's intentions during group entry more negatively than intentions during limited resources and evaluated peer responses…

With television operating as an important socializing influence, children need to become critical consumers and they can be taught the necessary evaluative skills. Explicit discussion is seen as a means of developing awareness of various facets of TV programming, e.g., the relationship of reality to content, stereotyped images presented, any bias…

This document contains an outline of topics discussed and a statement of purpose of a conference convened to review research on economics education at the elementary school level. A major purpose of the conference was to encourage an exchange of ideas among economists and educators regarding the latest research findings and recommendations in…

Describes the development of religious judgment in terms of five developmental stages. Discusses (1) studies of the developmental model of religious judgment; (2) studies of conditions underlying religious development; (3) cross-cultural studies; and (4) studies comparing religious judgment and other domains of development. (Author/BB)

Used cases of democratic and non-democratic governmental systems and freedom of speech to investigate 6- to 11-year-olds' notions of political fairness and democracy. Found that political fairness concepts were applied at all ages to evaluate governmental systems and reject non-democratic alternatives. Older children were more likely than younger…

Introduces the growing body of research on development of scientific reasoning skills, focusing on reasoning and problem-solving strategies used in experimentation and evidence evaluation. Maintains that current research examines strategy development and use in moderately complex domains to examine conditions under which subjects' theories…

While it may not be possible to change the content of television, it may be possible to modify its effects on children by making them more critical viewers. The objectives of this project are threefold: to identify processes children use, or can be taught to use, to discriminate the applicability to their own lives of varieties of television…

A study investigated the relationship between formal and conversational logic. Thirty-two male and 32 female college students evaluated the conclusions of conditional syllogism and participated in an interview adapted from Deanna Kuhn's (1991) monograph, "The Skills of Argument." Students were asked to provide explanations for several…

Examines change in prosocial moral judgment over a seven-year period; determines whether there are gender differences in the development of prosocial moral judgment; and examines the interrelations of moral judgment, affect (sympathy), and behavior in middle childhood. (Author/RWB)

Examined developmental differences in evidence evaluation skills among school children, non-college educated adults, and college students, utilizing plant growth variables. Found that children were more strongly influenced by prior beliefs and missing data than were the two adult groups. Age and educational differences were found in the…

Papers sponsored by the Language Awareness Working Party, a task force of Great Britain's National Congress on Languages in Education concerned with common concerns of professionals in all areas of native and second language instruction, include: "The Report of the Language Awareness Working Party"; "Language Awareness in Six Easy…