Abstract/Notes: Taylor (2004) argues that the Western moral order is characterised by three key forms — the market economy, public sphere, and self-governance. These forms entail contradictory tendencies for the concept of selfhood and our relations with each other. We do endorse an autonomous and free self, who should pursue her goals, but is also expected to act ethically towards others through mutuality, equality, and collectivity. However, we are concerned with being authentic, i.e. being true to ‘ourselves’, as well as with recognising the needs and differences of the ‘other’. This moral order is based on notions of political equality, democracy, freedom, human rights, and privatised economic prosperity. Moving ‘with Holzkamp beyond Holzkamp’ (Teo, 2016), in this paper, we present a method to foster the skill to step out from one’s moral matrix, the invisible normalised moral order, and view oneself through the eyes of the ‘other’. Focusing on food practices, we developed a method for social self-clarification (Holzkamp, 1995). The skill to see oneself through the eyes of the ‘other’ is necessary in realising one’s entanglement in a global institutional order that foreseeably and avoidably produces severe inequalities.

Language: English

ISSN: 1464-0538, 1746-739X

Abstract/Notes: Portfolios have gained wide acceptance as a learning and assessment tool. Yet, little research has been reported on the practices of teachers who are actually using portfolios within their classrooms and how those practices are moderated by contextual variables. This research examined the instructional, learning, and assessment roles of student portfolios and explored, from the perspective of the classroom teacher, variations in portfolio applications associated with teaching level (primary vs. intermediate) and classroom environment (self-contained vs. multiage-teaming). Kindergarten through Grade 5 teachers in 13 elementary schools completed a survey questionnaire regarding the instructional and assessment uses to which portfolios are put within their classrooms. To further examine for patterns of portfolio use, a subset of teachers was interviewed to explore the perceptions that teachers hold about the impact of student portfolios on themselves and on their students. The results suggest that Kindergarten through Grade 5 teachers make deliberate decisions regarding uses of their students' portfolios, decisions that appear heavily impacted by the maturity or skill level of the child, the purposes of the application, and the classroom environment within which the application occurs. They also depend on whether the portfolio product is in a formative state (working portfolio) or final state (performance portfolio).

Language: English

DOI: 10.1207/S15324818AME1302_5

ISSN: 0895-7347

Abstract/Notes: This study is aimed at examining the effect of eight weeks of selected virtual-assisted games based on Montessori pedagogical principal on the motor proficiency and perceived self-control in the children with spastic hemiplegia during the coronavirus outbreak. In this quasi-experimental study, the children () with hemiplegia were randomly selected and assigned to either the experimental group or the control group. In the pretest, motor skills and self-controlling were evaluated using 36-item Lincoln-Oseretsky Motor Development Scale and Children’s Perceived Self-Control Scale (CPSC) (ss, 1982), respectively. The experimental group then engaged in three 45-minute sessions of virtual game play over the course of eight weeks. 24 hours following the last practice session, the posttest was given on the same day as the pretest. After ensuring the normal distribution of collected data with Shapiro-Wilk test, the data were analyzed using Analysis of Covariance test (ANCOVA). Results showed that the experimental group compared to the control group was better in the motor proficiency and perceived self-control after performing selected virtual-assisted Montessori games can significantly improve motor proficiency and perceived self-control (). This pattern of data revealed that the virtual-assisted intervention based on Montessori pedagogical principles may increase motor proficiency and self-control in children with hemiplegia, particularly when confronted with the limitations imposed on by the coronavirus epidemic.

Language: English

DOI: 10.1155/2022/5792094

ISSN: 2314-6133

Abstract/Notes: The aim of this study is to determine the self-efficacy perceptions of special education teachers about the use of the Montessori method by a valid and reliable scale developed by the researcher. The model of the research is a general descriptive model of quantitative research methods. In the 2017–2018 academic year, 67 special education teachers who work under the Directorate of Primary Education of the Ministry of National Education of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus are participated in this research universe, which comprise 29, 12, 20, 4 and 2 teachers from Special Education Application Centre, Special Education and Work Application Centre, primary schools, kindergartens and school for visually impaired, respectively. This study was conducted only with all the special education teachers in the universe not by any sampling method. The general proficiency perceptions of the special education teachers for the use of the Montessori method were at the level of instability. According to the general competency perceptions of the female teachers on the use of the Montessori method, it was found that their responses were more positive than the males.

Language: English

DOI: 10.18844/cjes.v11i4.4480

ISSN: 1305-905X

Abstract/Notes: This study aimed to examine the effects of Montessori Education on children’s self-regulation skills in the preschool period. The study had a 2 × 2 mixed design, wherein the dependent variable was self-regulation levels of 3, 4, 5-year-old children (experimental group: 62, control group: 53) and the independent variable was education based on the Montessori Method whose influence on children’s self-regulation skills was examined. The study employed the Demographic Information Form, the Preschool Self-Regulation Assessment (PSRA). The study results yielded a significant difference in posttest mean scores for Self-Regulation and Attention/Impulse Control between experimental and control group children, while there was no significant difference in Positive Emotion. There was a significant difference for Self-Regulation and Attention/Impulse Control between the pretest and posttest mean scores of experimental group children, whereas the analyses indicated no significant difference between pretest and posttest mean scores of control group children for Self-Regulation, Attention/Impulse Control and Positive Emotion.

Language: English

DOI: 10.1080/03004430.2021.1928107

ISSN: 0300-4430, 1476-8275

Abstract/Notes: Contextual influences on private speech were examined in two preschools differing in the learning environments they provide for children. Observations of 3- to 5-year-olds were made during free-choice periods in a Montessori and a traditional (play-oriented) program. Consistent with Vygotsky's theory that make-believe play serves as a vital context for the development of self-regulation, the incidence of private speech was much higher during open-ended activities, especially fantasy play, that require children to determine the goal of the task, than during closed-ended tasks with predetermined goals. In line with previous research, the more direct involvement, or external regulation, teachers displayed, the lower the rate of children's private speech. In addition, transitions (as opposed to involvement in activities) were linked to reduced private speech, whereas engagement with peers, in the form of associative play, predicted greater self-directed language. Diminished make-believe play, greater teacher direct involvement, and heightened time spent in transitions largely accounted for the lower incidence of private speech in the Montessori compared with the traditional preschool. Contextual factors also contributed to a drop in private speech at age 5. Implications for fostering children's verbal self-regulation during early childhood are considered.

Language: English

DOI: 10.1016/S0885-2006(99)80065-9

ISSN: 0885-2006, 1873-7706

Language: English

DOI: 10.1007/s10648-011-9191-6

ISSN: 1040-726X, 1573-336X

Abstract/Notes: Effects of multiage grouping on achievement and self-concept were explored. No significant differences were found between children in multiage and single-age classrooms on any of the achievement measures. Multiage classrooms had higher mean scores on one of the six factors of the self-concept scale, Happiness and Satisfaction.

Language: English

ISSN: 0196-5042

Abstract/Notes: The article presents a study on the level of self-authorizing personality development conducted in 2013-2016 within a group of 69 adolescents, alumni of a Montessori school in Lublin then aged 16-21. The method for collecting empirical data was a POA questionnaire designed by K. Obuchowski, measuring 3 main dimensions of personality: subjectivity, being a person and individual valuation standards. The results proved that almost all of the graduates of Montessori classes had developed self-authoring characteristics at an optimum level. The average results of the three main dimensions of the author’s personality: subjectivity, being a person and taking an attitude are significantly higher than the theoretical average of the scale, which allows the determination of a high level of all areas of authorial personality and the co-occurrence of the aforementioned properties. The obtained values in the range of 14 differential categories of the author’s personality are significantly higher from the theoretical average of the scale and inform about the high level of all personality characteristics. There was no difference in the personality profile due to the sex of the graduates. According to Obuchowski’s observations, the respondents realize their needs and are able to distance themselves from them, develop themselves, guide the sense of their existence, positively assess themselves, their goals and the world around them. The ability of the subjects to generate a set of reasons that underlie the strongest subjective standard of valence (attitude) means not only the mastering and dominance of abstract operations, which condition the conscious creation of private knowledge, become independent of the control of a specific experience, create the opportunity for effective long-distance operation and enables them to make responsible choices. / Artykuł prezentuje badania nad poziomem rozwoju tzw. osobowości autorskiej, przeprowadzone w latach 2013–2016 na próbie 69 absolwentów szkoły Montessori w Lublinie, w wieku 16–21 lat. Do zebrania danych empirycznych posłużył opracowany przez K. Obuchowskiego kwestionariusz POA, mierzący trzy zasadnicze wymiary osobowości: podmiotowość, bycie sobą i indywidualne standardy waluacyjne. Wyniki przeprowadzonych badań pozwalają stwierdzić, że niemal wszyscy badani absolwenci szkoły Montessori rozwinęli w sobie właściwości autorskie na poziomie optymalnym. Średnie wyniki trzech głównych wymiarów osobowości autorskiej: podmiotowość, bycie osobą i ustosunkowanie są istotnie wyższe od średniej teoretycznej skali, co pozwala wnioskować o wysokim poziomie wszystkich obszarów osobowości autorskiej oraz o współwystępowaniu wspomnianych właściwości. Otrzymane wielkości średnich w zakresie 14 kategorii różnicowych osobowości autorskiej są istotnie wyższe od średniej teoretycznej skali i informują o wysokim poziomie ukształtowania wszystkich cech osobowości autorskiej. Nie odnotowano zróżnicowania profilu własności osobowości autorskiej ze względu na płeć i wiek indagowanych absolwentów. Zgodnie z obserwacjami K. Obuchowskiego, badane osoby uświadamiają sobie swoje potrzeby i potrafią się do nich zdystansować, rozwijają się, kierując sensem swojego istnienia, pozytywnie oceniają siebie, swoje cele oraz świat wokół siebie. Zdolność generowania przez badanych zestawu racji leżących u podstaw najsilniej odczuwanego podmiotowego standardu waluacji (ustosunkowanie), oznacza nie tylko opanowanie i dominację operacji abstrakcyjnych, które warunkują świadome tworzenie prywatnej wiedzy, uniezależniają od kontroli konkretnego doświadczenia, stwarzają szansę skutecznego działania na długi dystans, umożliwiają podejmowanie odpowiedzialnych wyborów.

Language: Polish

DOI: 10.14632/eetp.2017.13.47.105

ISSN: 1896-2327, 2353-7787

Abstract/Notes: Executive functions (EFs) in childhood predict important life outcomes. Thus, there is great interest in attempts to improve EFs early in life. Many interventions are led by trained adults, including structured training activities in the lab, and less-structured activities implemented in schools. Such programs have yielded gains in children's externally-driven executive functioning, where they are instructed on what goal-directed actions to carry out and when. However, it is less clear how children's experiences relate to their development of self-directed executive functioning, where they must determine on their own what goal-directed actions to carry out and when. We hypothesized that time spent in less-structured activities would give children opportunities to practice self-directed executive functioning, and lead to benefits. To investigate this possibility, we collected information from parents about their 6-7 year-old children's daily, annual, and typical schedules. We categorized children's activities as "structured" or "less-structured" based on categorization schemes from prior studies on child leisure time use. We assessed children's self-directed executive functioning using a well-established verbal fluency task, in which children generate members of a category and can decide on their own when to switch from one subcategory to another. The more time that children spent in less-structured activities, the better their self-directed executive functioning. The opposite was true of structured activities, which predicted poorer self-directed executive functioning. These relationships were robust (holding across increasingly strict classifications of structured and less-structured time) and specific (time use did not predict externally-driven executive functioning). We discuss implications, caveats, and ways in which potential interpretations can be distinguished in future work, to advance an understanding of this fundamental aspect of growing up.

Language: English

DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00593

ISSN: 1664-1078