Download - Kohlbergs moral development stages
Armen MenechyanTeaching Mockingbird
July 14-16th, 2015
Legacy: Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral
Development
CENTRAL QUESTION
What factors influence our moral growth?
What kinds of experiences help us learn how to judge right from wrong?
Quick Write
Write about a childhood/adolescent moral dilemma that you remember clearly.
(Sharing will be optional)
Essential Questions:
– How can literature help us reach a deeper understanding of ourselves and our growth as moral and ethical people?
– How can it help shape the way we think and act?
Lawrence Kohlberg (p 214)• Moral reasoning, the basis for ethical behavior,
has six identifiable developmental stages, each more adequate at responding to moral dilemmas than its predecessor.
• Based on Piaget’s cognitive development theory (claimed that logic and morality develop through constructive stages).
Level 1: Preconventional Moral Reasoning
• Punishment-Obedience
Right or wrong is determined by physical consequences
• Personal Reward
I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine
Level 2:Conventional Moral Reasoning
• Good-Boy Nice-Girl
These two are dressed appropriately for work to
please themselves and others
• Laws and Order
Make sure to obey these signs!
Kohlberg’s scale is about how people justify behaviors and his
stages are NOT a method of ranking how moral someone’s
behavior is.
What part of his theory do you agree with? Disagree?
Are there any parts of the model that you would modify or remove?
Are there any parts you would add to make it better reflect your ideas about how we grow as moral and ethical people?
YELLOW: Reading 1: Scout’s reflections at the close of the
novel (
BLUE:Reading 2: Conversation between Atticus and Heck
Tate after Bob Ewell’s death.
5 mins to read – Find a Partner – Discuss Qs (5 mins)
• In what sense is this excerpt a moral moment?
• Do you see any connections to the moral development theory?
• Does this text speak to our central question?