Sociomoral Education Through Physical Education With At-Risk Children

Abstract

This paper presents a theoretically grounded and empirically tested intervention to promote the sociomoral growth of children through physical education. The intervention, which has been implemented with at-risk urban elementary school children, is based on the moral action model proposed by Shields and Bredemeier (1995). The first section of the paper discusses the appropriateness of physical education for sociomoral education. Then, the intervention program goals are identified: promoting empathy, moral reasoning maturity, task motivation, and self-responsibility. Four major components of moral education are then identified and illustrated: cooperative learning, building moral community, creating a mastery motivational climate, and transferring power from teacher to students concomitant with students acceptance of increasing personal and social responsibility. We conclude with anecdotal evidence of the effectiveness of the intervention.