Abstract/Notes: Maria Montessori strongly advocated for music learning to be fully integrated into the classroom; however, many Montessori classrooms are dominated by materials aimed at developing children’s visual sense. The purpose of this critical participatory action research (CPAR) study was to address this perceived learning disparity by developing and implementing a curriculum that is consistent with the Montessori approach, child directed, and focused on sound examination and music learning. We designed six shelf works and offered them, over the course of 6 CPAR cycles, to 20 3- to 6-year-old children attending a Montessori school. Findings from qualitative and quantitative data indicate that the children received the works positively, chose to engage with them, became more confident in their musical tasks over time, showed signs of deep concentration and attention, and demonstrated consistent performance across similar tasks related to perception and cognition. We conclude that the presence of these 6 curricular works began to disrupt the perceived learning disparity we identified; however, more can be done to understand and change the classroom practices that support that disparity.

Language: English

DOI: 10.17161/jomr.v6i1.10631

ISSN: 2378-3923

Abstract/Notes: Montessori education has a long history, but its recent growth in American public schools has led to increased interest in research efforts, particularly in exploring the potential of the Montessori experience to moderate the effects of poverty and in gathering data to evaluate public investment in Montessori schools. To assist research efforts, this paper introduces a comprehensive visual model, or logic model, that depicts the core components, underlying assumptions, and intended outcomes of the Montessori approach. Logic modeling, which results in a visual representation depicting the connections among a program’s inputs, primary activities, and outcomes, is often used in program planning and research to provide a common framework from which to work. Developed over a 3-year period by a collaborative group of experienced Montessori researchers and practitioners, the Logic Model for Montessori Education presented in this paper is a valuable tool for researchers with the potential to lay a foundation across disciplines for future research that is both rigorous and systematic in its measurement of Montessori processes and outcomes.

Language: English

DOI: 10.17161/jomr.v5i1.9788

ISSN: 2378-3923

Abstract/Notes: Poor literacy rates contribute to low school performance for children across America. In particular, low-income schools continue to struggle with declining literacy rates. Issues with literacy are often attributed to lack of reading comprehension. This study tested the effects of choice on reading comprehension in second- and third-grade students at a high-income school and a low-income school. Students were observed while reading silently and aloud to see if either method affected reading comprehension. Data were collected from 32 students before, during, and after reading to determine whether students’ comprehension levels were higher when given opportunities to choose their own books or when they read assigned books. Trials were performed while students read silently and then aloud. Results indicated that students had higher comprehension levels both when they could choose their own books and when they read silently.

Language: English

DOI: 10.17161/jomr.v3i2.6453

ISSN: 2378-3923

Abstract/Notes: On the basis of the analysis of the general characteristics of alternative schools and the methodology of pedagogical research, the comparison and synthesis of the obtained facts were formed. It is pointed out that in the field of pedagogy, the adoption of (positivist) methodology has become a global trend. It emphasizes the uncritical application of research tools from the corpus of quantitative methodology in research of specific educational problems, as well as in research of alternative schools in which the context of the research is significantly different than the one of the conventional public schools.

Language: English

DOI: 10.18690/rei.13.1.55-71.2020

ISSN: 2350-4803

Abstract/Notes: Research involving children, deemed to have difficulties with conventional means of communication, can perpetuate reductive forms of representation of children’s knowledges and experiences. This article focuses on the possibilities and opportunities that visual and creative methods can offer to researching with children. Children advance their views in and through spontaneous and concrete forms of participation. Autonomy in aesthetic acts is central to this methodology; to explore practices that produce and reproduce presuppositions deriving from societal attitudes affecting research with children, their agency and self-presentation. This cross-cultural study was conducted in Central Italy and North West England: children contributed their perspectives and experiences through participation in a series of creative encounters resulting in aesthetic and embodied outcomes of sociological and educational significance. The study contributes to the debate on children’s autonomy and the value and quality of participation through artistic practice. Examples from the corpus of data, which includes a series of artefacts and over 900 photographs from each geo-cultural context, are presented. The study shows that it is possible to harmonise power imbalances in spaces of creative freedom, in research and education, where children’s choices and agency are respected.

Language: English

DOI: 10.1080/13645579.2019.1672280

ISSN: 1364-5579

Language: English

DOI: 10.1080/00094056.2000.10522137

ISSN: 0009-4056, 2162-0725

Abstract/Notes: The growth of the preschool education movement has been a result of the growing recognition of the needs of young children, the need to be provided with a rich and wholesome environment which is conducive to, and promotes the all round development of the child. Prior to 1947, very little attention was paid to preschool education in our country, even by the Government, and preschool was not considered a state responsibility. The Central Advisory Board of Education on Post-War Educational Development (1944) was the first body to recognise the need for preschool education. The report of the Committee emphasised its significance and recommended that an adequate provision of pre-primary education should be an essential adjunct of a National System of Education. The development of preschool education, during the pre-independence period, was rather slow in the country as a whole, but due to the influence of a number of workers inspired by the work of Madam Montessori, pioneering work in the field was undertaken in the state of Gujarat.

Language: English

DOI: 10.1007/BF03176567

ISSN: 0020-7187, 1878-4658

Abstract/Notes: This paper on recent research with the Montessori method includes a brief review of this method for educating preschool-age children and criticisms leveled against it, and a review of comparative research studies in relation to several types of non-Montessori preschool programs with economically disadvantaged and middle-class populations. The comparative results are discussed in relation to three kinds of preschool experience: no schooling, traditional early childhoodoriented programs, and structured cognitive-oriented programs. The findings are interpreted in terms of Hunt's conceptual leel matching model.

Language: English

DOI: 10.1007/BF02137791

ISSN: 0826-4805, 1573-1790

Language: English

Abstract/Notes: In this article, three theoretical perspectives are used to extend Bulterman-Bos's (2008) argument regarding a clinical approach to education research. First, three intellectual virtues identified by Aristotle-episteme, techne, and phronesis-are related to the requirements of the "pure" education researcher, the skilled practitioner, and the clinical researcher, respectively. Second, Churchman's typology of inquiry systems-based on whether the primary source of evidence is logic, observation, representation, dialectic, or values-is offered as a way of conceptualizing different kinds of inquiry in education. Third, recognizing that much practitioner knowledge is tacit, Nonaka and Takeuchi's model of knowledge conversion is suggested as a tool with which knowledge gained through different methods of inquiry might be brought into productive dialogue.

Language: English

DOI: 10.3102/0013189X08325678

ISSN: 0013-189X