Abstract/Notes: Also: middle school research, public Montessori students' math, science achievement

Language: English

ISSN: 1071-6246

Abstract/Notes: The purpose of the inquiry was to understand how children in primary grades (i.e., preschool, kindergarten, and second grade) engaged with affordances and constraints of features in a Base-10 Blocks virtual manipulative mathematics app designed to promote learning opportunities. Researchers conducted one-to-one interviews with 100 primary grade children as they interacted with the Montessori Number Base-10 Blocks iPad app. The video data were qualitatively analyzed using open descriptive, thematic, and structured coding. Results show that children’s actions when interacting with app features can affect their engagement with designed mathematics constraints and affordances. Results also identified three emergent themes around children’s engagement with the app’s simultaneous linking features: verification, self-correction, and making connections. Findings suggest the importance of helping children identify and reflect on affordances within virtual manipulative mathematics apps. These findings also indicate that as designers, educators and researchers design or select virtual manipulative mathematics apps for classroom use; they should to consider children’s prior achievement as well as in-app perceptions and engagement with design features in the apps.

Language: English

DOI: 10.1007/s13394-019-00257-2

ISSN: 2211-050X

Abstract/Notes: The development of error monitoring is central to learning and academic achievement. However, few studies exist on the neural correlates of children’s error monitoring, and no studies have examined its susceptibility to educational influences. Pedagogical methods differ on how they teach children to learn from errors. Here, 32 students (aged 8–12 years) from high-quality Swiss traditional or Montessori schools performed a math task with feedback during fMRI. Although the groups’ accuracies were similar, Montessori students skipped fewer trials, responded faster and showed more neural activity in right parietal and frontal regions involved in math processing. While traditionally-schooled students showed greater functional connectivity between the ACC, involved in error monitoring, and hippocampus following correct trials, Montessori students showed greater functional connectivity between the ACC and frontal regions following incorrect trials. The findings suggest that pedagogical experience influences the development of error monitoring and its neural correlates, with implications for neurodevelopment and education.

Language: English

DOI: 10.1038/s41539-020-0069-6

ISSN: 2056-7936

Abstract/Notes: This brief report summarizes progress to date in a continuing study, now in its sixth year, of Montessori education in Cincinnati. Follow-up tests of Montessori children are focusing on the relation of early performance to grade school achivement four years later. This study represents the first systematic attempt to compare long term effects of Montessori with other educational approaches. The Cincinnati Autonomy Test Battery (CATB) was developed to measure educational methods (like Montessori) that stress spontaneous activity, self-direction, and a prepared didactic environment. Published summaries of projects that are part of the Montessori Research Project are mentioned. Future plans stress increased communication among researchers, teachers, parents and children. (NH)

Language: English

Abstract/Notes: Discusses guidelines for the use of the Montessori prepared environment in addressing special needs students, focusing on writing and reading difficulties. Examines the value of Montessori's motor and sensory education as a bridge for both typically and atypically developing children. (JPB)

Language: English

ISSN: 1522-9734

Abstract/Notes: Cognitive performance was measured in fourteen pairs of children, matched in social class, CA, sex and IQ, selected from a Montessori and from a “traditional” nursery school. No differences were found between the parents in these schools on such measures of social and parental attitudes and behavior as: achievement orientation, traditional family ideology, dogmatism, anomie, parental control behavior, or task oriented vs. person oriented values. The nursery school children were significantly more creative on a measure of non-verbal creativity, were more socially oriented, and less task oriented than the Montessori children.Style of approach to tests was felt to be a critical outcome of the two educational environments. The Montessori children used significantly more physical characteristics to describe commonplace objects, whereas significantly more functional terms were used by the nursery school children in their descriptions. Montessori children’s drawings had people present significantly less often and geometric forms significantly more often than the nursery school children’s drawings.

Language: English

DOI: 10.1080/00220671.1969.10883885

ISSN: 0022-0671

Abstract/Notes: This paper presents findings of the longitudinal School Success Study (SSS), which is being conducted to determine the academic and social effects of nongraded (multiage, continuous progress) programs on Tennessee elementary school students. Covering the years 1993-99, the research seeks to identify successful school practices in both nongraded and graded programs. The study includes elementary-age students (K-4) from seven Tennessee schools that are implementing nongraded programs (n=1,500), three of which also have students in traditional classes (n=750), and five comparison schools in which all students are enrolled in single-grade classes. Academic achievement is measured by the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP) and the Tennessee Holistic Writing Assessment. Social development (academic self-concept) is measured using the Self-Concept and Motivation Inventory (SCAMIN). A one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) indicates that students from nongraded classes during.

Language: English

Abstract/Notes: To address pervasive opportunity and achievement gaps in the U.S. education system, some researchers are looking to progressive pedagogies,[1] such as Montessori and Waldorf, that may have the potential to meet children’s unique learning and socio-emotional needs.[2] In particular, the number of Montessori programs within public schools has increased significantly. Most public Montessori pre-K programs (those serving children ages 4 or younger) admit students through a lottery because the demand for available slots typically exceeds the supply. However, certain enrollment policies or practices may create barriers to access, as flagged in the Brady Education Foundation Montessori Initiative Network’s initial research on public Montessori in 2017...

Language: English

Published: Mar 29, 2021

Abstract/Notes: This paper focuses on the application of knowledge based systems for child performance analysis in an online Montessori module. Using knowledge based techniques, the system generates an automatic analysis based on the teacher's answers to a variety of questions about a child's performance of a specific Montessori activity. The questions were created through a study of the criteria used to assess the level of a child's performance and achievement. This prototype is designed as a proof-of-concept, to show how the knowledge base technique could be applied. To design the prototype, we conducted literature reviews on the delivery of Montessori methods and the knowledge base technique, and compared rule -based and case -based reasoning. We selected rule-based reasoning for the concept prototype since it is suitable for Montessori activities which are well defined and easy to acquire.

Language: English

DOI: 10.18517/ijaseit.2.6.240

ISSN: 2088-5334

Abstract/Notes: If schools employ multi-age classrooms, have students play a bigger role in choosing what they study, and get rid of traditional grading and testing (Montessori education approaches), are they likely to see an increase in students' motivation to learn--and, in turn, higher achievement?

Language: English

ISSN: 0277-4232, 1944-8333