The relationship between cognitive, affective, and moral development in gifted junior high school students

Arranging the curriculum to focus on the upper levels of cognitive, affective, and moral development is every school's challenge. By accepting this challenge and providing a combination of upper-level decision-making experiences in schools, gifted students will progress toward higher-level cognitive, affective, and moral development. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between the combination of higher-level cognitive and affective development and higher-level moral development, and the relationship between and among these variables in gifted junior high school students before and after a unit of study. By statistically testing these hypotheses, this study determined whether any such relationship existed herein. A group of 49 gifted junior high school students from two suburban schools participated in this study. The assessment process required the students to write a response to Kohlberg's Moral Judgment Interview: Form B (Colby & Kohlberg, 1987) and to be observed as they responded in the cognitive and affective domains on an instrument developed by this researcher and validated by an expert panel. An eight-week unit of study was written and used to accelerate cognitive, affective, and moral development. This unit of study provided opportunities for students to become independent researchers and thinkers about critical contemporary issues with moral overtones. [...]