Abstract/Notes: In sociological investigation, Weber (1968) believes that concrete historical events can be interpreted in terms of social action. These patterns of action differ from historical accounts, which explore the importance of causal explanation of individual events. Entwistle and Alexander (1993) contend that sociologists of education have paid little attention to patterns of class interaction and inequality in preschools. Adding to Hartley's (1993) work on nursery schools in Scotland, and using an organizational model with a sociohistorical standpoint, this ethnographic case study helps to bridge that gap by concentrating on the historical and ecological contexts of (1) a Laboratory school; (2) a Montessori school; and, (3) a Head Start center. The central problem of the study seeks an answer to the question "If inequalities in preschools exist, what do they look like?" This study assumes that historically educational systems have exerted a form of social control over children in order to transmit cultural values. Part I of the study examines ancient and modern societies, their cultures and their philosophical grounding to reveal the values and trends that contribute to social change in the early education of children. Part II adds a triangulation strategy to explore the ecology (environment and culture) of the three schools in the study. These strategies include archival content analysis of the preschool organizations, nonparticipant observation of the classrooms (Bell, 1993), intensive interviewing of the staff and administration members and a brief survey of the preschool parents. This study draws from the sociology of Weber's "ideal bureaucracy," Berger's "bureaucratic cognitive style," Elias' "civilizing process," Bernstein's "visible and invisible" pedagogy, Bourdieu's "cultural capital" and Anyon's "biased ideological messages." In this exploratory study, the data analysis uses a descriptive methodology, not to draw conclusions, but similar to Glaser and Strauss' "grounded theory" to introduce questions to be explored further by researchers. A final section on policy recommendations is included.

Language: English

Published: Boston, Massachusetts, 2000

Abstract/Notes: A social skills intervention was implemented at two suburban preschools. The purpose of the intervention was to develop subjects' empathic and social problem-solving skills to test whether this training would increase prosocial behavior in class. In addition, the study compared the effectiveness of two teaching methods in promoting cognitive and affective skills: training using role playing and discussion-based training. The subjects were 45 children of both sexes between the ages of four-and-one-half to five-and-one-half years. At each school, teachers led one of three training groups: empathy and problem-solving using role playing; the same training using discussion; home and outdoor safety training, which served as an attention-control group. Training sessions were conducted for 15 to 20 minutes, three times a week for six weeks. Pre- and post-intervention empathy, role-taking, problem-solving scores, observational behavior ratings, and teacher ratings using the Devereux scales were administered. Results of pre-testing revealed expected, significant associations between cognitive and affective skills and between these abilities and subjects' social behavior, with empathy showing the strongest associations. Responses to affective measures, however, did not prove to be consistent across emotions. Empathic and role-taking responses to anger and fear stimuli were unrelated to responses to happiness and sadness stimuli, yet were associated most strongly with observed and rated social behaviors. No significant differences in gain scores emerged across the three treatment groups on outcome measures, although gains in cognitive and affective skills correlated significantly with behavioral improvement. The most likely reasons for this lack of training effects across groups were: all children were from a higher SES background and displayed fewer behavioral problems than subjects used by many other studies in this area; children at one setting (a Montessori program) were much less receptive to a group social skills approach; the small sample size provided insufficient statistical power to assess small effects. Implications of the study's findings for future measurement and training of empathy and social problem-solving skills were discussed.

Language: English

Published: Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1983

Abstract/Notes: This study describes and evalutes the first year of a bilingual Montessori early childhood program implemented at two sites in central Texas. In-depth descriptions are provided of two program components--oral language development and classroom management. Hypotheses related to changes in students' language proficiency and classroom behavior were tested, using the James Language Dominance Test to measure comprehension and production of Spanish and English, and the Coping Analysis Schedule for Educational Settings to assess changes in students' behavior. The description of the oral language development component of the program includes instructional activities for vocabulary enrichment, isolating the sounds of language, and clarifying the functions of words. Adaptations of the Montessori method for implementation in a bilingual setting are presented, along with the discussion of two unexpected findings--the inhibition of the use of Spanish by many Mexican American children, and the association of one language or the other with a particular set of materials. The description of the classroom management component of the program includes the preparation of the environment, observation and record-keeping practices, the basic techniques for presenting materials, and "grace and courtesy lessons." Maria Montessori's views on the nature of education, the role of the teacher, and the concept of discipline and behavior change are discussed and compared to more modern theorists. The results of the formative evaluation reveal that children made significant improvements in English and Spanish comprehension and production. Behavior changes observed included positive shifts in percentage of time spent in self-directed activity, in paying attention to the task at hand, and in positive social interaction. The results of the study are basically descriptive, since only the children in this program were tested and observed. The results indicate that the program goals for the first year were met, and point to a number of possible changes for program improvement, including the use of more Spanish, the recruitment of more Spanish-dominant students, the development of separate sets of materials for Spanish and English instruction, and the sharing by teachers of their particular classroom management strategies.

Language: English

Published: Austin, Texas, 1980

Language: English

Published: Nashville, Tennessee, 1976

Language: English

Published: Kent, Ohio, 1976

Abstract/Notes: The debate about whether or not religious education should be included in early childhood education is a longstanding one. Even those who believe that Religious education should be included in early childhood programs cannot agree about the content or method for including it. The phenomenon of religious education in Montessori pre-primary schools in the Western Cape Province of South Africa is explored in this study, using a qualitative research approach. More specifically, the study explored the goals of their religious education; the level of awareness of Montessori's approach to religious education and finally looked at how they were implementing religion in their schools. A sample of 4 pre-schools were selected from the 90 Montessori pre-schools in the Western Cape. These included a Non-Denominational, Muslim, Christian and a Jewish School. The Muslim and Non-Denominational schools are full Montessori schools, while the Christian and Jewish schools have incorporated Montessori alongside other curriculums, namely the Jubilee Excellence School Curriculum and Reggio-Emilia approach, respectively. A collective case study approach was adopted and data was collected through observations and interviews. While the findings cannot easily be generalized, it is significant in providing a starting point to understanding the phenomenon of religious education in Montessori pre-schools in the Western Cape. The study highlighted Dr Montessori's personal and professional struggle with religion and found that the struggles Dr Montessori faced in terms of Religion have still not been resolved today. The schools in the Western Cape still grappled with the essence of Montessori's struggle, i.e. where to place religion and how to integrate it in the Montessori method and philosophy. Dr Montessori's beliefs about the importance of spirituality in the early years were found to be consistent with the contemporary views of scholars around the world. The religious schools followed guidelines of their own religions when deciding on which values to focus on. At the Jewish school, the focus was on the community, while at the Muslim school the focus was on the individual and selfetiquette. The focus of the Christian school was on discipline and obedience. The schools had various commitments to spiritual and ethical development of the children. Finally, the study found that the Montessori method was ideal for teaching the practices of religion, but when schools delved into issues of faith or love of God, they switched to other modes of teaching (e.g. preaching). This disjuncture between teaching faith and practices was ultimately Dr Montessori's reason for abolishing religious education from her method.

Language: English

Published: Cape Town, South Africa, 2017

Abstract/Notes: Funding for Preschool programs has currently become a political agenda being debated in our nation. It is important to give our children an early start to education regardless of socioeconomic status, as it can be beneficial to them as they grow. This study will provide evidence to sway our politicians to fund preschool programs as they positively affect children in their kindergarten year. Historical Teaching Strategies Gold assessment data of 84 randomly selected kindergarten students will provide evidence of the effects of a preschool program. This data was collected from a year in kindergarten and consists of students that have attended a preschool in-district program, students who have attended a Head Start and outsider provider preschool program, and students who have no preschool education. Although this study did not have a significant difference among the groups, the researcher found that students who have attended an in-district preschool program made better positive gains throughout their kindergarten year than students who attended a Head Start and outside provider preschool program and those students who did not have a preschool education.

Language: English

Published: Jersey City, New Jersey, 2022

Abstract/Notes: Early childhood education has been shown to positively impact future academic performance, as well as social and emotional development. With ever-increasing demands being placed on children's academic performances, school readiness has become a key component of academic success. The purpose of this quantitative causal-comparative study was to examine the effectiveness of different early childhood curriculum models in preparing children for kindergarten, and to investigate whether one early childhood curriculum model better prepares students than another. The theoretical framework for the study is based on the developmental constructivist theories of Piaget, Vygotsky, Erikson, and Dewey. Kindergarten teachers assessed school readiness by administering the Kindergarten Observation Form. Each student had matriculated from either Montessori, High/Scope, or Reggio Emilia programs or early childhood programs without an identified curriculum model. Kindergarten teachers rated students on 24 items related to areas of cognitive, linguistic, social, emotional, and physical development. ANOVA and post-hoc tests revealed that students matriculating from programs without an identified curriculum model scored significantly better than their counterparts, F (3,122) = 5.33, p = .002. Implications for social change include improved kindergarten readiness on the part of students, increased awareness by educators as to best practices in early childhood education, and, a move towards understanding the types of environments in which children learn best.

Language: English

Published: Minneapolis, Minnesota, 2012

Abstract/Notes: Montessori education is known as peace education. Normalization is one of the most significant concepts within Montessori education and which herself identifies as the “most important result.” The purpose of this study is to find out when and how precisely this Montessori theory of Normalization occurs in deviated children between zero and six years old; to precisely identify the timing, steps, and circumstances of Normalization, and secondly to examine the possibility of the normalized state of children to lead to peace in society. A total of 48 online survey responses were received from around the world. Twenty-one of the participants completed the open-response sections of the survey, and the analysis was primarily conducted based on these total responses. Results from teachers showed that Normalization begins with children’s spontaneous choice of work and comes with a solid and certain length of concentration. After they finished the work, peacefulness appeared in each child. The children experience this Normalization repeatedly and it manifests either as permanently or semi-permanent. This study centers on Normalization as a potential powerful tool for social change since this state is directly linked to concomitant individual and community peacefulness which can certainly spill beyond the classroom walls into general society. Furthermore, this study identifies the importance of analyzing the permanence of the state of Normalization since knowing the conditions for and causes of this permanence is key to both replication in experiments and its potential as an effective means for long lasting social change.

Language: English

Published: River Falls, Wisconsin, 2022

Abstract/Notes: The purpose of the study was to investigate and compare teachers’ and parents’ beliefs about children’s self-care behaviors considering child (age, gender, having sibling), parent (socioeconomic status) and teacher-related (teaching experience) characteristics and to investigate and compare the beliefs about the self-care implementations. Explanatory mixed-methods design was used. The data was gathered from 208 early-childhood educators in nine central districts of Ankara and 531 parents whose children were educated in these teachers' classrooms. Quantitative data were collected with the “The Beliefs on Young Children’s Self Care Behaviors Survey” and “demographic information form”. Then, semi-structured interviews were done with 10 preschool teachers and 11 parents on a voluntary basis. According to results of the study, teachers believed the development of self-care behaviors as children grow, despite no dramatic changes in their observations according to age. The parents also had similar beliefs, and their observations about the certain behaviors changed. Considering children’s gender, the participants believed girls having better self-care skills, despite no dramatic differences in their observations. Considering the “having sibling”, parents’ observations differed in certain behaviors unlike teachers’ observations. Participants believed positive impact of having sibling on self-care. Moreover, as considering SES, teachers’ observations did not change according to SES unlike parents’ observations. Participants had different beliefs about the effect of SES on self-care. Besides, according to teaching experience, the observation of “self-protection from accidents” behaviors increased systematically. Additionally, some problems were encountered in self-care implementations. The participants’ belief about the factors negatively effecting the implementations were similar.

Language: English

Published: Ankara, Turkey, 2022