Abstract/Notes: Multiage classrooms are an increasingly popular way to restructure schools. To be successful, multiage classrooms must shift their focus from teaching curriculum to teaching children. Strategies recommended for making multiage teaching successful include a process approach to learning, facilitation by the teacher, an integrated curriculum, appropriate learning environments, cross-age learning, flexible groupings, and portfolio assessment. (TM)

Language: English

DOI: 10.1080/00094056.1995.10522590

ISSN: 0009-4056, 2162-0725

Abstract/Notes: Black students consistently underachieve academically in comparison to White students. To minimize the achievement gap between Black students and White students, some experts advocate the use of differentiated instruction as an alternative methodology to teach underachieving students. Differentiated instruction is predicated on teaching students based on their learning abilities and/or learning preferences. The differentiated instructional model examined in this study combined traditional teaching methodology with specific Montessori stage two and stage three constructs. This exploratory qualitative study examined the impact that Montessori constructs combined with traditional teaching methods had on academic achievement of Black students in grades four and five in an inner city school in Dallas County, Texas. The study further explored the sample’s perceptions of and preferences for the combined teaching methodology. The sample group had been exposed to the differentiated teaching model evaluated in the study. Disaggregated 2007 and 2008 TAKS results from the Texas Education Agency were obtained to compare the school’s fourth and fifth grade Black students’ achievement to their cohort groups in the district and in the state. The TAKS data comparisons found variability in performance among the groups in each of the subject areas assessed by TAKS. Qualitative data from a Likert Scale, multiple choice questions, questionnaires, written essay, and interviews were obtained from the participants to examine the students’ perceptions of and preferences for the combined teaching methodology. Data responses were analyzed and themes were developed to determine black students’ preferences for teaching, learning, and factors that contribute to learning. The findings of this study imply that future use of a differentiated instructional model that combines traditional teaching methodology and specific Montessori constructs and principles might be effective in improving Black student achievement.

Language: English

Published: Minneapolis, Minnesota, 2009

Language: English

Abstract/Notes: The Effect of the Montessori Method on teaching was investigated among children to discover their artistic development in Zaria, Kaduna State. The problem of the study is that the Montessori Method on teaching cultural and creative arts is not adequately explored in the primary schools, while other teaching methods used, do not bring out the full potentials of children’s artistic capabilities. Thus the study attempted to find out if the Montessori Method has effect on children’s artistic development. The aim of the study is to explore the effect of the Montessori Methods on the development of children’s creativity. Quasi experimental design was used for analyzing the instruments. A drawing test was administrated to the children using the Montessori Method of teaching; a semi-structured interview was also administered to the teachers. Total of 1,030 pupils (boys and girls) in primary schools from randomly selected schools were involved in the study. The data collected was analyzed using simple t-test, ANOVA and chi-square. The method of teaching was assessed on children’s developmental stages in creative artistic development between pre-schematic stage, schematic stage and gang stage. The findings revealed that the Montessori Method on Teaching had a positive effect on the Children’s artistic development and performance in the primary schools in Zaria. The pupils had a general positive and enthusiastic attitude towards culture and creative arts. This shows that when children are given the opportunity and enough art materials to express themselves, they would be able to display their different characteristics. The Montessori Method of teaching was better adopted than the conventional teaching methods used on the development of the creative artistic abilities of Children in the primary schools.

Language: English

ISSN: 1596-8308

Abstract/Notes: The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between self-concept and perceived levels of stress in the teaching profession at the elementary school level. The subjects of the study were teachers from two communities--Romulus, Michigan and Buffalo, New York. The subjects were chosen by the schools in which they taught and by the methods of teaching which they used. One-half of the total number of the subjects used traditional methods of teaching and one-half of the total number of the subjects used the Montessori Method of teaching. The responses of these teachers were gathered during the 1981 winter school term. The instruments used to gather the data for the study were the Tennessee Self Concept Scale, the Maslach Burnout Inventory, and a personal data questionnaire. The levels of self-concept of the subjects were taken as indicated by the means of the total positive scores of the Tennessee Self Concept Scale. The levels of the subjects' perceived stress were taken as indicated by the means from the Maslach Burnout Inventory in the areas of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal achievement. Pearson product-moment correlations were found to determine if a significant relationship existed between self-concept and the perceived stress of the subjects. Demographic data from the questionnaire were used to divide the subjects into categories which were investigated for significant differences. One way analyses of variance were performed of the self-concept and stress means of the categories to determine if significant differences existed. Statistical significance was chosen at the 0.05 alpha level. For the thirteen null hypotheses formulated and tested, it was concluded that the subjects indicating higher self-concept means, as measured by the Tennessee Self-Concept Scale, also indicated lower stress means, as indicated on the Maslach Burnout Inventory, in the areas of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization, and higher means in the area of personal achievement. Null hypotheses formulated indicating no significant differences of stress or self-concept when the subjects were categorized by teaching methods, years of formal education, number of years of teaching experience, classroom racial dominance, number of students in the classroom, or marital status were all accepted. No significant differences were found at the 0.05 alpha level. The subjects of this study were shown to be similar in life style, education, and work environments. Further studies might bring to light differences if more varied teachers, teaching methods, and levels of education were taken into consideration. Replication of the study may also provide valuable information if performed with subjects from independent schools. A search for areas which the teachers feel are stress producing may also contribute to significant research.

Language: English

Published: Columbus, Ohio, 1981

Abstract/Notes: The emerging knowledge societies will – besides many other dramatic changes – see a teaching revolution. This paper seeks to propose quality standards for this new type of teaching. The paper argues that Peter Drucker experienced much of what he later came to call the principles of self management and effective knowledge work as a boy aged nine or ten at the Schwarzwald School – an utterly exceptional, progressive elementary school in Vienna. Given these astonishing similarities, this school's avant‐garde approach to teaching might just provide some insights into what effective teaching for a future knowledge society should be like. The paper is based to a large extent on accounts by and about the almost forgotten school's owner‐manager Eugenie Schwarzwald, some of which were made available only recently in the course of several biographical research projects dealing with this revolutionary pedagogue and social entrepreneur. Firstly, the paper identifies similarities between the teaching practice at Eugenie Schwarzwald's schools, her approach to leadership on the one hand, and Drucker's principles of effective management and knowledge work on the other. Secondly, it concludes that in a knowledge society both effective management and teaching need to be extensively individualised services – much more than in an industrial mass society. Combined, Schwarzwald's practice and Drucker's teachings challenge some seemingly up‐to‐date practices in both higher education and corporate personnel development, and helps in understanding what actually produces effective personal learning for the rapidly changing knowledge economies of the twenty‐first century. The paper introduces selective aspects of progressive education to the field of management.

Language: English

DOI: 10.1108/00251741011041292

ISSN: 0025-1747

Abstract/Notes: This study explored practicing elementary school teacher’s conceptions of teaching in ways that foster inquiry-based learning in the science curriculum (inquiry teaching). The advocacy for inquiry-based learning in contemporary curricula assumes the principle that students learn in their own way by drawing on direct experience fostered by the teacher. That students should be able to discover answers themselves through active engagement with new experiences was central to the thinking of eminent educators such as Pestalozzi, Dewey and Montessori. However, even after many years of research and practice, inquiry learning as a referent for teaching still struggles to find expression in the average teachers’ pedagogy. This study drew on interview data from 20 elementary teachers. A phenomenographic analysis revealed three conceptions of teaching for inquiry learning in science in the elementary years of schooling: (a) The Experience-centered conception where teachers focused on providing interesting sensory experiences to students; (b) The Problem-centered conception where teachers focused on engaging students with challenging problems; and (c) The Question-centered conception where teachers focused on helping students to ask and answer their own questions. Understanding teachers’ conceptions has implications for both the enactment of inquiry teaching in the classroom as well as the uptake of new teaching behaviors during professional development, with enhanced outcomes for engaging students in Science.

Language: English

DOI: 10.1007/s10972-011-9251-2

ISSN: 1046-560X, 1573-1847

Abstract/Notes: Teaching adults unlike educating children, is a difficult area, owing to the learners’ educational and social background, compounded by their expectations and assumed goals. Bearing in mind that learning and teaching strategies may not be equally effective with all learners, it is advisable to propose such a mode of teaching that would accommodate especially those adults who face difficulties with gaining knowledge, due to factors outside the strictly educational sphere. This is where, Maria Montessori’s pedagogy steps in with a proposal addressed at those persons who have so far failed to succeed in learning a foreign language in a traditional way. Her pedagogy has inspired teachers and educators all over the world and consequently, had a profound effect on the structure and quality of teaching until today. Although it has mainly dealt with educating children and young people until the age of 18, there have been attempts to apply her methodology to adult teaching. The author of this article will look at the ways her philosophy can be adopted in teaching adults, however to get a better perception of the nature of her ideas, some attention has to be drawn to what drove Maria Montessori to devoting her professional life to education.

Language: English

Published: Berlin, Germany: Springer International Publishing, 2021

ISBN: 978-3-030-57799-5

Series: Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing , 1266

Language: English

Abstract/Notes: This paper comprises reviews of multigrade teaching in three countries: Peru, Sri Lanka and Vietnam. For each country, we describe the context for multigrade teaching, the country's education system, the place of multigrade teaching within the system, problems associated with multigrade teaching and current strategies for multigrade teaching. We conclude by noting some common experiences for multigrade schools across the countries, including those of isolation and dispersion, lack of physical facilities, poor teacher backgrounds and conditions, limited classroom teaching and learning strategies and pupils' deprived backgrounds. Also common across the three countries is a national commitment to improving the situation for multigrade classrooms.

Language: English

DOI: 10.1016/S0738-0593(01)00013-X

ISSN: 0738-0593