Rethinking Moral Growth in College and Beyond

Going Deep into Mechanisms for Moral Reasoning Growth: How Deep Learning Approaches Affect Moral Reasoning Development for First-year Students

“…This study is the first to examine moral reasoning development as a function of integrative learning, involving students' participating in activities designed to integrate information from varied sources and diverse perspectives. Until now, the relationship between integration and moral reasoning development was, at best, inferred by linking moral reasoning gains to exposure to an integrated curriculum within a distinctive institutional environment (Mentkowski et al 2000;Mentkowski and Strait 1983;Rogers 2002). By directly measuring integrative learning as an educational process, this study informs educators interested in optimizing learning environments for moral reasoning gains among first-year students: Enact educational practices that teach students how to integrate information from varied sources that draw on diverse perspectives and that motivate students to discuss ideas outside of class.…”

“…Although not directly measured, one study implied that integrated learning experiences may, in fact, be related to moral reasoning growth. A distinctive learning environment, Alverno College offers an integrated, ability-based curriculum evaluated for its impact on deep and sustained college learning; students exposed to this curriculum demonstrated developmental gains in moral reasoning (Mentkowski et al 2000;Mentkowski and Strait 1983;Rogers 2002). Interviews with students corroborated the findings linking the integrated curriculum with moral reasoning gains and drove Mentkowski et al (2000) to conclude that students ''came to appreciate and understand differing values because they were repeatedly asked to examine and discuss them'' across learning contexts (p. 130).…”

Character Education

“…Indeed, one of the best-documented changes that results from the collegiate experience is a significant increase in the quality and complexity of moral reasoning (Pascarella & Terenzini, 1991), demonstrating the effect of college on humanizing " values and attitudes concerning the rights and welfare of others" (Pascarella & Terenzini, 2005, p. 348). College environments that encourage questioning, inquiry, and openness to evidence and argument foster the largest gains in moral reasoning (e.g., Rest & Narvaez, 1991;Rogers, 2002), although this relationship is attenuated in collegiate environments that are narrowly careerist and where critical inquiry is not valued (McNeel, 1994).…”

The Theory of Planned Behavior as a Model of Academic Dishonesty in Engineering and Humanities Undergraduates

“…By examining these two populations of students, we anticipate a greater difference in the relative contributions of the Theory of Planned Behavior constructs making any differences that do exist easier to measure. In addition, we selected first-year students and seniors based on evidence demonstrating that exposure to and engagement in college has a dramatic effect on students' moral development (Pascarella & Terenzini, 1991;King andMayhew, 2002, 2004) and that the extent to which students are exposed to the values and ideals of other individuals and cultures in college is critical to helping them construct moral identities (Rogers, 2002). The recruitment of only freshmen and seniors was an intentional effort to survey students at the very beginning and end of a baccalaureate experience to assess the effect of a traditional 4 year program on the study outcome variables.…”

“…The DIT-2, and its predecessor the DIT, purport to measure only the moral reasoning component of what constitutes moral development; as such it is susceptible to change over time. The DIT is generally considered to be among the most valid instruments for measuring moral reasoning aptitude (Rogers, 2002).…”