A Comparative Analysis Between Montessori and Al-Ghazali’s Perspectives on Child Education [Analisis Komparatif Terhadap Prinsip-Prinsip Al-Ghazali dan Montessori Dalam Pendidikan Kanak-Kanak]
Abstract/Notes: Childhood education goes with a lot of innocence, searching and exploring the environment that surrounds the young learners. The amount of energy and inquisitiveness displayed by children at this tender age is a marble to many parents and teachers alike. This small-scale research represents a sincere attempt to contrastively analyze Montessori and Al-Ghazali’s ideas on child education. The ideas of the two scholars, one from the West and the other from the East, till these days have great significance to their respective communities. In a way, this study should be seen as an initiative undertaken in the absence of a study discussing the differences and commonalities found in the ideas of the two scholars pertaining to child education. By employing the textual analysis method and using Montessori’s principles of child education as the framework, the researchers conducted a comparative analysis. In the course of analyzing the data, the researchers had identified six emerging themes in the ideas of Montessori and Al-Ghazali. The findings have also indicated that the principles of these two prominent scholars either intersect with each other or stand in total isolation.
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Pendidikan kanak-kanak berlakumalalui proses pencariandan penerokaanterhadap persekitaran mereka. Keceriaan dan sifat ingin tahu yang dipamerkan oleh kanak-kanak dalam proses tersebut amatlah penting bagi para ibubapa dan guru Pandangan-pandangan Montessori dan Al-Ghazali tentang pendidikan kanak-kanak telah meninggalkan kesan yang amat penting dalam komuniti Barat dan Timur hingga ke hari ini. Kajian ini dilakukanuntuk membandingkan pandangan kedua-dua cendekiawan ini tentang pendidikan kanak-kanak. Secara tidak langsung, ia boleh dilihat sebagai usaha untuk mengisi kekurangan dalam bidang kajian. Kajian ini menggunakan kaedah analisa tekstual dan prinsip pendidikan kanak-kanak Montessori sebagai rangka kajian. Daripada kajian ini, terdapat enam tema yang boleh digarapkan daripadapandangan kedua-dua cendekiawanyang didapati secara bersilang atau terpisah di antara satu sama lain.
Abstract/Notes: The main purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of the Montessori Method of education on 4-5 years old preschool children's creativity in Tabriz. The data were gathered through a quasi – experimental research with pre-test, post-test, and control group, administering Torrance pictorial from B test. The statistical population of the study included all educational centers of 4-5 year old children, which comprised 500 preschools in the academic year 92-93. The research sample of the present study included 50 preschoolers (25 in the experimental group and 25 in the control group) who were selected randomly through cluster sampling. The Montessori Method of education was employed for three months. After that, the data was gathered and analyzed through Covariance method. The results indicated that the Montessori Method of education was effective on the 4-5 year old children's creativity. Regarding four dimensions of creativity, Montessori Method was effective in enhancing the dimensions of fluency, flexibility, originality and elaboration in children.
Language: Persian
ISSN: 2345-6299, 2476-5627
Article
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Some Cycles of Nature: Applications of M. Montessori's Cosmic Education in a Nursery School
Abstract/Notes: By means of Montessori education, children aged from 3 to 6 years were introduced to the basics of earth-sciences in general and of glaciology in particular. For this purpose, a one-year-program was established under the principles of Cosmic Education (Sensu Montessori) in order to provide an insight in some parts of the afore mentioned sciences via 3 steps. Step 1 brought up introductory informations about earth sciences, historical geology, planetology, and climatology. In Step 2, specific information about the Ice Ages and glaciology was given by introducing a story about a personified glacier which included information on mass budget (ablation/accumulation), dynamics, features (crevasses), and in relation to those, the dangers of a glacier. Step 3 completed the program by giving the children the opportunity for depicting and acting out their knowledge via glacier-“modelling”, painting, dancing, and making music.After this one-year-program the children were able to give a simple account of the basic principles of climatology and glaciology, which may contribute to a more careful and respectful attitude towards their environment.The program turned out as a helpful and appropriate tool for giving an introduction into the great cycles of nature to preschool children, not only in nursery schools, but also at home with their families. In addition, the interactive and hands-on ways of presentation described were responded by the children with interest and sometimes enthusiasm, which is taken as further evidence for the tool's efficacy.
Patricia H. Miller
(Author) , Patricia A. Aloise-Young (Author)
Publication: Journal of Experimental Child Psychology,
vol. 60, no. 2
Date: 1995
Pages: 284-303
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Abstract/Notes: Preschoolers′ strategic behavior was examined on a task in which they must decide whether two arrays are the same. Fifty-six 3- and 4-year-olds selected doors to open which exposed parts of the arrays. Children made moderate use of an appropriate "vertical-pairs" strategy-viewing spatially corresponding parts of the two arrays-and it facilitated performance. Telling nonstrategic children to use the strategy or executing it for them improved their same-different judgments. However, increased spontaneous production of the vertical-pairs strategy over trials did not consistently improve judgments, which suggests a strategy utilization deficiency. Other microgenetic analyses revealed that children tended to use several strategies over the trials and that strategy changes often were not developmentally progressive or driven by failure of another strategy. The discussion addressed production and utilization deficiencies and the diversity of strategy development.
Abstract/Notes: On the basis of the analysis of the general characteristics of alternative schools and the methodology of pedagogical research, the comparison and synthesis of the obtained facts were formed. It is pointed out that in the field of pedagogy, the adoption of (positivist) methodology has become a global trend. It emphasizes the uncritical application of research tools from the corpus of quantitative methodology in research of specific educational problems, as well as in research of alternative schools in which the context of the research is significantly different than the one of the conventional public schools.
A Complement to Lifestyle Assessment: Using Montessori Sensorial Experiences to Enhance and Intensify Early Recollections
Sara Anne Cosgrove
(Author) , Roger A. Ballou (Author)
Publication: Journal of Individual Psychology,
vol. 62, no. 1
Date: 2006
Pages: 47-58
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Abstract/Notes: The Montessori and Adlerian techniques of working with individuals have many parallels. The main premise in Montessori education is to "follow the child" and in Individual Psychology to "follow the movement of the client." A difference in the two philosophies is the use of sensory materials. Montessori education uses sensorial materials extensively, whereas Individual Psychology rarely puts emphasis on using the senses in the healing process. This article explores Montessori's use of sensorial experiences as a means to complement the Adlerian technique of lifestyle assessment. The integration of sensorial experiences into the early recollection gathering process enhances the verbalization of feelings and reduces reliance on intellectualizing.
Language: English
ISSN: 1522-2527, 2332-0583
Article
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The Magic School Bus Dilemma: How Fantasy Affects Children’s Learning from Stories
Abstract/Notes: Although children’s books often include fantasy, research suggests that children do not learn as well from fantastical stories as from realistic ones. The current studies investigated whether the type of fantasy matters, in effect testing two possible mechanisms for fantasy’s interference. Across two studies, 110 5-year-olds were read different types of fantastical stories containing a problem and then were asked to solve an analogous problem in a real lab setting. Children who were read a minimally fantastical version of the story, in which the story occurred on another planet “that looked just like Earth,” were no more likely to transfer the solution than children who heard a story that was slightly more fantastical in that the story occurred on another planet and that planet looked different from Earth (e.g., orange grass, a green sky). In contrast, significantly higher rates of learning were observed when the story contained those elements and two physically impossible events (e.g., walking through walls). Furthermore, this improvement was obtained only when the impossible events preceded, and not when they followed, the educational content. Although fantasy may sometimes detract from learning (as other research has shown), these new studies suggest that minimal fantasy does not and that particular types of fantasy may even increase learning. We propose that the mechanism for this may be that a small dose of impossible events induces deeper processing of the subsequent events in the story.
Abstract/Notes: This article is based on a study of an ‘English-medium’ preschool programme for underprivileged children. The diverse linguistic backgrounds of the teachers and students prompted an enquiry into how multiple languages would be negotiated in the setting and how comprehension, learning and communication would occur given that none of the children came from English-speaking homes. The article identifies and interprets key features of verbal language that were observed in the setting and articulates implications for educational practice.
The Effectiveness of a Counseling Program Based on the Use of Montessori Method on Adaptive Environmental Behavior in a Sample of Children with Mild Intellectual Disability
Abstract/Notes: The present study aims to identify the effectiveness of a counseling program based on the use of the Montessori method on the environmental adaptive behavior in a sample of children with mild intellectual disabilities, identifying also the differences in the level of behavioral adaptation in a sample of children on the adaptive behavior scale pre/post application of the program. The researchers define a sample of (40) items, applied to a sample consisting of (40) children with mild intellectual disabilities, aged between (10-12) years, selected from boys, divided equally to (20) experimental samples and (20) control samples, from Al-Ghafir Foundation for people with special needs. The researcher has used the (experimental) method and applied the scale of adaptive behavior. The research has come to several results, the most important of which is that there is a statistically significant correlation between the average scores of the control group and the experimental group, regarding the post application of the total adaptive behavior scale. There are statistically significant differences between the average scores of the experimental group, regarding the post/ follow up application of the adaptive behavioral scale. There are statistically significant differences between the average scores of the control group and the experimental group regarding the post-application of the total behavior scale, in favor of the experimental group. The research reached a set of recommendations, the most important of which are: the necessity of providing the necessary tools for developing skills for children with disabilities within government institutions, setting a special budget.
Ine H. van Liempd
(Author) , Paul P. M. Leseman (Author)
, Ora Oudgenoeg – Paz (Author)
Publication: Journal of Environmental Psychology,
vol. 67
Date: 2020
Pages: 101385
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Abstract/Notes: There is increasing awareness that the physical environment plays a critical role in young children's cognitive and social development, by offering opportunities for exploration and interaction. In this article a narrative review is presented of 19 studies, published between 1987 and 2017, into the relation between spatial characteristics of the indoor play environment of center-based early childhood care and education settings and children's social and cognitive behavior and development. Studies involved children between six months and six years of age. Several studies reported consistent, interesting outcomes. A layout with an open-zoned arrangement, enabling children to keep eye contact with the caregiver was found to stimulate children to use the space more fully. Designated activity areas for activities such as pretend play and construction elicited different types of social and cognitive behaviors. However, the number of studies is small, and very diverse, both in content and in methodology. Suggestions for future research are discussed.