Researchers Urge Broad View on How to Build Character

Sykesville, Md.

In a research lab at South Carroll High School, rare diamondback terrapins thrive in an oversized aquarium, a fungus that is threatening the American chestnut tree cultivates in petri dishes awaiting further study, and a beneficial sea algae begins to sprout on a reef of plastic pods that students designed to be environmentally friendly.

The real-world experiments conducted by South Carroll students in this rapidly growing suburb west of Baltimore are intended to teach scientific principles while also dispensing significant life lessons about the environment and nature’s delicate balance. Such moral and ethical principles often go hand in hand with academic content, educators here say.

Administrators and teachers at the 1,100-student school have been working for more than a decade to infuse moral principles into school policies and processes, as well as into subject matter. All the while, they’ve strived to meet the school’s stated mission to provide “an environment conducive to academic achievement, positive...