EDUC 504
Moral Development Theories
Liberty University
EDUC 504
When teachers sign up to be a teacher they are signing up to be role models for all of the
students that walk into their classroom throughout the years they are teaching. It is important to
know about the way students learn and about the way we can teach them to be their best. To start
these students off the right way we have to pay attention to their moral development. This is im-
portant because this is going to play a big role in their lives in the future and how they look at
the world and the peers around them through their years of life. Moral development has different
ways of being learned and there are different ways people think students and adults learn about
their morals. Some say we learn it through observation, social environments and learned behav-
iors. Not just one of these are right but they all have scientific background to support why we
learn these ways about our moral beliefs.
One theory to moral development is based on Jean Piaget. He came up with a theory
where he has found research to support that it is the, “Process through which children develop
the standards of right and wrong through society, based on social and cultural norms and laws”
(McLeod, S. A., 2015). He sees a connection with students understanding the right and wrongs
through their social environment. This happens in their younger years vs their adulthood. In
his theory adults should already have an understanding between right and wrong and their
morals by their adulthood. There are two different moralities that children understand
throughout their younger years. First there is their heteronomous morality which happens
between the ages of 5 to 9 years old. This is the understanding of morality that is imposed
, from the outside world around them. (McLeod, S. A., 2015). Then there is the autonomous
morality and this happens between the ages of 9 to 10 years old. This means that the children
automatically know the rules based on their own rules of right or wrong.
The second theory is based on Lawrence Kohlberg and his theory, “moves through these
stages in a fixed order; cognitive development, pro conventional, conventional, and post-conven-
tional” (McLeod, S. A., 2013). With Lawrence’s theory there is an order based on the age when
children-adults go through these stages. First their pro conventional stage happens around the
age of 9 and this is where the child doesn’t have their own understanding of morality. It is
shaped by the adults around them and the consequences of following and breaking the rules in
their younger days. Then they move to the conventional stage and this happens in their
adolescents and early adulthood. This is where they are accepting the social rules of right and
wrong and be- gin to internalize the moral standards of valued adult role models” (McLeod, S.
A., 2013). This is important to remember when students are in middle school and high school
about how they are looking at their role models to show them the rights and wrongs in this
world.
The third one is the Elliot Turiel’s Moral Domain Theory and this one really looks at the
social part of the learning process. When Elliot came up with this theory he looked at the, “Con-
nection between the child’s developing concepts of morality, and other domains of social
knowl- edge and social convention” (Elliot Turiel, n.d.). Elliot focused on the behaviors that go
along with their social environment and how it showed them what was right and wrong in the
world. “According to domain theory, the child's concepts of morality and social convention
emerge out of the child's attempts to account for qualitatively differing forms of social
experience associated with these two classes of social events” (Elliot Turiel, n.d.). This shows us
that their morality is structured by harm, welfare and fairness. We have to remember this when
it comes to helping students out in our classrooms and guiding the in the correct way.
Moral Development Theories
Liberty University
EDUC 504
When teachers sign up to be a teacher they are signing up to be role models for all of the
students that walk into their classroom throughout the years they are teaching. It is important to
know about the way students learn and about the way we can teach them to be their best. To start
these students off the right way we have to pay attention to their moral development. This is im-
portant because this is going to play a big role in their lives in the future and how they look at
the world and the peers around them through their years of life. Moral development has different
ways of being learned and there are different ways people think students and adults learn about
their morals. Some say we learn it through observation, social environments and learned behav-
iors. Not just one of these are right but they all have scientific background to support why we
learn these ways about our moral beliefs.
One theory to moral development is based on Jean Piaget. He came up with a theory
where he has found research to support that it is the, “Process through which children develop
the standards of right and wrong through society, based on social and cultural norms and laws”
(McLeod, S. A., 2015). He sees a connection with students understanding the right and wrongs
through their social environment. This happens in their younger years vs their adulthood. In
his theory adults should already have an understanding between right and wrong and their
morals by their adulthood. There are two different moralities that children understand
throughout their younger years. First there is their heteronomous morality which happens
between the ages of 5 to 9 years old. This is the understanding of morality that is imposed
, from the outside world around them. (McLeod, S. A., 2015). Then there is the autonomous
morality and this happens between the ages of 9 to 10 years old. This means that the children
automatically know the rules based on their own rules of right or wrong.
The second theory is based on Lawrence Kohlberg and his theory, “moves through these
stages in a fixed order; cognitive development, pro conventional, conventional, and post-conven-
tional” (McLeod, S. A., 2013). With Lawrence’s theory there is an order based on the age when
children-adults go through these stages. First their pro conventional stage happens around the
age of 9 and this is where the child doesn’t have their own understanding of morality. It is
shaped by the adults around them and the consequences of following and breaking the rules in
their younger days. Then they move to the conventional stage and this happens in their
adolescents and early adulthood. This is where they are accepting the social rules of right and
wrong and be- gin to internalize the moral standards of valued adult role models” (McLeod, S.
A., 2013). This is important to remember when students are in middle school and high school
about how they are looking at their role models to show them the rights and wrongs in this
world.
The third one is the Elliot Turiel’s Moral Domain Theory and this one really looks at the
social part of the learning process. When Elliot came up with this theory he looked at the, “Con-
nection between the child’s developing concepts of morality, and other domains of social
knowl- edge and social convention” (Elliot Turiel, n.d.). Elliot focused on the behaviors that go
along with their social environment and how it showed them what was right and wrong in the
world. “According to domain theory, the child's concepts of morality and social convention
emerge out of the child's attempts to account for qualitatively differing forms of social
experience associated with these two classes of social events” (Elliot Turiel, n.d.). This shows us
that their morality is structured by harm, welfare and fairness. We have to remember this when
it comes to helping students out in our classrooms and guiding the in the correct way.
