Article
Don’t Throw the Rocks!: Cultivating Care With a Pedagogy Called Rocks-in-the-Basket
Journal of Research in Childhood Education
(2014)
Abstract
Due to the current focus on individual achievement in education, relational ethical stances, such as care ethics, are particularly important. To be prepared to teach care ethics, teachers need exposure to pedagogies that cultivate students’ capacity to care. Care refers to the capacity to become aware of and attend to others’ needs. This study examined a case of care theory in practice through a pedagogical strategy called “rocks-in-the-basket.” The findings illuminate what is involved in translating care ethics into pedagogical features: (1) without predefining caring, the rocks-in-the-basket experience increased students’ awareness of what constitutes care through reflection, (2) a dialogue fostered learning about care, and (3) the practice cultivated a focus on caring acts that otherwise might be overlooked and therefore gave rise to opportunities for students and teachers to develop the habit of mind to confirm each other. These pedagogical features illuminate how to translate a care perspective toward moral education into practice.
Keywords
- caring,
- case study,
- teacher education,
- moral aspects
Disciplines
Publication Date
2014
DOI
10.1080/02568543.2014.883451
Publisher Statement
SJSU users: use the following link to login and access the article via SJSU databases.
Citation Information
Colette Rabin. "Don’t Throw the Rocks!: Cultivating Care With a Pedagogy Called Rocks-in-the-Basket" Journal of Research in Childhood Education Vol. 28 Iss. 2 (2014) p. 145 - 161 ISSN: 0256-8543 Available at: http://works.bepress.com/colette_rabin/17/