The purpose of this experimental study was to examine the effects of a specific principled based, Socratic pedagogy on college freshmen's moral reasoning in a Sports and American Society general education course.
Method:
All freshman students enrolled in the Sports and American Society courses attended a northwest university and were assessed using the Hahm-Beller Values Choice Inventory (HBVCI). In addition, all participants were or had been student athletes. The HBVCI, a 16-question tool, is valid and reliable for measuring moral reasoning in sport specific situations (Chronbach Alphas .77 - .88). The students were pretested in the first week of class with the HBVCI, successfully met the requirements of the Socratic based curriculum, and post-tested again in the final week of the spring semester.
Analysis/Results:
Forty-four student inventories met the consistency requirements pre to post test. There were a total of 23 student athlete surveys and 22 are included in the statistical analysis of the experimental course while the other 22 were included in the control course, with one score lost due to the consistency check. Analysis of the pre-test and post-test completed instruments resulted in an overall mean for pre-test score of 34.09 with a standard deviation (SD) of 6.44 and a post-test score of 39.41 with a SD of 7.15 in the experimental course. Analysis of the pre-test and post-test completed instruments resulted in an overall mean for pre-test score of 34.13 with a standard deviation (SD) of 6.43 and a post-test score of 32.59 with a SD of 10.03 in the control course. Researchers observed a mean increase of 5.32 with a SD of 7.03. The increase between the pre-test and post-test score was found to be highly significant (P=. 002, t=-3.543). Nonetheless, researchers observed a mean decrease of 1.54 within the control group score.
Conclusions:
These findings suggest the educational intervention significantly improved the moral reasoning scores of these students. As one of the first studies to examine college freshman enrolled in general education Sports and American Society courses, this research posits significant results that principled reasoning can be impacted by a Socratic pedagogical approach. In addition, this research supports previous research, which posited that athletes scored significantly lower than general students in moral reasoning, however, were also shown to increase levels after a similar character education intervention (Bredemeier & Shields, 1986; Beller & Stoll, 1992).