Character development in children--an objective approach.

Children's Concepts of Sportsmanship in the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Grades

“…Modifications of attitudes and an increase in knowledge of sportsmanship probably precede behavioral changes (8,9). Random play and single readings of stories are not enough; play activities and the forces of literature may be brought out more strongly under teacher guidance and discussion.…”

“…However, where improvement was noticeable, it seemed to be dependent upon child-teacher relations, class morale, and special emphasis in the school upon character and citizenship training. In a study of seventh and eighth graders, Jones (9) found that a measurable improvement in moral conduct was affected by experiences and discussions.…”

“…These involve both knowledge and attitude. Moral concepts, which develop slowly, are more readily learned, accepted, and used to guide behavior if they are presented by a sympathetic teacher, if the concepts are accepted by the peer group, if the morale of the group is good, and if there is emphasis on character and citizenship training (5,9) .…”

“…Many of them may be derived inductively, but learned more thoroughly through practice in a variety of deductive situations. The development of moral concepts and good moral character must be fostered by educators as soon as a child enters school in the hope that he will be able to reach a rational conscience stage of development (6,9). Moral conduct is dependent upon the understanding of standards of behavior and the willingness to use them as behavioral guides (8).…”

Measurement of moral values: A review and critique.

“…Thus, only those tests which directly assess aspects of moral concepts are dealt with here; studies which focused only on moral behavior, such as resistance to temptation, characteristic social behavior, etc., have been excluded. While many such behavioral measures have been used to infer the strength of moral attitudes or conscience (see Jones, 1946;Sears, 1960), the characteristically low intercorrelations among various measures of morality, notably between verbal and behavioral tests, suggest that these types of information are by no means interchangeable (Bronfenbrenner, 1962;Hoffman, 1963). Further, numerous test instruments which have been used to assess attitudes toward single moral values, such as honesty or aggression, have been excluded unless they have broader implications from either a methodological or theoretical point of view.…”