Abstract/Notes: This article presents and analyses a didactic proposal based on manipulative material (Knobless Cylinders) used in a Montessori classroom of 3-6-year-old pre-schoolers. Choosing this material is justified in relation to the competencies/strategies/skills used during the development of mathematical patterning. Numerous studies emphasise the importance of patterns in mathematics and experimental sciences instruction from early childhood onward. However, there are several educational factors that have not yet been clarified, such as meaningful learning, the overuse of abstract visual patterns that are distant from the student’s previous life experience, etc. This article discusses the sequence of proposed activities and certain critical issues.

Language: English

DOI: 10.1080/03004279.2022.2032786

ISSN: 0300-4279, 1475-7575

Abstract/Notes: Examines the relationship between two preschool program directors' and teachers' beliefs, instructional decisions, and preschool children's conceptions of reading and writing. Results show that preschool children's conceptions of reading and writing reflected the practices of the two programs. (Author/BB) Directors of two preschool programs were interviewed regarding their orientations toward reading and writing instruction. Ten children from each program were interviewed regarding their conceptions of reading and writing. One school was found to have a “mastery of specific skills/text-based” orientation, and the other was found to have a “holistic/reader-based” orientation. A relationship was found between preschool program's orientations toward reading and writing instruction and children's ideas about reading and writing. The relationships between preschool practices and children's conceptions are examined. Implications for the influence of preschool teacher's beliefs and instructional decisions on children's conceptions of reading and writing are discussed.

Language: English

DOI: 10.1016/S0885-2006(89)90077-X

ISSN: 0885-2006, 1873-7706

Abstract/Notes: The relationships among school adjustment, victimisation, and gender were investigated with 284 Turkish children aged between five and six years. Teacher Rating Scale of School Adjustment, The Preschool Behaviour Questionnaire, and Peer Victimisation Scale were used in this study. Analyses indicated that children's behaviour problems and victimisation variables were significant predictors of the school adjustment of children while controlling for gender.

Language: English

DOI: 10.1080/03004279.2013.848915

ISSN: 0300-4279, 1475-7575

Abstract/Notes: The IEA Preprimary Project is a longitudinal, cross-national study of preprimary care and education designed to identify how process and structural characteristics of the settings children attended at age 4 are related to their age-7 cognitive and language performance. Investigators collaborated to develop common instruments to measure family background, teachers’ characteristics, setting structural characteristics, experiences of children in settings, and children’s developmental status. Data from 10 countries are included in the analysis; in most countries, the sample of settings is representative of preprimary settings in that country. For the analysis, a 3-level hierarchical linear model was employed that allowed decomposition of variation of child outcomes into three parts—variation among children within settings, among settings within countries, and among countries. Four findings are consistent across all of the countries included. Age-7 language improves as teachers’ number of years of full-time schooling increases and the predominant type of activity teachers propose in settings is free choice rather than personal/social. Age-7 cognitive performance improves as children spend less time in whole group activities and the variety of equipment and materials available increases. There were also a number of findings that varied across countries depending on particular country characteristics. The findings support child-initiated activities and small group activities and are consistent with developmentally appropriate practices promoting active learning.

Language: English

DOI: 10.1016/j.ecresq.2006.07.007

ISSN: 0885-2006, 1873-7706

Abstract/Notes: Children’s media is replete with human-like portrayals of animals and objects that wear clothing, speak, drive cars, and experience human emotions. Recent research has shown that anthropomorphic portrayals of animals in books lead children to think anthropomorphically about real animals. Here we asked whether this is also the case for an inanimate object. Specifically, does exposure to an anthropomorphized train, as compared to a real train, increase children’s tendency to make anthropomorphic attributions to real trains? We also investigated whether this effect with books extends to another common medium of presentation: video. Chinese preschoolers (n = 258) ages 4–6 were randomly assigned to watch a video or listen to a book about either a real or an anthropomorphized train. Before and after this exposure, children completed a modified Anthropomorphism Questionnaire–Child Form (IDAQ-CF), which included questions about trains. Children who were exposed to the anthropomorphic book significantly increased in their tendency to view real trains as having human-like qualities, as compared to control children who had no exposure. Video exposure had no effect on the anthropomorphism of trains.

Language: English

DOI: 10.1080/17482798.2019.1570960

ISSN: 1748-2798

Abstract/Notes: Learn how a theory-driven Montessori-based intervention can be used to increase student nutrition knowledge, fruit and vegetable intake and preferences

Language: English

DOI: 10.1016/j.jand.2020.06.147

ISSN: 2212-2672

Abstract/Notes: We report here cognitive and academic outcome measures at ages 12 and 16 for approximately 80% of a sample of 205 children who had been randomly assigned to 2 programs for developmentally delayed preschoolers, Direct Instruction (DI) and Mediated Learning (ML). There were no main effect differences between programs, but there were aptitude-by-treatment interactions similar to those found earlier: initially lower functioning students benefited more from the ML program, whereas initially higher functioning students benefited more from the DI program. Multiple regression analyses suggested that lower scores on cognitive and academic achievement measures are associated with greater experience in special education, even controlling for preschool period ability measures, gender, and ethnicity. The challenges of interpreting this result are discussed.

Language: English

DOI: 10.1177/001440290507100306

ISSN: 0014-4029, 2163-5560

Abstract/Notes: Studies in cognitive neuroscience have shown that education practices can affect the development of executive functions (EF) in young children, although there is very little evidence on young preschool children. The present study aims to provide support for this endeavor, and consists of a quasi-experimental design with one-group pre-test/ post-test measures of cognitive control at age 3 in an urban public Montessori preschool. Three-year-olds (N = 23) in an authentic Montessori public preschool in Washington DC improved significantly on core EF measures (inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility) validated by the NIH Toolbox Early Childhood Cognition Battery, and the data revealed large effect sizes. Comparisons against NIH published norms revealed no selection bias. Performance on EF measures did not correlate with age but did correlate with amount of time between testing sessions, suggesting the possibility that experience, more than age, could have contributed to cognitive control growth. A controlled comparison between mixed-age and single-age classes revealed no differences in these EFs, raising the possibility that aspects of the environment other than the age composition are likely to contribute to growth. We propose that a potential contributor to EF growth is Montessori education, and more specifically, that this growth might be found in the design of interaction of the child with the environment. In particular, we discuss the design element called control of error, and consider why this element might be related to cognitive abilities such as inhibitory control. In current national discussions on the importance of equitable early childhood education, the synthesis of findings from neurocognitive studies has implications for children’s academic and life success.

Language: English

DOI: 10.3389/feduc.2018.00106

ISSN: 2504-284X

Abstract/Notes: European policy has seen a number of changes and innovations in the field of early childhood preschool education over the last decade, which have been reflected in various forms in the policies of individual EU countries. Within the Czech preschool policy, certain innovations and approaches have been implemented in the field of early children education, such as the introduction of compulsory preschool education before entering primary school from 2017, emphasis on inclusive education, equal conditions in education and enabling state-supported diversity in the education concepts of kindergartens. The aim of our study was to assess the influence of various preschool education systems in the Czech Republic in the context of psychological variables reflecting selected children’s outcomes which may contribute to future school achievement. The monitored variables were the attitudes, motivations and executive functions of children in the last year of preschool education. A comparison was made between the traditional preschool education program and the so-called alternative types of preschool education, such as Montessori, Waldorf and religious schools. The total sample was divided into four subgroups, namely a group of children attending traditional kindergartens (731, 84.9%), religious (65, 7.5%), Montessori (35, 4.1%), and Waldorf (30, 3.5%) kindergartens. To determine empirical data, the following research methods were used: Attitude Questionnaire, School Performance Motivation Scale, and Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF). The results of our survey show the fact that the type of kindergarten attended has a significant effect on the child’s level of school performance motivation, attitudes toward school as well as executive functions. Significant differences were found between the different types of kindergartens attended in the monitored variables.

Language: English

DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.823980

ISSN: 1664-1078

Abstract/Notes: Research on the outcomes of Montessori education is scarce and results are inconsistent. One possible reason for the inconsistency is variations in Montessori implementation fidelity. To test whether outcomes vary according to implementation fidelity, we examined preschool children enrolled in high fidelity classic Montessori programs, lower fidelity Montessori programs that supplemented the program with conventional school activities, and, for comparison, conventional programs. Children were tested at the start and end of the school year on a range of social and academic skills. Although they performed no better in the fall, children in Classic Montessori programs, as compared with children in Supplemented Montessori and Conventional programs, showed significantly greater school-year gains on outcome measures of executive function, reading, math, vocabulary, and social problem-solving, suggesting that high fidelity Montessori implementation is associated with better outcomes than lower fidelity Montessori programs or conventional programs.

Language: English

DOI: 10.1016/j.jsp.2012.01.001

ISSN: 0022-4405