Student Well-Being

Ethical Minds

By Debra Viadero — January 16, 2009 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

It’s a familiar scenario: A teenager snaps a picture of underage classmates drinking alcohol at a party. The photos go up on a social-networking Web site and land on the desk of an athletic coach or a school administrator. The students pictured are suspended from school or booted off their teams.

Researchers at the Harvard Graduate School of Education say stories like that one illustrate one of the ways new digital media are raising distinct ethical challenges and temptations for young people today.

See Also

How have social networking sites, online games, virtual worlds, and wikis affected your students’ ethics regarding privacy, honesty, and other values? Join our discussion.

“Even though many young people may not be ready to participate in the wider communities that digital media open up to them, there is no controlling information about yourself or others that gets posted,” says Howard Gardner, the project’s co-director. “It’s a situation that’s foisted upon young persons who are not ready for it.”

Gardner, an eminent psychologist best known for his multiple-intelligences theory, is working with a team of researchers at Project Zero, the research center he helped create at the graduate school, to study how students’ use of digital media affects the development of their “ethical minds.”

Watch Howard Gardner discuss the GoodPlay Project:

Known as the GoodPlay Project, the study is being financed with a grant from the Chicago-based John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. What researchers hope to do through the project is fill a gap in the burgeoning research literature on young people’s use of digital media, including social-networking sites, blogs, online games, Wikipedia, and virtual worlds, such as Second Life.

While most studies are mapping out what young people are learning and doing in their digital lives, the GoodPlay Project is probing the ethical contours of those electronic worlds in an effort to better understand how digital technology shapes young people’s character.

“What’s interesting about the GoodPlay Project is that, while it is taking a broad look at the common, fundamental issues that involve youth and digital media, it is also taking a qualitative look at the idea that these young people are actually developing social norms that are quite different from adult values and behavior,” says Mimi Ito, a cultural anthropologist at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.

A version of this article appeared in the January 21, 2009 edition of Digital Directions as Ethical Minds

Events

Jobs Virtual Career Fair for Teachers and K-12 Staff
Find teaching jobs and other jobs in K-12 education at the EdWeek Top School Jobs virtual career fair.
Ed-Tech Policy Webinar Artificial Intelligence in Practice: Building a Roadmap for AI Use in Schools
AI in education: game-changer or classroom chaos? Join our webinar & learn how to navigate this evolving tech responsibly.
Education Webinar Developing and Executing Impactful Research Campaigns to Fuel Your Ed Marketing Strategy 
Develop impactful research campaigns to fuel your marketing. Join the EdWeek Research Center for a webinar with actionable take-aways for companies who sell to K-12 districts.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Student Well-Being New Florida Law Aims to Get Kids Off Social Media. Will It Work?
The law is one way the state is addressing what it sees as the negative effects of social media on children.
5 min read
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis delivers remarks during a press conference at the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District headquarters at Walt Disney World, in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., on Feb. 22, 2024. Florida will have one of the country's most restrictive social media bans for minors — if it withstands expected legal challenges — under a bill signed by Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on March 25, 2024.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis delivers remarks during a press conference in Lake Buena Vista on Feb. 22.
Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel via AP
Student Well-Being Opinion 4 Steps Students Can Take to Help Make Tough Decisions
When students feel stuck, they can harness the power of the nonconscious mind to help them move forward.
Kennon Sheldon
2 min read
Images shows a stylized artistic landscape with soothing colors.
Getty
Student Well-Being From Our Research Center Students Think Social Media Is Fine, But Teachers See a Mental Health Minefield
It's important for adults to recognize and understand teens’ perspectives in order to teach healthy social media habits.
8 min read
Custom illustration showing a young female student floating above a cell phone while in a protective bubble that looks like a split happy and sad emoji. Digital and techie textures applied to the background.
Taylor Callery for Education Week
Student Well-Being Q&A 'It Terrifies Me': Clinical Psychologist on Tech Overuse in the Age of AI
Lisa Strohman has dedicated her career to connecting the dots between tech overuse/misuse and mental health problems.
4 min read
Custom illustration showing a young female student wearing a book bag and standing inside a protective bubble that looks like a split happy and sad emoji.
Taylor Callery for Education Week