Abstract/Notes: Over the past several years, with support from key Association Montessori International – USA (AMI-USA) leaders, many Montessori schools have adopted the Ages and Stages Questionnaires (ASQ) as a tool to screen young children for developmental disabilities or delays, to have key conversations with parents, and to ensure children receive the support they may need. While research supports many positive benefits of using such a screener, it is less understood how Montessori guides and administrators of Montessori children perceive potential benefits or challenges of using such a tool. As such, the aims of the present evaluation study are threefold: (1) To investigate the current realities and needs of Montessori community partners in supporting students with developmental disabilities or delays. (2) To assess Montessori guide and administrator attitudes, beliefs, knowledge, skills, confidence, and self-efficacy around using universal screeners to support students with developmental disabilities or delays as well as the extent to which they believe they have requisite the tools and resources they need before and after completing an ASQ training. (3) To highlight associated benefits or challenges of implementing the ASQ training and tool as an aid for Montessori guides and administrators in supporting students with developmental disabilities or delays.

Language: English

Published: Woodsboro, Maryland, June 30, 2023

Abstract/Notes: Montessori education was born in Italy more than a century ago and today it is widespread in at least 36 countries around the world. In Italy, from 2016 to 2021, the number of Montessori primary schools more than doubled. This explanatory and exploratory research is the most comprehensive evaluation of Montessori education ever conducted in Italy. We investigated: a) the impact of Montessori education on academic and socio-emotional outcomes; b) the profiles of Montessori primary school teachers and the extent to which they implemented Montessori education with fidelity. The longitudinal study on the academic outcomes was conducted on 2nd, 5th, 8th and 10th grade students in two separate cohorts. The results demonstrate that, depending on the grade and the cohort considered, Montessori students achieve similar or significantly higher scores than non-Montessori students. In some cases, they achieve more heterogeneous scores, especially in mathematics. More heterogeneous scores were expected according to the hypothesis that Montessori education aims to develop the characteristics of each one and not to standardize academic outcomes. The study on the socio-emotional outcomes was conducted on 8th grade students and it demonstrates that Montessori students achieve significantly higher scores on the empathy scale. The survey on the teachers permitted to delineate 3 different profiles of them, thanks to a cluster analysis. Only the first group of teachers, which made up half of the sample, managed to implement Montessori education with fidelity. These findings highlight two main requirements. The first is the need to continue monitoring and guiding the diffusion of Montessori education among Italian primary schools, to improve and maintain fidelity. The second concerns the reaffirmation of the value of educational practices and the principles of Montessori activism as possible answers that are still valid to the new needs of the Italian school.

Language: Italian, Spanish

Published: Roma, Italy, 2022

Abstract/Notes: The uniqueness of learning in elementary school Sto. Rosario Montessori School Philippines Using the k-12 curriculum, by imitating the United States model, namely the Cooperative Learning model and the Communicative Learning approach. The purpose of this study is to design a teacher-student interaction model for basic education in Indonesia. This model is designed with the benchmarking Sto. Rosario Montessori School, Philippines. This research approach uses a qualitative approach. With the research method of level 1 R&D studies. Then qualitative data processing and data analysis were carried out. Data analysis gives meaning to the data from observations, interviews, documentation, and literature studies that have been collected so that they get a very important meaning in a study. Analyzing qualitative data can be done by reducing data, displaying data, and data conclusions. The result of this research is the design of the teacher-student interaction model for elementary school students which contains the philosophy, concepts, mechanisms and general guidelines for the application of the model. The model in this study uses cooperative learning and communicative learning. (1) The philosophy of the model “students are unique creatures”; (2) The concept of the model: cases, individual conditions of students and solving cases faced by students; (3) The model mechanism: (a) Mapping of students’ conditions; (b) Teacher training on leadership patterns; (c) The teacher classifies the students’ condition; (d) implementation of teaching and learning; (4) General instructions for implementing the designed model.

Language: English

ISSN: 2503-0256, 2355-0155

Abstract/Notes: The goal of this research was to explore teachers' and university students' perceptions of material, cognitive and affective-motivational characteristics as well as the acceptance of didactic materials used in Montessori schools. It has been found that both teachers and university students are not familiar enough with alternative pedagogical concepts and believe there's an insufficient number of them in Croatia. While teachers prefer Cosmic Education and Mathematics materials, university students like Language Education materials more, although teachers show more willingness to use Language Education materials in teaching whereas university students use Cosmic Education materials more readily. Both university students and teachers find it most demanding to make Cosmic Education materials, but they also believe such materials to be most concrete. The results have shown that both university students and teachers are more willing to use in teaching such positively evaluated examples of Montessori didactic materials, which have been explored in this research, when they believe them to be valuable, desirable, necessary and useful.

Language: Croatian, English

DOI: 10.15516/cje.v17i3.1054

ISSN: 1848-5189, 1848-5197

Language: English

Abstract/Notes: The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of mindfulness-based interventions, such as the MindUP curriculum and Exercises of Practical Life, on primary and elementary aged students’ self-regulation skills. This study consisted of a sample size of 38 students from three different Montessori environments. The data was collected over a period of four weeks using a pre and post parent assessment, observational field notes and tally sheets, and a behavioral student self-assessment tool. Results show a connection between the mindfulness interventions implemented and the children’s ability to self-regulate their behaviors and emotions. The data shows positive effects on student self-regulatory skills and it can be integrated into the classroom to facilitate student academic achievement. Our recommendation for future research is to allow for more time to conduct the study.

Language: English

Published: St. Paul, Minnesota, 2019

Abstract/Notes: This study aims to bring clarity to the relationship between procedural mathematical work and abstracted math learning when carrying in addition and multiplication. To explore this relationship, researchers employed both quantitative and qualitative data tools that unearthed the nuances within this specific process of math learning. Participants in the study included twenty-nine students from two different schools in different mixed age groups including ages three-to-six-years-old and six-to-nine-years-old. Students participated in a six-week intervention process, working on dynamic addition and multiplication using conceptual mathematical language to support the process. The findings indicate an overall two-point increase across learning variables post intervention. The conclusion of this study implores the broader educational community to revisit systemic, procedural math learning processes. In the future, we must question the finality of manipulatives and their place in the continuum of authentic math learning.

Language: English

Published: St. Paul, Minnesota, 2019

Abstract/Notes: This study investigates differences in academic achievement and self-concept of students enrolled in a traditional public school program and a public school Montessori program. The attitudes of parents of students are also compared. The population includes 182 experimental and control kindergarten, first-, second-, and third-grade students in a Texas metropolitan school district. Academic pretest and posttest data include scores on the Bilingual Syntax Measure, Metropolitan Readiness Tests, California Achievement Tests, and the Iowa Test of Basic Skills. The McDaniel-Piers Young Children's Self Concept Scale and the Parent Opinion Survey were also administered. A two-way analysis of covariance was used to analyze pretest and posttest academic achievement and self-concept scores, and to test for possible interaction between the programs and the sex variable. The pretest score was used as the covariate. The means of both parent groups were analyzed using the t test for two independent samples. The .05 level of significance was used to test each hypothesis. First-grade traditional students had significantly higher academic achievement scores than first-grade Montessori students. A significant interaction effect at the first-grade level revealed that traditional males had the highest adjusted mean score for academic achievement and Montessori males had the lowest adjusted mean score. Second-grade traditional students showed a significant increase over second-grade Montessori students in self-concept. No significant difference was found in the attitude of parents of students enrolled in both programs. Conclusions based on this investigation are that more similarities than differences are evident between the two programs, differences in academic achievement and interaction effects and sex appeared at only one grade level, differences in self-concept appeared at only one grade level, and parent attitudes are similar. Recommendations include continuation of the Montessori program evaluation and replication using a larger population, different grade levels, and different socioeconomic levels.

Language: English

Published: Denton, Texas, 1982

Abstract/Notes: This seven-week study explored the impact of student-self assessment on learning and engagement behaviors of 48 sixth graders during math classes in a public school setting. Data collection tools such as student surveys, pre-and post -self-assessments, observations, reflections, and teacher- student conferencing provided the information to inform the conclusions regarding self-efficacy. Observation confirmed that a student’s participation in using self-evaluation to contribute to their learning affected internal processes such as motivation and engagement. Assessment activities that provided evidence and feedback to inform goals specific to skill development and learner traits yielded significant results. Highly structured assessment tools and classroom routines reduced students' reliance on the teacher to interpret and use individual performance data. The use of formative assessment practices that promoted goal setting, self-assessment and self-determination practices improved engagement and learning behaviors in the classroom.

Language: English

Published: St. Paul, Minnesota, 2022

Language: German

Published: Wien, Austria: Jugend & Volk, 2020

ISBN: 978-3-7100-4362-8 3-7100-4362-X