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Article
Does Preschool Curriculum Make a Difference in Primary School Performance: Insights into the Variety of Preschool Activities and Their Effects on School Achievement and Behaviour in the Caribbean Island of Trinidad; Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal evidence
Available from: Taylor and Francis Online
Publication: Early Child Development and Care, vol. 103, no. 1
Date: 1994
Pages: 27-42
Americas, Caribbean, Latin America and the Caribbean, Trinidad and Tobago
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Abstract/Notes: Preschool education is an important and much studied topic in developed countries, and of growing importance in the third world. Studies exploring preschool experience have noted positive effects when comparing children with access to preschool versus children without access, and effects of particular curriculum approaches over the length of primary schooling. This study adopts a focused sample, cross‐sectional design to explore the types of preschool experience available (denoted by types of preschool activities which equate broadly to curriculum approaches) and whether variation in preschool experience affects core curriculum (English, science, mathematics) performance and classroom behaviours throughout the years of primary schooling in Trinidad and when children complete their primary education in the form of a national ‘common entrance examination’ for entry into a stratified secondary school system. Results show that a large majority of the sampled children attended preschool and that most of the preschool experience was traditional and teacher centred. Neither child centred or teacher centred preschool activities affected academic performance in the core subjects during the primary school years or at the end of their primary school career. Type of preschool activity did affect teacher perception of behaviour in class. Child centred experience facilitated a social/peer orientation in children. High levels of teacher centred experience detracted from later relationships with teacher. Results were confounded by social class, with middle class children having most access to (the limited amount available) child centred preschool experience and performing at the highest academic and behavioural levels in the classroom although in limited numbers. The discussion questions the appropriacy of the various preschool activities for pupils within a cultural orientation of traditional upbringing and primary schooling practices.
Language: English
ISSN: 0300-4430, 1476-8275
Doctoral Dissertation
Exploring Forest Kindergarten Practices in Türki̇ye: Kindergarten Founders’, Teachers’, and Parents’ Knowledge of Forest Pedagogy [Exploring Forest Kindergarten Practices in Turkey: Kindergarten Founders’, Teachers’, and Parents’ Knowledge of Forest Pedagogy]
Available from: Middle East Technical University
Asia, Comparative education, Early childhood care and education, Early childhood education, Forest school (learning style), Middle East, Open-air schools, Private schools, Turkey, Western Asia
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Abstract/Notes: This study had several objectives. First, to investigate the practices of forest kindergartens in three different geographic regions of Türkiye. Second, to explore how the founders of forest kindergartens overcome challenges and take advantage of favorable circumstances as they set up and run the kindergartens. Third, to research the challenges and favorable circumstances that teachers face in such kindergartens and ways to deal with them. Fourth, to examine what kinds of cultural adaptations kindergarten founders and teachers need to make to use Forest Pedagogy in their own culture or location. Fifth, to elicit the kindergarten founders', teachers', and parents' knowledge of Forest Pedagogy. And sixth, to explore how parents' knowledge of Forest Pedagogy relates to their expectations of forest kindergartens. This study included members of the forest kindergartens (N = 21), which comprised the founders (N = 3), teachers (N = 9), and parents (N = 9). The study discovered that forest kindergartens were not typical, despite sharing similar practices with other kindergartens, such as the daily use of outdoor playgrounds. The diversity of the outdoor settings employed by forest kindergartens varied from region to region, depending on their geographical characteristics. However, they shared certain challenges with other kindergartens, such as a lack of unstructured and affordable natural settings surrounding the kindergartens. In all cases, the kindergarten founders and teachers had limited knowledge of sustainable attitudes for children and the significance of risky play. Yet, the parents possessed the knowledge to value free, muddy, and risky play throughout the year.
Language: English
Published: Ankara, Turkey, 2022
Article
Primary Schools [Stepping Stones, North Western, Southside Primary School, Forestville Montessori School]
Publication: Montessori Matters, no. 1
Date: 1985
Pages: 7
Australasia, Australia, Australia and New Zealand, Montessori schools, Oceania
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Language: English
Article
School Calms Chaos Through Montessori Education: Gather Forest School in Decatur Is Part of a Growing Number of Montessori-Inspired Schools Targeting Black Students.
Available from: ProQuest
Publication: The Atlanta Journal - Constitution (Atlanta, Georgia)
Date: Jul 26, 2022
Pages: C1
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Language: English
ISSN: 1539-7459
Doctoral Dissertation
Skolans Levda Rum och Lärandets Villkor: Meningsskapande i Montessoriskolans Fysiska Miljö [The School's Living Space and the Conditions of Learning: Creating Meaning in the Montessori School's Physical Environment]
Architecture, Design, Environment, Europe, Nordic countries, Northern Europe, Scandinavia, Sweden
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Abstract/Notes: This study examines the school’s physical environment as a place of learning, and takes its starting point in the phenomenology movement, inspired both by Merleau-Ponty’s thesis of man’s physical relation to the world and by the existential analysis represented by Heidegger which implies a mutual relationship between man and the world. Such a view rejects a standpoint which describes man as being divided between a material body and a thinking soul. Instead, there emerges an embodied self which engages in meaningful interaction with its surroundings. The choice of this standpoint has implications for the design of the school’s physical environment. Montessori pedagogy is one of the activity-based pedagogies which have designed the physical environment in line with this theory. The purpose of the study is to understand, but further to visualise, the way in which the conditions for learning for children and adolescents are created in schools, from pre-school to lower secondary level, which follow the Montessori pedagogy. The material for the empirical study has been gathered from Europe and the US and from differing social contexts. The reason for this is to discover what distinguishes the prepared environment. The study also discusses the way in which the argument for a form of schooling which is based on activity, from the early 20th century to the present day, has been addressed through the architectural design of schools. The thesis shows that the rich array of didactic material in the schools observed offers pupils the opportunity to perform activities which create meaning. The organisation of the environment provides the pupils with the necessary conditions to concentrate fully on their work and to complete their tasks without interruption. I see the didactic continuity which prevails from pre-school to the lower secondary school in the Montessori schools studied as a prerequisite if the pedagogical activity is to offer meaning and create the conditions for learning in the way demonstrated by the empirical studies.
Language: Swedish
Published: Stockholm, Sweden, 2012
Article
Learning Through Movement: A Body Management Program for Pre-School and Elementary School Age Children
Available from: University of Connecticut Libraries - American Montessori Society Records
Publication: The Constructive Triangle (1965-1973), vol. 6, no. 4
Date: Spring 1971
Pages: 5-10
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Language: English
ISSN: 0010-700X
Article
USA: Montessori-Pädagogik in der Grundschule: ein portrait der Butler School in Darnestown, Maryland, USA [USA: Montessori Education in Elementary School: a portrait of the Butler School in Darnestown, Maryland, USA]
Publication: Montessori: Zeitschrift für Montessori-Pädagogik, vol. 38, no. 3
Date: 2000
Pages: 150-163
Americas, Montessori method of education, North America, United States of America
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Language: German
ISSN: 0944-2537
Article
A Class of Special Character [Montessori school-within-a-school, Arthur Street School, Dunedin]
Publication: Montessori NewZ, vol. 4
Date: Dec 1996
Pages: 9
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Language: English
Article
Schoolakties - schoolakties - schoolakties
Available from: Stadsarchief Amsterdam (Amsterdam City Archives)
Publication: Montessori Opvoeding, no. 3
Date: Jun 1970
Pages: 50-52
Nederlandse Montessori Vereniging
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Language: Dutch
Article
“My Name Is Sally Brown, and I Hate School!”: A Retrospective Study of School Liking Among Conventional and Montessori School Alumni
Available from: Wiley Online Library
Publication: Psychology in the Schools, vol. 60, no. 3
Date: Mar 2023
Pages: 541-565
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Abstract/Notes: School liking shows clear associations with academic success, yet we know little about how it changes over levels of schooling, what predicts liking school at each level, or how attending alternative schools like Montessori might impact liking. To better understand school liking across time and education settings, we surveyed adults about how much they remember liking elementary, middle, and high school, and identified key school features that predicted higher school liking at each level. Because Montessori schools have many features that other literature suggests predict higher school liking, we purposely sampled Montessori alumni as well, and compared their schools' features for elementary school only (due to sample size). Moreover, we collected open-ended responses about what participants in both conventional and Montessori liked least about school, revealing what features of their school experiences might have led to less overall school liking. The unique contributions of this study are (1) showing how a wide range of school features predict recalled school liking, (2) examining data for all school levels using a single sample of participants, and (3) comparing recalled school liking and its predictors across conventional and Montessori schools. The sample included 630 adults, of whom 436 were conventional school alumni and 187 were Montessori alumni (7 participants did not report school type). Participants' mean age was 35.8 years (SD = 10.53, range = 19–77), and 53% were female. Participants were recruited online, and they responded to Qualtrics surveys about school liking, school features, and their demographics. School liking overall was tepid, and was highest in elementary and lowest in middle school. For all participants, recalling a sense of community and interest in schoolwork were most strongly associated with school liking. Adults who attended schools which emphasized studying topics of personal interest and rewards for positive behavior also liked school more. Montessori school alumni reported higher school liking and that learning was what they liked most about school; by contrast, conventional school alumni most liked seeing friends. Levels of school liking, as recalled by adults, are low overall, but are higher in elementary school and higher amongst those who recall their schools as having stronger community, catering more to student interest, and rewarding positive behavior. In addition, school liking was higher among people who attended Montessori schools. Further research could extend to a cross-sectional study of children currently enrolled in different types of schools.
Language: English
DOI: 10.1002/pits.22777
ISSN: 0033-3085, 1520-6807