First, the theory of moral development stage

Kohlberg, a famous American psychologist and educator, put forward the theory of stages of moral development according to the thinking structure of children of different ages, which has been widely used in the research and teaching of modern school moral education and is known as the "father of the mountain" of modern school moral education. He used the story method of "moral dilemma" to infer children's moral development level, and divided individual moral development into three stages.

1, former vulgar level

Children's moral concept is purely external, which is to abide by the code of conduct in order to escape punishment or get rewards, including two stages:

The first stage: punishment and obedience orientation. Children judge the quality and severity of behavior according to its consequences. Obeying authority or rules is only to escape punishment, and there is no real concept of norms.

The second stage: the orientation of instrumental relativism. Children obey the rules in order to get rewards or meet personal needs. Interpersonal relationship is regarded as low-level reciprocal relationship, rules are not regarded as absolute and fixed things, and the severity of wrong behavior can be judged partly according to the intention of the actor.

2. The level of customs

Children obey the rules in order to get praise or maintain social order, and the rules have been internalized. Therefore, the value of behavior is based on the degree of compliance with the rules of maintaining social order.

The third stage: the orientation stage of interpersonal coordination. Ability to evaluate behavior according to its motivation and feelings. Respect most people's opinions and established role behaviors, avoid criticism to win appreciation, attach importance to obedience, and be a good boy.

The fourth stage: the direction of maintaining authority or order. At this stage, the focus of children's attention is to maintain social order, and to judge whether an act is good or bad depends on whether it meets the standards of maintaining social order.

3. Post-customization level

Also known as the "principle level", its characteristic is that moral behavior is dominated by common social responsibility and universal moral standards, and moral standards have been internalized into the internal moral order.

The fifth stage: the orientation of social contract. Moral reasoning is flexible. They believe that the law is to make people live in harmony and can be changed through common consultation and democratic procedures, and the behavior that reflects the wishes of the majority or the greatest social welfare is a moral behavior.

The sixth stage: the orientation of universal moral principles. They believe that we should use moral standards and universal justice principles applicable to all situations as the basis of moral judgment. If we deviate from the standards or principles we choose, we will feel guilty.

Second, the enlightenment to education mainly includes the following points.

1. The primary task of moral education is to improve children's moral judgment ability and cultivate their ability to distinguish right from wrong. However, it is not advisable to teach people the principle of moral judgment directly.

Because the change of moral cognition is caused by some kind of moral conflict, the main task of educators is to help the educated notice the real moral conflict, think about whether the reasons used to solve this conflict are appropriate, and find a new way of thinking to solve this conflict.

2. Children's moral development is phased and gradual. Therefore, when carrying out moral education for children, we should always know the development stage that children have reached and promote their development according to the characteristics of their moral development stage.

Social environment plays a great role in people's moral development, so it is necessary to establish a good atmosphere of justice groups in schools, which is a necessary condition for moral education. Kohlberg is the founder of modern moral cognitive development theory. This revolutionary discovery fundamentally changed the traditional view that morality is only the result of social moral indoctrination.