08/10/07: Ponencia en AME 2007

En Noviembre estaré en New York para la Conferencia AME 2007 que esta vez está siendo organizada por NYU (New York University). La AME 2008 será en Notre Dame, Indiana, y se vocea que la AME 2009 se realizará por primera vez en un país Latinoamericano. Hay mucho interés en la asociación porque esto sea así aunque también algunos miedos, ya que seria una experiencia nueva en una zona del planeta que la gran mayoría de miembros AME desconoce. La conferencia se realiza dos años consecutivos en algún lugar de USA y el tercer año en el extranjero, entendiéndose extranjero como Canadá o Europa (la última conferencia realizada “en el extranjero” fué en Suiza, por ejemplo), y muchos miembros de la Asociación han empezado a sentir desde hace ya tiempo que esto es excluyente y que se deberían hacer mayores esfuerzos por descentralizar la conferencia y llevarla a otros lugares del mundo.

Creo que el terreno está más que listo para que la Conferencia AME -la más importante reunión de investigadores en desarrollo moral del mundo- llegue a un país Latinoamericano, y me he puesto en la cola como posible anfitriona con la idea de traer la conferencia a Lima. Se que Brasil está mucho antes que nosotros solicitando ser el país anfitrión, al igual que México, pero espero que varios argumentos den al Perú como ganador (el número de hablantes del idioma español por sobre el portugués, la falta de conferencias de este tipo en nuestro país comparándolas a la gran cantidad de eventos y de recursos de Brasil y México, etc.). Ya les iré contando pues este Noviembre imagino que el Comité Ejecutivo de la AME tomará la decisión. Me encantaría que nos estrenemos como país anfitrión de esta conferencia en el 2009.

Por lo pronto, les dejo aquí el contenido de una de las mesas en la que participaré en la AME 2007 de NY (tendré dos mesas, esta que presento aquí y otra sobre algunas experiencias de educación moral en Latinoamerica, en la que compartiré el panel con colegas de México y Colombia).

Facilitator: Ann Higgins-D’Alessandro – Applied Developmental Psychology, Fordham University

Youth Sport Coaches as Moral Educators: Possibilities and Challenges

Nicole M. LaVoi
Associate Director
Tucker Center for Research on Girls & Women in Sport

Clark Power, Brooke Crawford, Kristin Sheehan, Ann Power
Center for Ethical Education
University of Notre Dame

The challenge of preparing character educators is compounded as we consider character education outside of the classroom. One of the greatest “growth areas” in character education is in youth sports. To what extent are youth sport coaches open to accepting responsibility as a character educators? In two papers, we present exploratory findings based on a train-the-trainer model of preparing youth sport coaches as character educators. The focus is on the coaches and their response to a three-hour “Play Like a Champion” coach education workshop, which presents coaches with an approach that draws on moral education as well as achievement goal and self-determination theories. The workshop begins by addressing the role of the coach as character educator and gives coaches’ practical methods of acting as character educators in practices and games. Pre and post workshop evaluations provide important insights into the way in which coaches embrace their responsibilities as character educators, and perceive elements of the sports climate that potentially foster or hinder athlete moral development. In particular we are learning how coaches perceive and respond to the tensions inherent in coaching—namely the complex tensions between optimal performance (i.e. winning), optimal development (including athletic, social, psychological, and moral development), and optimal experience (i.e. fun and enjoyment).

Peruvian Teachers’ Construction of Community and Moral Self

Susana Frisancho
Department of Psychology
Catholic University of Peru

Ann Higgins-D’Alessandro
Applied Developmental Psychology
Fordham University

For Peruvian education, the construction of a sense of community within schools was strongly recommended in 2003 by the Commission for Truth and Reconciliation as one way to help in the construction of an inclusive, democratic and just society. However, very little has been done to follow this recommendation. In this context, it is relevant to understand which notion of community teachers already have, and how it informs teacher’s daily practices and their commitment with moral and democratic development. Results of a study of 59 Peruvian high school teachers from three different kinds of schools explored the construction of a sense of community and the development of a moral self and analyzed their implications for moral and democratic education. Results indicate that teachers regard community as a kind of place in which to become better people because socializing and living with others is perceived as essential to human nature and that teachers did not have a developed sense of moral self, which may hamper their development as moral educators.

Classroom-Level Emotional and Instructional Quality and Children’s Risk for School Failure: The Role of School-wide Intervention in Social-Emotional Learning and Literacy

Josh Brown, Stephanie Jones
Applied Developmental Psychology
Fordham University

Larry Aber
New York University

Higher quality classroom emotional and instructional climate in elementary school settings is associated with greater student engagement in academic activities and less negative behavior with peers and teachers. Little is known, however, about the impact of interventions in social-emotional learning and literacy on the links between classroom characteristics and children’s developmental outcomes, particularly for children at risk for school failure. Using data collected from 942 3rd grade students, their teacher, parents and classrooms during the first two waves of a 3-year school-randomized study of the Reading, Writing, Respect and Resolution (4Rs) Program, this paper addresses (1) whether the quality of classroom climate moderates the relationship between child school risk status and academic and relational outcomes, and (2) whether exposure to the 4Rs Program strengthens the role of classroom climate in promoting greater academic and relational outcomes for at-risk children. Child school risk includes both functional (behavior problems, poor school engagement) and demographic (maternal education) risk indicators. Quality of classroom emotional and instructional climate was assessed through independent observational ratings of 82 classrooms in Spring 2005. Child academic and relational functioning was assessed through teacher-reported language and literacy skills and relationship quality. Implications for school-based social-emotional learning interventions will be discussed.

Foto de NY tomada de aquí.