Title: Exploring Prosocial Behavior through Structured Philosophical Dialogue: A Quantitative Evaluation.
Abstract: The problem of bullying in schools cannot be overstated. Researchers have examined the problem of bullying in schools from a variety of perspectives and have found that bullying has serious shortand longterm effects not just for the victim but for the bully as well. A variety of interventions have been implemented, and research shows that the majority, which are monological in nature, have demonstrated minimal, if any, impact on counteracting occurrences of bullying in schools. This study uses three quantitative measures to examine the impact that an instructional method steeped in the dynamics of dialogical inquiry has on students’ attitudes and beliefs about aggression. Submit a response to this article Submit online at democracyeducationjournal.org/home Read responses to this article online http://democracyeducationjournal.org/home/vol23/iss2/TK The problem of bullying is one of the most significant problems in schools (Espelage & Swearer, 2003). Defined as unrelenting, willful and malicious physical or psychological abuse that results in physical or psychological harm to the victim, the bully, and the bystander (e.g., Batsche & Knoff, 1994; Olweus, 1993b; Rigby, 1996; Ttofi & Farrington, 2008; Twemlow, Fonagy, & Sacco, 2004), bullying always involves someone who is able to wield power over someone else, who is not capable of defending himself or herself (Roland & Idsoe, 2001). It is important to recognize the importance of not conflating the terms aggression and bullying or using them interchangeably. There is a significant, qualitative distinction between the two (Hawley, Stump, & Ratliff, 2011; Cascardi, Brown, Iannarone, & Cardona, 2014). Aggression is a negative act intended to do harm, and bullying is aggression + repeated acts + power imbalance (Olweus, 1978; Hawley, Stump, & Ratliff, 2011). Throughout this paper, I use both terms with strategic intent. For example, when refering to a potential intervention, I use bullying. When I explicate the dialogic interactions in which students participated as part of Monica Glina is a postdoctoral fellow with the Text Comprehension: Development, Instruction and Multiple Texts research group in the Department of Educational Research at the University of Oslo, Norway. Her research investigates the relationship between classroom discourse and student learning and between classroom discourse and aggression. She also teaches a number of courses, including educational psychology and philosophy of education.
Publication Year: 2015
Publication Date: 2015-01-01
Language: en
Type: article
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Cited By Count: 1
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