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April
17, 2006
VOL.
44, NO. 8Oakland,
CA
Holy Spirit
School in Fremont wins
national award for innovation
Holy Spirit
School in Fremont is one of 12 Catholic schools in the country to be named
a recipient of the Catholic Schools for Tomorrow Award for Innovations
in Education by Today’s Catholic Teacher magazine.
The Fremont school is being cited in the curriculum and instruction category,
said Diana Murray, seventh grade teacher. Murray, along with Anne Marchetti,
eighth grade teacher, and Joy Lopez, junior high science teacher, will
represent Holy Spirit at the awards presentation on April 20 in Atlanta,
Georgia. The educators are in Atlanta to attend the annual convention
of the National Catholic Educational Association (NCEA).
Holy Spirit School is piloting a program that uses moral dilemma discussions
to promote moral development, Murray said. Six moral dilemma discussions
take place during the year in grades four through eight.
The discussions are based on the research of Lawrence Kohlberg. One involves
what is known as the “Heinz Dilemma.” Heinz’s wife is
dying of cancer. He learns there a certain drug may save his wife, but
the druggist is charging 10 times the cost. Heinz, who can’t afford
the drug, is considering breaking into the pharmacy to steal the drug
for his wife. Students are asked what Heinz should do.
The discussion centers around issues when “someone is caught between
a rock and a hard place,” Murray said. Depending on the students’
responses to the conflict, the teacher can “escalate” the
conflict. For example, Murray asked her students to consider what Heinz
should do if he does not love his wife.
“In escalating the conflict the brain has to assimilate that new
problem and try to put its hands around it,” she said. “And
by that cognitive effort of the brain it helps it move toward a higher
stage of thinking, thus promoting moral growth.”
Research has proven that using moral dilemma discussions in the classroom
does stimulate moral development, she said. “We didn’t make
it up; it is based on research.”
The project was created as a final component of a moral development class
at the University of San Francisco. “So it was all done with an
expert overseeing it,” she said.
Murray said that it's difficult to determine in a short period of time
what impact the program is having on her students because people don’t
move from one stage of development to another overnight. But during the
discussions Murray sees her students stopping to consider other perspectives.
“That’s really a big part of what this is,” she said.
“It is being able to see another person’s perspective. Anytime
you can help students see through another person’s eyes, that’s
beneficial.”
