Abstract/Notes: Experience of the Liverpool Middle School, Liverpool, New York, provides a rationale for organizing school systems to include ungraded middle schools. If, as evidence indicates, today's youth are maturing earlier, are more sophisticated, and are capable of greater accomplishment, then the traditional grade 7-8-9 arrangement does not meet the needs of ninth grade students while elementary schools can not meet the needs of sixth grade students. It is felt that grouping students by grades 6, 7, and 8 in the middle school aided solution of this problem. By introducing a multi-age grouping of students for each subject, each student's unique qualities and individual capabilities were recognized and given full educational advantage. This ungraded system required curriculum reform and flexible scheduling which were implemented along with a system of team teaching. Problems of team isolation, friction within teams, curriculum oriented outlooks, unwillingness to regroup students, and lack of evaluation of innovations were being solved. Progress made with the middle school concept indicates its viability. (TT)

Language: English

Published: [S.I.]: Prentice-Hall, Inc, 1967

Language: Dutch

Abstract/Notes: Alternative educational concepts evolved in response to classical educational methods in which children are placed in a passive position and the transfer of knowledge is cultivated as a form of teaching. Models of alternative pedagogy (Montessori, Waldorf, Reggio, Agazzi) advocate developmentally appropriate practices which Bredekamp (1993) describes as a presence of different strategies, i.e., child-oriented behaviours of teachers and responding to the child's individual needs. In order to help each child to grow into a universal and competent individual from preschool age, it is necessary to encourage their imagination and creativity, as well as to acquire habits of cooperation and coexistence with other children. One of the activities which promote these desirable characteristics in children is handicraft. Many studies and findings in the area of neuroscience, multiple intelligences theories, and the aforementioned alternative pedagogical concepts emphasize the importance of handicraft and point out its benefits not only for children but for the entire community. However, such an approach to children's learning and activity is poorly represented in educational institutions. Therefore, the aim of the study was to examine the views of preschool teachers and parents on handicraft activities and its more frequent use in regular preschool programs. The survey was conducted by an anonymous questionnaire on a sample of 316 respondents, preschool teachers (N=141) and parents (N=175). The results of the study show that both preschool teachers and parents agree that certain elements of alternative concepts such as handicraft have a positive impact on the overall development of the child and that they are useful and practical life skills. They also agree that handicraft activities should be used in educational institutions to a greater extent. [Conference Name: 14th International Technology, Education and Development Conference; ISBN: 9788409179398; Place: Valencia, Spain]

Language: English

Published: Valencia, Spain: International Academy of Technology, Education and Development (IATED), 2020

Pages: 1511-1519

DOI: 10.21125/inted.2020.0499

ISBN: 978-84-09-17939-8

Language: English

Published: London, England: Sands and Co., 1932

Abstract/Notes: This study was undertaken in order to investigate the activities which took place in Irish pre-schools other than those within the formal school system. The principle focus of the research concerned the degree to which the pre-school children were being 'cognitively stretched' by the curriculum in which they were engaged. The social, linguistic, physical and creative development of these children was also considered.An historical review of the theory of play and recent research in this area was undertaken.Twenty-three pre-schools were taken at random from the membership list in Cork city and county of the Irish Pre- School Playgroups Association. One pre-school which was not a member was added. Prior to embarking upon the study, a history of the I.P.P.A. was given.The ethnographic research strategy was found to be the most suitable method of assessing empirically the nature and frequency of play in the pre-school. This study, which took place between 1986 and 1990, was therefore eclectic in nature, employing a multi-faceted approach encompassing a target child observational schedule, interviews, a study of classrooms, a questionnaire and an interaction analysis system.Briefly, the results showed that the 157 children engaged in this study were being cognitively stretched for approximately one quarter of the time if they were in a playgroup and approximately one half of the time if they were in a Montessori setting. Social and linguistic behaviour was limited by the actions of the pre-school leaders and physically or creatively challenging behaviour was rarely observed. The fact that the children played alone for half of the total time spent in the pre-school was most striking.The most important finding to emerge from the study of language in the twenty-four pre-schools was the fact that the children rarely communicated verbally. Dialogue was almost non-existent and children's questions were very sparse. In order to place the above in a National context, a questionnaire was sent in 1990 to a random sample of one hundred I.P.P.A. members in the 26 counties of the Republic of Ireland. Unfortunately, only 39 responded. However, of note was that approximately 25% of playgroup leaders had degrees and four-fifths of them were mothers in their mid-thirties. They strongly disagreed with the teaching of the 3Rs and felt that much more government money should be devoted to playgroups and in-service training for their personnel.

Language: English

Published: Hull, England, 1993

Language: English

ISSN: 1071-6246

Abstract/Notes: Reviewed in Communications 2008/1 // In her dissertation she analyses the efforts of New Education in her home country and compares them to European reform approaches. In this context she analyses and evaluates a large amount of written documents and adds to her literary research especially for the ten alternative schools her own studies at these schools and interviews with the educationalists/teachers responsible. One of the analysed schools was a Montessori school, another one was a Waldorf school. The survey communicates interesting insights and findings about school development in an increasingly democratising Asian country that is scarcely considered in Germany.

Language: English

Published: Münster, Germany, 2005

Abstract/Notes: In May, 1991, the newly chosen Milwaukee Public Schools Superintendent, Dr. Ho,vard Fuller, visited Highland Community School. His main question to parents and staff assembled to greet him was, "What lessons can we public school people learn from you?" Highland people had cogent ideas to pass on to him. This book is a more formal response in which I hope the hundreds of people who have continuously created Highland in its first twenty-five years speak through me in answer to him and to his colleagues elsewhere in public education. Highland began in late 1968, and by 1994 was one of only ten schools in the entire country to qualify for state-financed vouchers to independent urban schools. It is small: about seventy ethnically and economically diverse students aged two-and-a-half to ten years, three teachers and three assistants, a full-time executive director, and three part-time helpers, including a parent coordinator. One of the teachers doubles as principal. Annual expenditures per pupil are about $2,800. The curriculum is Montessori-based. The building is a century-old mansion. The school is governed by a nine-member parent board of directors and helped, primarily in fund-raising, by an advisory group of trustees. It is located in Milwaukee's Near West Side, an economically depressed and violent neighborhood (Jeffrey Dahmer's apartment, since razed, was only five blocks from the school). This is the story of a small school. Faced with the vastness of urban decay and its impact on educational institutions, the reader might question whether describing and analyzing this diminutive organization has any relevance to urban education. Despite differences between it and stereotypical urban public schools, however, it brings a message to American education much more important than its size seems to warrant. Its size is precisely the point. Change nucleates and incubates in small settings. Our huge society conditions us to think in terms of large numbers, sweeping change, vast federal programs. Government may be able to create contexts for change, but the changes themselves have to be brought about where individuals assemble to meet their mutual needs. Whether their relationships will be harmonious and productive, or acrimonious and dysfunctional, depends on how the organization is structured and what spirit has been breathed into it. This book fleshes out the organizational and attitudinal reasons that Highland works so well and what public education can learn from this small inner-city educational oasis. As a framework for the organization of this study, let us first review factors that research has revealed make a school effective.

Language: English

Published: New York, New York: Garland, 1997

Edition: 1st

ISBN: 978-1-315-05106-2

Series: Studies in Education and Culture , 10

Language: English

ISSN: 1071-6246

Abstract/Notes: There are two purposes of the current study. First was to examine whether or not children in the elementary school in Taiwan who had received Montessori early childhood education obtain significantly higher scores on tests of language arts, math, and social studies than children who attended non-Montessori pre-elementary programs. Second one was to examine whether or not the number years of Montessori education has a positive impact on the students' scores when they are in elementary grades. According to Chattin-McNichols (1992b), children from Montessori education program are doing better in some respects than other programs. Some studies have found that in the United States, Montessori students have strong academic outcomes especially in language arts than non-Montessori students (Daux, 1995; Hobbs, 2008; Lillard & Else-Quest, 2006; Manner, 1999). The present study involved 196 participants from a private Catholic elementary school in Taipei City, Taiwan. Ninety-eight first, second, and third grade students had Montessori early childhood experience and 98 first, second, and third grade students did not have Montessori early childhood experience. Using one-way MANOVA as a statistical tool, there were mixed results in the present study. The results showed students who had Montessori early childhood education experience had higher test scores of language arts than the students who did not have Montessori education experience. In conclusion, the present study partially supports the findings of other studies and shows that Montessori education has some long-term impact on the students' language arts learning.

Language: English

Published: Terre Haute, Indiana, 2009