Abstract/Notes: The 8th International Montessori Congress took place in San Remo, from 22-29 August, 1949. The title of the Congress was 'La formazione dell’uomo nella ricostruzione mondiale.'

Language: English

Published: Amsterdam, The Netherlands: Montessori Pierson Publishing Company, 2019

ISBN: 978-90-79506-44-6

Series: The Montessori Series , 14

Language: English

Language: English

Abstract/Notes: This purpose of this action research project was created to study the effects of a peace curriculum and how it can help mitigate a pandemic or a traumatic societal event. The study took place in a public Montessori School located in the Midwest. There was a total of 15 children in the classroom that consisted of both pre-k and kindergarten aged children. This was a six- week study that included a peace curriculum, strategies, and tools for children to gain an understanding of peace and how it can be achieved during traumatic or stressful situations. The Peace Curriculum included discussions on natural disasters and our current COVID-19 virus as means to familiarize traumatic events and the use of coping strategies in promoting self-care. The children were provided with different group activities, strategies, and techniques to use, such as breathing techniques, visualization, yoga/movement, and discussions on peacemakers and how we all have the power to make a difference in the world and become global citizens. Quantitative and qualitative data collections were used to both determine their understanding of their emotions and develop ways to find their inner peace, peacemaking and peace keeping skills. The results showed that the children developed an awareness of others, their environment, and their abilities to be change agents and peacemakers. The outcome proved to have been effective providing children with an environment where they feel safe to share their thoughts and apply the strategies when coping with their own traumatic experiences.

Language: English

Published: River Falls, Wisconsin, 2021

Abstract/Notes: Alongside the growing body of research on nature in education, there is a predilection for the implementation of mindfulness-based strategies in the classroom. The research on mindfulness, however, is notably limited when it comes to mindfulness practices in early childhood education. Moreover, school implementation focuses on the addition of mindfulness-based curriculum, rather than the thoughtful construction of an environment that can best encourage and develop the practice of mindfulness. This action research took place at a public Montessori charter school in a midwestern town. The school's Children's House, consisting of 40 students, 4-6 years of age, hikes and explores the surrounding woods twice a week. In an effort to examine the relationship between time spent in nature, at school, and the possible impacts on children's wellbeing and the classroom environment, this study used both qualitative and quantitative tools. After charting classroom engagement ("focus"); gathering anecdotal evidence; interviewing children and staff; and conducting parent surveys, the collected data indicates that time spent in nature is both beneficial (especially to children who struggle in a conventional school setting) and desired by the school community. This study contends that providing access to nature, instead of a structured implementation of a mindfulness curriculum, might be an important component to consider when designing or espousing educational practices that cultivate mindfulness within early childhood classrooms.

Language: English

Published: River Falls, Wisconsin, 2019

Abstract/Notes: "The Association Montessori Internationale in organizing its sixth Congress on the theme "Educate for Peace" did not intend to depart from its aim of protecting and illustrating the personality of the child in order to enter the political struggle. Our effort is to draw the...

Language: English

Abstract/Notes: Montessori education was developed over 100 years ago, and persists as a marginal ‘niche reform’ of the standard model. Here I discuss two unresolved dichotomies in early childhood education – the tension between work and play, and between structure and freedom. I explain how Montessori collapses and thereby resolves the dichotomies, and does so in a contemporary theoretical frame – one that is dynamical rather than linear. I next describe the origins and functioning of Montessori preschool environments, outcomes from the most methodologically sound studies to date, and impediments to Montessori’s more widespread adoption. I also show how Montessori is a culturally responsive pedagogy, and conclude by return to the dichotomies and how Montessori makes sense for the modern era. Originally published in: Early Child Development and Care, volume 191, issue 7–8 (2021), pp. 1196–1206.

Language: English

Published: New York, New York: Routledge, 2022

ISBN: 978-0-367-63674-6 978-0-367-63675-3 978-1-00-312021-6

Language: Italian

Published: Trento, Italy: Erickson, 2019

ISBN: 978-88-590-2042-4 88-590-2042-5

Abstract/Notes: Reformpädagogik gilt bis heute als »magische Größe«. Ihre Anhänger verzaubert sie mit der eingängigen Formel: Nicht nur »naturgemäß« soll Erziehung sein, sondern auch wertschätzend, praxisnah und individuell. So verspricht sie Heilung (von falscher Pädagogik) und argumentiert scheinheilig: Sowohl »begradigen« als auch »überwinden« sind unverzichtbare Bestandteile ihres Kanons pädagogischer Leitbegriffe. Die Kindheitskonzepte von Maria Montessori und Ellen Key werden besonders dafür geschätzt, dass sie das »Leben« feiern. Dabei argumentieren sie mitunter allerdings wenig lebensbejahend. Besonders augenfällig ist, dass sie vor allem gesunde, normale und folgsame Kinder besonders wertschätzen. Der ideale Nachwuchs soll sowohl folgsam als auch unauffällig sein: Nicht jedes Kind ist aus sich heraus wertvoll. Daher appellieren sie an künftige Eltern, möglichst nur den richtigen Erbanlagen ins Leben zu verhelfen (was nicht zwangsläufig die eigenen sind). Überhaupt haben beide sehr konkrete Vorstellungen davon, wie Kinder sein müssen... und was passieren könnte, wenn sie nicht sind, wie sie sein sollen. [Reform pedagogy is still considered a »magic factor« today. She enchants her followers with the catchy formula: Education should not only be »natural«, but also appreciative, practical and individual. So she promises healing (from false pedagogy) and hypocritically argues: Both "straighten" and "overcome" are indispensable components of her canon of pedagogical guiding principles. Maria Montessori and Ellen Key's concepts of childhood are particularly valued for their celebration of "life." Sometimes, however, their arguments are not very life-affirming. What is particularly striking is that they particularly appreciate healthy, normal and obedient children. The ideal offspring should be both obedient and inconspicuous: not every child is valuable in and of itself. They therefore appeal to future parents to only help the right hereditary factors into life (which are not necessarily their own). In general, both have very specific ideas about how children should be... and what could happen if they aren't how they should be.]

Language: German

Published: Paderborn, Germany: Ferdinand Schöningh, 2013

ISBN: 978-3-657-77324-4 3-657-77324-X 978-3-506-77324-1

Language: English

Archive: Seattle University, Lemieux Library and McGoldrick Learning Commons, Special Collections