Abstract/Notes: It is a very difficult task to provide adequate education in the United States for children living in an inner-city environment, with problems of poverty, minority status, drugs, crime, gangs, suicide, despair, and many single-parent households. This is a Case Study of how one Arizona inner-city poverty community has risen to answer these educational demands for its children through a Montessori theory-based Charter Pre-12 school. The 650 student population served in this school is approximately 80% Hispanic American, 12% African American, and 8% Native, Asian and European American. Data were gathered from extensive interviews, observations, and document analysis. They were analyzed and evaluated in three ways: first, according to a literature review of the educational theories of Maria Montessori, then according to those of Paulo Freire, and lastly, according to a review of Charter school books, articles, and government documents available up to January of 2000. The results were an in-depth description of first, the history of this community's needs, its struggle to establish and fund the school, then the resulting educational program which it developed and implemented, and lastly, the community's positive evaluation of it's efforts. The curriculum described had extensive use of ESL and cultural appreciation programs, hands-on student initiated and student-implemented programs, integrated curriculum and critical thinking programs, job-skills related programs, self-esteem and character development programs, and Sustainable Systems Ecology Education demonstration programs. All these findings were presented in a manner which could be useful to other Administrators, who might desire to use this school's example to begin or to improve their own programs for a similarly disadvantaged inner-city population. Conclusions were that after five years of operation, this community empowerment school has indeed found methods, curriculum and programs that have successfully helped to meet the emotional, cultural, moral, and educational needs of the children in this particular poverty community. Conclusions were also that this community's experiences are valuable and appropriate for examination by other prospective Charter school Administrators from similar communities.

Language: English

Published: San Francisco, California, 2000

Abstract/Notes: Delivered at Tenth International Democratic Education Conference, Christchurch, New Zealand

Language: English

Abstract/Notes: Third Convention Lecture, Adyar, 28 December 1941. For the first time Dr. Montessori spoke in deliberate but expressive English throughout the whole of her lecture.

Language: English

ISSN: 0972-1851

Language: German

Abstract/Notes: It is aimed in this study to analyze the effects of the Montessori education method on children with Down syndrome and autism having special training who have received and not received Montessori education through the Eurofit test batteries selected for motor skills and physical fitness. A total of 20 male children with Down syndrome and autism in the age range of 12 to 16 and receiving and not receiving Montessori education at two different special education and rehabilitation centers in Kayseri were included in the study. The treatment group included a total of 10 children, 5 with Down syndrome and 5 with autism, and the control group of 10 children, 5 with Down syndrome and 5 with autism. While the volunteers included in the treatment group received Montessori education, those included in the control group received a traditional education. In the study, the volunteers performed the selected Eurofit tests including flamingo balance, plate tapping, sit and reach, handgrip and standing long jump tests. When the results of the Eurofit test batteries of the treatment and control groups were examined, plate tapping and standing long jump test results were found significant in the comparison of the pretest and posttest of the treatment group (p < 0.05). In the pretest and posttest comparison of the control group students, a significant difference was determined in the sit and reach test (p < 0.05). In the posttest comparison of the control and treatment groups, a statistically significant difference was determined between the pretest and posttest measurements of the plate tapping and between the pretest and posttest measurements of the standing long jump (p < 0.05). In the pretest comparison of the control and treatment groups, no statistically significant difference was found between the pretest and posttest of flamingo balance, pretest and posttest of plate tapping, pretest and posttest of sit and reach, pretest and posttest of standing long jump and pretest and posttest of handgrip measurements of the control and treatment groups (p > 0.05). Consequently, the use of Montessori education materials supports the big and small muscle groups of children with disabilities since most of them learn about an object through touch. In our study, when some activity and motor skills of the children with down syndrome and autism in the special rehabilitation school that uses the Montessori education method were analyzed, it was observed that there was an improvement in their physical activities and some motor skills according to the results of plate tapping, standing long jump and sit and reach tests. It is recommended that education programs can be prepared by using Montessori Approach as part of the education programs applied in preschool education institutions and that they can be used more widely together with traditional education programs.

Language: English

DOI: 10.30918/AERJ.104.22.074

ISSN: 2354-2160

Language: English

ISSN: 0039-5404

Abstract/Notes: Margaret Stephenson begins with the reasoning elementary child as he answers questions about "all things." She centers on the unity of knowledge, leading "from the whole via the parts back to the whole." Imagination is enhanced to bring abstraction to an engaging and lofty motivation, and the elementary self is referred to as the "atom of the spirit." Miss Stephenson moves from the early "sensory" exploration of the three to six prepared environment to the language of its parts, flowing through names, then communication of ideas, and finally the languages of world, invention, and human keys to understanding. [Reprinted from "AMI Communications," n 1, 1993, pages 14-28. Copyright 2011 AMI/USA. Reprinted with permission.]

Language: English

ISSN: 1522-9734

Language: English

ISSN: 0889-5643

Language: English

ISSN: 1054-0040

Abstract/Notes: The World is One Family was written to commemorate 100 years of Montessori education in New Zealand.

Language: English

Published: Nelson, New Zealand: Montessori Association of New Zealand, 2007