Children’s Moral Reasoning: Influence of Culture and Collaborative Discussion

Abstract

This study investigated the effects of culture and collaborative discussion on Chinese and American children's moral reasoning in reflective essays that they composed about a moral and practical dilemma. In contrast to American children who frequently expressed egocentric concerns, Chinese children exhibited altruistic tendencies and expressed more concern for maintaining in-group harmony, which are the core values advocated in collectivist culture. Collaborative discussion promoted children's moral reasoning in both cultures, leading to significantly more consideration of the principles of being honest, having empathy for others, keeping promises, honoring fiiendship, being trustworthy, and not betraying others by tattling.

Improving Children’s Competence as Decision Makers

“…These reasons were further broken down into nine moral principles and 10 practical considerations, as enumerated in Table 1. These reasons have previously been shown to exhaust the reasons children consider in the Pinewood Derby essay (Zhang et al, 2013). And (c) explicitness in weighing different options; for example, stating that being called a tattletale is trivial compared to protecting fairness.…”

Complexity in restorative justice education circles: Power and privilege in voicing perspectives about sexual health, identities, and relationships

“…For instance, ethnocultural and gender identities and relationships among students and teachers can be expected to influence the ways in which conflicts and restorative peacebuilding practices are experienced and approached (Bickmore, 2017;Davies, 2008). This has implications for how various students might engage and feel included at school-pivotal for academic success (Diazgranados, 2014;Zhang et al, 2013). Teachers' pedagogy can be designed to be engaging and meaningful, through intentionally and inclusively handling conflict and moral issues (Simon, 2001;Zembylas & Bekerman, 2019).…”

Talking Children Into Literacy: Once More, With Feeling

“…But we know the value of this sort of work. If we consider research from the various fields of dialogic engagement, collaborative problem-solving, collaborative reasoning, collaborative knowledge building, and philosophy for children, we can claim that dialogic conversations (in which multiple perspectives, including disagreements, are confronted in order to advance understanding) improve children's: reasoning ability and creative thinking (Mercer, Wegerif, & Dawes, 1999;Wegerif, 2005); use of analogical reasoning (Lin et al, 2012);comprehension (Rojas-Drummond, Mazón, Littleton, & Vélez, 2014); conceptual understanding and reasoning in science and math (Mercer, Dawes, Wegerif, & Sams, 2004;Mercer & Sams, 2008;Osborne & Chin, 2010); expressive language and willingness to speak in public (Trickey & Topping, 2004); persuasiveness and frequency of providing reasons and evidence, and productive rhetorical strategies (all of which transfer to writing; Dong et al, 2009;Latawiec, Anderson, Shufeng, & Kim, 2016); acquisition and use of academic vocabulary especially in children from underserved communities (Ma, Anderson et al, 2017); quality of moral reasoning (Xin et al, 2013); confidence and self-esteem (Trickey & Topping, 2006); ability to lead problem-solving groups to produce better solutions (Sun, Anderson, Perry, & Lin, 2017); perspective taking and willingness to consider others' ideas (Johnson & Johnson, 2009) which leads to more positive dispositions toward peers and a reduction in stereotyping and bias against out-groups (Galinsky & Moskowitz, 2000;Todd & Galinsky, 2014); and quality of interpersonal relationships across ethnic subgroups and between handicapped and nonhandicapped students (Johnson & Johnson, 1981a, 1981b.…”