Lawrence Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development

Types of reasoning and typical ages / Stage / Explanation / Manifestation in students’ reasoning and example of teacher targeting it:
Preconventional Morality
Kids think of themselves as individuals. Don’t yet think of themselves as members of a society.
Usually seen in young children. / 1
Obedience and Punishment Orientation / Reasoning is guided by avoidance of punishment they see as handed down from powerful authorities, in this case, the teacher. / “I’ll behave because otherwise I’ll be punished.”
Teacher: Stay quiet in the lunch line or you’ll get silent lunch.
2 Individualism and Exchange / Kids recognize the teacher may have a different viewpoint from their own. Risk of punishment becomes part of the equation as kids decide what they get out of behaving. / “I’ll behave because I’ll get something out of it.”
Teacher: If you stay quiet in the lunch line, you’ll get a treat at the end of the week.
Conventional Morality
Society-based thinking.
Normally seen in teenagers and adults. / 3
Good Interpersonal Relationships / Students recognize societal norms and expectations and want to meet them. Develop empathy and concern for others, and recognize intentions and motives for behavior. / “Will people approve of my actions?”
Teacher: It is important to me that you stay quiet in the lunch line so people don’t think our class is poorly behaved.
4
Maintaining the Social Order / Concerned with effects on actions on society as a whole. Emphasis on performing ones’ duties and obeying laws. / “How will my actions affect the function of our school?”
Teacher: Stay quiet in the lunch line because if students don’t follow the rules, our school will not function.
Postconventional Morality
Less concerned with society, more concerned with principles. / 5
Social Contract and Individual Rights / Recognize individual opinions and different values. See laws and rules as social contracts rather than rigid instructions. When rules are unjust, they can and should be changed. / “What actions will provide the greatest good for the greatest number of people?”
Teacher: Everyone has a duty to be quiet in the lunch line because being loud infringes upon students’ rights to have a quiet learning environment.
6
Universal Principles / Grounded in justice. Apply universal ethical principles. / Think like MLK Jr., Ghandi, Kant, Dr. House, etc.

The Psychology of Classroom Management

Brian Boyle, Eastern North Carolina ‘07

Middle School Math and Science

CM Objectives: Identify the student reasoning they are likely to encounter in their classrooms. Recognize effective proactive teacher actions to alter student behavior by targeting different stages of moral reasoning.

Theoretical Principles of Good Classroom Management:

1. All children are capable of good behavior.

2. Behaving “properly” is an ACTIVE behavior for some kids.

3. Everything you do is a stimulus that will result in a response from your students.

4. Getting kids in an at-risk environment to behave often requires different techniques than those used with non-at risk student populations.

Using Kholberg’s stages of Moral Development to Manage your Classroom

·  These stages indicate different levels of student thinking and are not an inevitable unfolding of genetic development or a product of socialization.

·  You’ll see both well-behaved and poorly behaved students at the first few levels.

·  These stages are the basis for moral thought, not moral action. An understanding of these stages will better enable you to create systems and adopt a style of teaching that encourages cooperation on the part of your students. You can also move students up through the stages throughout your year with them:

The Kohlberg-Blatt method of inducing cognitive conflict exemplifies Piaget's equilibration model. The child takes one view, becomes confused by discrepant information, and then resolves the confusion by forming a more advanced and comprehensive position. The method is also the dialectic process of Socratic teaching. The students give a view, the teacher asks questions which get them to see the inadequacies of their views, and they are then motivated to formulate better positions (W.C. Crain. (1985). Theories of Development. Prentice-Hall. pp. 118-136.)

Punishments that work:

1.  Target stages 1, 2, and 3 so they can be used consistently among different levels of students

2.  Isolate the targeted students from the rest of the class

3.  Allow students to feel fully accepted by the teacher and class when punishment is complete

4.  Ideally present moment of cognitive dissonance to challenge the reasoning that resulted in the behavior

Incentives that work:

1.  Are immediate and tangible

2.  Normalize and draw attention to good behavior

3.  Target stages 2 and 3

Crucial Teacher Actions

1.  Use finesse for cases of minor misbehavior or students slightly off-task.

2.  Redirect attention from bad behavior.

3.  Be human…be yourself.

4.  Be kind and treat your students with great respect.

5.  Put yourself in your students’ shoes as much as possible.

6.  Treat them like kids.

Resources:

http://groups.google.com/group/culturebuilding

Crain, William C. (1985). Theories of Development (2Rev ed.). Prentice-Hall. ISBN 0-13-913617-7.

Kohlberg, Lawrence (1971). From Is to Ought: How to Commit the Naturalistic Fallacy and... New York: Academic Press.

Kohlberg, Lawrence (1973). "The Claim to Moral Adequacy of a Highest Stage of Moral…". Journal of Philosophy 70: 630–646.

Kohlberg, Lawrence (1981). Essays on Moral Devel. Vol. I: The Philosophy of Moral Devel... San Francisco, CA: Harper & Row.

Kohlberg, Lawrence; Charles Levine, Alexandra Hewer (1983). Moral stages: a current formulation... Basel, NY: Karger.