Rhoda Cummings

Principled Moral Reasoning and Behavior of Preservice Teacher Education Students

Although teachers have considerable influence on young people’s moral development, results of several studies suggest that preservice education students demonstrate lower principled moral reasoning than college students with other majors. The purpose of this study was to measure the levels of principled moral reasoning of preservice teacher education students and to compare their performance with that of college students with other majors. The study also investigated the relationship between the performance of participants on the Defining Issues Test (DIT) and their self-reported propensity to engage in academic misconduct as measured by the Academic Misconduct Survey (AMS). Results corroborate earlier findings indicating that teacher education students (n = 145) demonstrate significantly lower principled moral reasoning scores than two composite samples of college students with other majors. Results also indicate a weak but significant inverse relationship between P-scores (the Principled Score) and AMS scores, indicating that participants’ levels of moral reasoning may affect ethical behavior.

Moral reasoning of in‐service and pre‐service teachers: a review of the research

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 paper is to review the research on moral reasoning of and moral interventions with in‐service and pre‐service teachers and to suggest implications for teacher education programs. Results of the review indicate that moral reasoning levels of in‐service and pre‐service teachers are relatively low but can be increased through proper intervention.

Preferences of Gifted Students for Selected Teacher Characteristics

Gifted children in grades 7-9 (N = 98) judged the importance of selected teacher characteristics in personal-social, cognitive, and classroom management domains. Subjects were enrolled in a gifted program in a large junior high school in West Texas. Gifted children were found to prefer personal-social characteristics over cognitive or classroom management characteristics. Results were compared to findings of a similar study conducted in Israel in which cognitive characteristics were found to be most highly valued.

Curriculum-Embedded Performance Assessment in Higher Education: Maximum Efficiency and Minimum Disruption.

Increasingly, institutions of higher education are required to evaluate student progress and programme effectiveness through implementation of performance assessment practices. Faculty members frequently resist performance assessment because of concerns that assessment activities will increase workloads, reduce time for scholarly activities, eliminate professional autonomy, and reduce faculty work into component parts or discrete technical competences. This paper describes how curriculum‐embedded performance assessment can be used to evaluate student and programme effectiveness without placing an undue burden on faculty. Examples of the use of curriculum‐embedded performance assessment strategies in a graduate‐level educational psychology programme are provided.

A Learning Model That Stimulates Geometric Thinking Through Use of PCLogo and Geometer's Sketchpad

Summary PCLogo and Geometers Sketchpad are powerful tools that may be used by mathematics teachers who want to integrate technology with geometry instruction in the elementary classroom. The purpose of this study was to examine the usefulness of PCLogo and Geometers Sketchpad to stimulate thinking about geometric concepts in elementary age children. We used a collective case study design that included four cases, two girls (ages 8 and 10) and two boys (ages 10 and 11). All participants were trained to use PCLogo and Geometers Sketchpad to construct geometric shapes and measure the attributes of the shapes. After the training, participants used these technologies as tools to stimulate thinking about geometric concepts. As a result of our observations of childrens performances as they reasoned about geometric concepts, we developed a learning model for teaching children about geometry.

In support of the cognitive‐developmental approach to moral education: a response to David Carr

David Carr (2002) has argued against the use of developmental theories as a basis for curriculum development in moral education. Although we find common ground with some aspects of Carrs arguments, we disagree with several of his criticisms of the cognitive‐developmental approach to moral education. He confuses romantic ideology (as espoused by Rousseau and others) and progressive ideology (as espoused by Dewey and others); he assumes that developmental theories have no endpoint or final goal from which to structure moral education; and he argues against the use of psychological inquiry to validate a philosophical ought. This paper is an attempt to clarify Carrs arguments and propose a justification for the developmental approach to moral education.

RELATIONAL PATTERNS AFFECTING INSTRUCTION IN COMMUNITY COLLEGES: A PARADIGM FOR FACULTY REFLECTION

This article describes three relational patterns of community college students in their course experiences: survivor, adjustor, and encounterer. Each relational pattern and how each affects, and is affected by, classroom instruction is described. Further, John Passmores theory of closed and open capacities is used as a framework for a model of planning and implementing instruction to move students from survivors or adjustors to encounterers. The purpose of the article is to help community college instructors understand the different intentions of students and to suggest strategies for increasing open and self-directed future learning.

Technologies and levels of learning: a Gregory Bateson perspective

Abstract Some educators take the view that instructional technology may be an end in itself rather than a means to a greater conception of education. However, like any other educational practice, the use of instructional technology will be most effective when it is placed within a theoretical context. This article examines the use of instructional technology within the framework of anthropologist Gregory Batesons theory of learning, which views learning as a function of expectation and engagement of the student within the context of the learning experience.