"Developmental Psychology and Value Education " by James Rest Essay Review
Published in the book Moral development,moral education, and Kohberg:basic issues in philosophy, spychology, religion, and education. (1980) ed. Brenda Munsey, attempts of identify Kohlberg's approach to moral education.
Rest (1974) discovered that Kohlberg's theory rests on three different aspects: "structural organization, developmental sequence, and interactionism." (p. 102).
He feels that structural organization should go beyond the simple teaching to the directives of the school, state or board, but should actually teach the child the ability to make choices and problem solve. He advocates teaching children concrete problem solving skills and the ability to think clearly.
He views the developmental sequence as one of the most desirable of educational goals. He feels that an educator should want to attempt to move a student to a higher level of moral development. He thought that even if an educator is not able to move a student to a higher level, they should prevent the student from back-sliding to a lower level.
Finally interactionism is described as how cognitive structures are developed. Quite often an analogy of how the human brain is like a computer is used. The main idea is that the brain is full of types of programs. Interactionists actually believe that the brain self-programs and as a result a person's experiences are organized in a way that gives them directions for moral actions. This type of learning is often called discovery learning.
