Abstract/Notes: This study aims to bring clarity to the relationship between procedural mathematical work and abstracted math learning when carrying in addition and multiplication. To explore this relationship, researchers employed both quantitative and qualitative data tools that unearthed the nuances within this specific process of math learning. Participants in the study included twenty-nine students from two different schools in different mixed age groups including ages three-to-six-years-old and six-to-nine-years-old. Students participated in a six-week intervention process, working on dynamic addition and multiplication using conceptual mathematical language to support the process. The findings indicate an overall two-point increase across learning variables post intervention. The conclusion of this study implores the broader educational community to revisit systemic, procedural math learning processes. In the future, we must question the finality of manipulatives and their place in the continuum of authentic math learning.

Language: English

Published: St. Paul, Minnesota, 2019

Abstract/Notes: The purpose of this action research project was to explore how the implementation of bucket filling could affect self-regulation in 5-year-olds in a Montessori classroom. The bucket filling theme is character education children’s literature. The collection of data for this action research utilized a mixed method of quantitative and qualitative, including the pre- and post-Preschool Self-Regulation Assessment, daily observation reflections, and tally sheets of behaviors. The data collected and analyzed in this study use of bucket filling can have some effect on self-regulation skills in 5-year-olds in a Montessori classroom. Self-regulation is essential to success in the classroom and in the world at large, any intervention that supports self-regulation is vital for students and teachers.

Language: English

Published: St. Paul, Minnesota, 2019

Abstract/Notes: Implementation of an anti-bias education framework is relatively new in the history of cultural competence movements. While some research has been done, sighting positive effects for K-12 students, few studies exist within the Montessori pedagogy. Furthermore, little research has been done in the effects of implementing this type of curriculum within a Montessori adolescent environment. Consequently, there is a need to gather information on effective anti-bias education best practices and how to introduce these strategies in a classroom environment. The purpose of this action research study is to explore how implementing anti-bias activities including literature, journaling, and Socratic discussions affect students’ cultural proficiency in a Montessori Middle School.

Language: English

Published: St. Paul, Minnesota, 2019

Abstract/Notes: Children have an innate sense of curiosity about nature. “When children come in contact with nature, they reveal their strength” (Montessori, 1967, pg. 69) and therefore, outdoor education can be a useful learning tool for students. Whether being outdoors or bringing the nature-based activities inside, children have the opportunity to work with all of their senses. A growing number of schools around the United States have begun adding outdoor learning to their curriculum (Lieberman & Hoody, 1998) to bring a positive outcome to students’ behavior. Outdoor learning provides another environment that children can thrive in and hopefully benefit from. As many students struggle with learning confined to an indoor learning environment, like most classrooms, changing the environment offers students a uniquely rich context to frame student learning and provides them with movement, stimulation and grabs their attention so they can focus better (Bjorge, Hannah, Rekstad and Pauly, 2017). “If students are more focused, it is less likely for them to cause disruptive behaviors” (Bjorge, et. al, p. 4). This positive change in behavior is beneficial for everyone including students, teachers, and parents. By incorporating outdoor learning regularly in a classroom, children are given the freedom to move and explore on a sensorial level that may promote positive learning abilities. Using the outdoor environment as a classroom setting can have an impact on children who are not successful in an indoor classroom setting. According to existing research, (Bjorge, et. al, 2017; James, J.K. and Williams, T., 2017; Lieberman & Hoody, 1998) student motivation and concentration behaviors, as well as overall well-being, can be greatly impacted and improved through outdoor learning opportunities.

Language: English

Published: St. Paul, Minnesota, 2019

Language: English

Language: English

Language: English

Abstract/Notes: The purpose of this study was to find out whether playing Minecraft: Education Edition would help in-class and remote students make personal connections. This action research project took place in a Grade 3, 4 and 5 public Montessori school during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020. Of the 23 students, 14 were present in the classroom, while nine others were transitional learners with separate online teachers. Students were asked to reflect on their interactions with other players through interviews, journals and surveys. Parents participated by completing a pre-and post-survey. Students reported an increase in friends and acquaintances matching quantitative data collected by the teacher. Remote learners did not make as many connections as in-class students, likely due to technical difficulties with software and scheduling differences. Implications around the game's colonial mission, racial and gender bias as well as environmental sustainability, need further research.

Language: English

Published: St. Paul, Minnesota, 2020

Abstract/Notes: The present paper proposes a method to isolate as much as possible the effects of the different educational innovations present in the Italian territory on the learning outcomes measured by the Invalsi National Surveys, to contribute to the debate on the effectiveness of such alternative approaches, such as “Avanguardie educative”, Montessori, “Senza Zaino”, “We Debate”, “Book in Progress”, etc. To illustrate the proposal, we take as an example the research that is taking place on Montessori teaching, in the framework of the PhD in Social & Developmental Psychology and Educational Research at Sapienza University of Rome. According to Cook, Campbell and Peracchio’s (1990) classification, the research design is a design with non-equivalent groups, with only post-tests,because there is no random assignment to experimental and control groups: the assignment takes place with the simple matching (precision control) method, which guarantees the greatest possible isolation of the effect of the independent variable, which keeps under control a) the effects of all the variables that we know affect dependent variables, and b) the effect of their interaction. The proposed method consists in five steps. The first step is about reconstructing the list of schools that follow a certain educational innovation. In the case of Montessori pedagogy, the list of 50 fifth primary classes active in Italy in 2013 and 2016 has been defined. The second step consists in reconstructing the school careers of the students attending the schools on the list. In the case of Montessori schools, for about half of the students of both cohorts, the number of years of Montessori school attended was defined through a meticulous collection of data from the secretariats of 12 Montessori schools in Italy. By this way, in addition to the experimental group of all those enrolled in the Montessori sections identified, there is an experimental group whose number of years of Montessori school attended is also known. The third step is about requesting, to the Statistical Office of Invalsi, the achievement in National Surveys of the students attending the list of identified classes. In the case of Montessori schools, on 24 November 2020 the list of sections and SIDI codes of students whose career was reconstructed was submitted, and between January and February 2021 the databases of the 2013 and 2016 National Surveys was returned, with the distinction between Montessori and non-Montessori students. The fourth step consists in defining the experimental group, made up in this case by the students who attended a Montessori school, and the control group, whose members are identified with the simple matching method (Bailey, 1982, p. 340). The last step consists in verifying, by ANOVA, any statistically significant differences between the distributions of the scores of the experimental groups and related control groups.

Language: English

Published: Milano, Italy: Franco Angeli, 2022

ISBN: 978-88-351-3917-1 88-351-3917-1

Language: Korean

ISSN: 1226-9417