Year: 2025
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Research objectives and problems: The aim of this study was to determine whether there is a statistically significant relationship between elementary school students’ level of moral development and their academic achievement. The research examined the connection between students’ moral development and their overall grade point average (GPA), as well as their achievement in art-related subjects (painting and music) and science subjects (mathematics and physics). Research methods: The study employed a survey technique to collect data on students’ academic performance and a scaling technique to measure moral development. The moral development scale consists of 65 items assessing moral knowledge, attitudes, and behavior. Process of argumentation: The paper is structured around a theoretical and methodological framework. The theoretical section analyzes major theories of moral development and relevant empirical findings, while the methodological section presents the research aims, questions, hypotheses, sample description, instruments, and research procedure. Research findings and their impact on the development of educational sciences: The analysis shows that there is no statistically significant relationship between overall academic success and moral development, nor between achievement in science subjects and moral development. It is also important to note that students who earned higher grades in painting achieved a higher level of moral development than other students. Students with high grades in art demonstrated statistically significantly higher results on the moral development scale. Given that this relationship was not confirmed for music, the hypothesis concerning art subjects is only partially supported. Conclusions and/or recommendations: Regardless of the results obtained, future research should be directed toward examining children’s morality in a larger sample of students. Although the level of moral development does not statistically significantly differ depending on students’ overall academic success, the difference observed in art-related subjects provides a basis for more detailed investigation. Further studies with larger and more diverse samples are needed to validate these results and explore potential mediating factors influencing moral development.
Author: Marija Tomic
Institutions: University of Banja Luka, Independent University Banja Luka
Language: English
Topic: Values and Moral Education
Subfield: Education
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W7117708634
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