Language: English

Abstract/Notes: Little is known about the influence of Montessori methods on children's physical activity (PA). This cross-sectional study compared PA of children attending Montessori and traditional preschools. We enrolled 301 children in 9 Montessori and 8 traditional preschools in Columbia, South Carolina. PA was measured by accelerometry on weekdays during preschool (In-School), non-school (Non-School), and all day (All Day). Minutes/hour of light, moderate-to-vigorous (MVPA), and total PA (light + MVPA) were calculated. Children attending Montessori preschools accumulated more In-School light (7.7 vs. 6.5 minute/hour), MVPA (7.7 versus 6.5 minute/hour), and total PA (15.4 versus 13.0 minute/hour) than children attending traditional preschools, after adjusting for sex, race/ethnicity, body mass index, parent education and neighborhood poverty index. For Non-School (8.5 versus 6.2 minute/hour) and All Day (8.5 versus 7.6 minute/hour), children in Montessori preschools accumulated more MVPA than children in traditional preschools. In-School PA was higher for children in private Montessori than public Montessori preschools (8.1 versus 7.0 minute/hour; 8.1 versus 6.7 minute/hour; 16.1 versus 13.6 minute/hour, for light, MVPA, and total PA, respectively). Children attending Montessori preschools were more active than children attending traditional preschools. Adopting the Montessori system may be an important strategy for promoting PA in children.

Language: English

DOI: 10.1111/josh.12207

ISSN: 1746-1561

Abstract/Notes: "To prove that the Montessori system of education is both practical and available for the poor children of the tenements as well as for those who have every advantage that can be had for money, is the purpose of the Montessori Educational Association, which has just established a school for poor children in the upper East Side in one of the most thronged of the tenement sections of New York. The Montessori idea of education is diametrically opposed to the system in vogue. All the time commonly spent in training children to be passive is in the Montessori schools spent in awakening activity and encouraging initiative. Dr. Montessori, the founder of the new system of education, says that one of the most important tasks of the teacher lies in 'seeing that the child does not confound the idea of good with immobility, and evil with activity.' Instead of devoting months of arduous labor drilling the alphabet and elements of reading and writing into the heads of the little children, Montessori methods develop the various senses which give them control of the apparatur through which they must get all their knowledge of the world. One of the most remarkable things notied by the observers of the new school was the spontaneity with which the children learned to write. From tracing sand-paper letters and building of words by the aid of blocks, many of the children took up bits of chalk and began to write, not a few, but many words. The children learn to observe, to reason and to use their senses rather than clog their memoriy with useless rules. The school furnishes the little tots with luncheon, but even in this they are stimulated to activity. They have little waitresses who learn to move about freely and gracefully, to carry things without breaking them, and to avoid clumsiness and awkwardness. When the meal is over the children will all go into their small kitchen, roll up their sleeves and wash the dishes from which they had been eating. The picture shows Mrs. Ernest Thompson-Seton, the wife of Ernest Thompson-Seton, the Canadian author and naturalist, who is one of the trustees of the Montessori Educational Association, telling a little waitress to pose for the picture."

Language: English

Language: English

Language: English

ISSN: 1522-9734

Abstract/Notes: Reprinted in 'The California Lectures of Maria Montessori, 1915' (Clio Press, 1997).

Language: English

Abstract/Notes: Letter to the Editor

Language: English

ISSN: 0040-7887

Language: English

ISSN: 0362-4331

Language: English

Language: English