Language: English

ISSN: 0519-0959

Abstract/Notes: How to combine experience and learning in a school or a university? How do new pedagogies get created? Who creates them, and why? The history of education is full of creative educators who integrated experience and education in new ways. By comparing a few of these cases it is possible to uncover some underlying characteristics of this practice. This is the goal of this study: to identify common, fundamental elements in the practice of integrating experience and education that transcend any particular pedagogy. The study selects six cases: three historical educators of children: John Dewey (U.S.), Maria Montessori (Italy), and Rabindranath Tagore (India); and three contemporary educators of managers and leaders: Ronald Heifetz (U.S.), Marshall Ganz (U.S.), and Henry Mintzberg (Canada). The data is collected from archival sources, direct observation and interviews. It focuses on their pedagogical creations and some biographical facts. Following a constructivist grounded theory approach (Charmaz, 2006) the collected data is re-selected, coded, and organized according to common categories.A set of principles and practices on how to integrate experience and education emerged from this study. First: the sources of educative experiences: connecting with nature, service to society, community life, personal relationships, and discovering oneself. Second: the principles of educative experiences: educating for and in the present; embracing real life in real context; integrating content, method, and practice; educating in the 'whole game;' and combining head, heart, and hands. Third: the attributes of experiential learners: doing first, courageous, explorer, appreciative, reflective, and autonomous. And fourth: the tasks of creating pedagogies: designing learning experiences, establishing a laboratory of pedagogy, integrating everything into a culture, training other educators, leading a pedagogical movement, and writing about pedagogy and education. The findings contribute to the literature on experience and education by offering a set of principles and practices about pedagogical creation and development. These can help educators, schools, and universities to promote pedagogical innovation. Business schools can also use these findings to foster pedagogical experimentation and help bring their teaching methods closer to the actual practice of managers and leaders. / Comment allier l'expérience et l'apprentissage dans une école ou une université? Comment les nouvelles pédagogies voient-elles le jour? Qui les crée et pourquoi? L'histoire de l'éducation est riche de pédagogues créatifs qui intègrent l'expérience et l'éducation de façon créative. La comparaison de quelques cas permet de révéler des caractéristiques sous-jacentes de cette pratique. L'objectif de la présente étude est de recenser les éléments communs et fondamentaux de la pratique d'intégration de l'expérience et de l'éducation qui transcendent toute pédagogie. L'étude porte sur six cas : trois pédagogues historiques centrés sur l'enfant : John Dewey (É.-U.), Maria Montessori (Italie) et Rabindranath Tagore (Inde); et trois pédagogues contemporains en gestion et en leadership : Ronald Heifetz (É.-U.), Marshall Ganz (É.-U.) et Henry Mintzberg (Canada). Les données proviennent de sources d'archives, d'observation directe et d'entrevues. L'accent est mis sur la création pédagogique et sur des données biographiques. Suivant une approche de la théorisation ancrée constructiviste (Charmaz, 2006), les données recueillies sont sélectionnées de nouveau, codées et classées en catégories communes.Un ensemble de principes et de pratiques sur la façon d'intégrer l'expérience et l'éducation est ressorti de la présente étude. Premièrement, les sources des expériences éducatives : le lien avec la nature, le service à la société, la vie communautaire, les relations personnelles et la découverte de soi. Deuxièmement, les principes des expériences éducatives : l'éducation pour le présent et dans le présent; l'adhésion à la vraie vie dans un contexte authentique; l'intégration du contenu, de la méthode et de la pratique; l'éducation dans « l'ensemble du jeu » et la combinaison du cœur, de la tête et des mains. Troisièmement, les attributs de l'apprenant expérientiel : personne d'action, courageux, explorateur, reconnaissant, réfléchi et autonome. Et quatrièmement, les tâches de la création de pédagogies : la conception d'expériences d'apprentissage, la mise en place d'un laboratoire pédagogique, l'intégration de tout à une culture, la formation d'autres pédagogues, la direction d'un mouvement pédagogique et la rédaction sur la pédagogie. Les constatations apportent une contribution à la documentation sur l'expérience et l'éducation en établissant un ensemble de principes et de pratiques sur la création et le développement en matière de pédagogie. Cet ensemble de principes et de pratiques peut aider les pédagogues, les écoles et les universités à inspirer et à soutenir l'innovation pédagogique. Les écoles de gestion peuvent également mettre à profit ces constatations pour favoriser l'expérimentation pédagogique et rapprocher leurs méthodes d'enseignement de la pratique actuelle des gestionnaires et des leaders.

Language: English

Published: Montreal, 2018

Abstract/Notes: This study explored how narrative was being used to foster meaning-making in Montessori, Steiner, Government and Catholic schools. In-depth interviews of twelve teachers from the four educational settings were used to collect the teachers' stories that comprised the data on narrative use. NUD*IST software was employed to organise data and to focus on emerging concepts through data analysis. A wide spectrum of narrative uses related to meaning making was revealed. These varied understandings support using narrative to foster insight on three levels relating to several theoretical views of narrative and its importance.

Language: English

Published: Sydney, Australia, 2001

Abstract/Notes: This basic qualitative research records the author’s findings from the one-on-one in-depth personal interviews with twenty-three teachers, trainers, and administrators working for the Christian Montessori schools. The purpose of the study was to explore the experiences of the teachers in facilitating meta-learning, the how-to-learn and the why-to-learn, among students in the Christian Montessori schools. The findings are as follows: First, both the Montessorian training and the Christian spiritual preparation of the teachers in the Christian Montessori schools enables them to effectively facilitate both the how-to-learn and the why-to-learn meta-learning, which endorses their claim that they are the true heir of the original Montessori method; second, the teachers’ most meaningful way of facilitating meta-learning is students’ receiving spontaneous training through the teachers’ respectful scaffolding; third, the Christian Montessori school model is an integrated and viable system for educational reform pursuing both the how-to-learn and the why-to-learn at the same time.

Language: English

Published: Deerfield, Illinois, 2020

Language: English

ISSN: 0571-1142

Abstract/Notes: Multiage programming is a school reform option used throughout the United States. Much of the current literature focuses on the short-term benefits of multiage programs, particularly at the elementary level, with little consideration for long-term effects or for what might happen to students once they leave the multiage classroom and enter middle school. While there has been significant research that generalizes the transition experience of the general population of students, there has been limited research conducted on this transition experience for this specific population, the multiage elementary student. The purpose of this simultaneous, mixed methods study was to provide an in-depth examination of the transition effects on students who transition from multiage elementary classrooms to traditional single-grade classrooms at the middle school. In this study, eight students who had previously attended multiage elementary classrooms were given the Piers-Harris 2 Children's Self Concept Scale at three points, fall, winter, and spring during their first year in middle school to assess the students' social and emotional well-being during the transition. Students were also administered a middle school transition questionnaire to identify what procedural, academic, or social issues were of concern to them. Students were interviewed about their transitional experiences. In the analysis of the data showed that the students' overall sense of self and self-esteem improved over the course of the transitional year. Student concerns with procedures, academics, and social life decreased over the course of the year. The following major categories emerged from the interviews: (a) adjusting to the structure of middle school, (b) adjusting to new academic demands, (c) managing relationships with teachers and peers, and (d) changing sense of self. The findings have implications for middle level educators, multiage classroom elementary educators and for parents.

Language: English

Published: Chicago, Illinois, 2012

Abstract/Notes: In order to address perceived problems of readiness for kindergarten it is important to know more about the effect of preschool attendance on improving the literacy skills of phonological awareness. The purpose of the study was to explore the possible effects of belonging to a particular ethnic group, attending preschool, belonging to varying socioeconomic groups, and belonging to a group classified as English as a second language on academic progress in phonological awareness. The data set included 134 children who attended kindergarten in the 2000-2001 school year. The children belonged to one of four preschool cohorts: those who attended a preschool using the High/Scope curriculum, a Montessori preschool program, a Head Start preschool program, and children who had not attended preschool of any kind, including summer preschool. Variables included the seven subtests from the Phonological Awareness Literacy Screening (PALS) for the fall and spring of kindergarten, ethnicity, socioeconomic status (free and reduced lunch) and English as a second language classification. Analysis of variance was used for the exploratory study. Exploratory analysis suggested that ethnicity had an effect on a child's scores in the fall and spring of kindergarten in select subtests (spelling, letter sound and summed score). Analysis also suggested a significant main effect on fall scores of all subtests for socioeconomic status. For children classified as English as a second language, analysis suggested order of means for both fall and spring for all subtests was native English and then English as a Second Language. Finally, the analysis suggested Montessori programs had the highest mean score in all subtests. The no preschool cohort was lowest in both fall and spring on word recognition, alphabet recognition, letter sounds, and summed score. A significant main effect attributable for preschool program was noted on all subtests for both fall and spring.

Language: English

Published: Fairfax, Virginia, 2003

Language: English

Abstract/Notes: The focus of this research is the spiritual experience of young children in early childhood educational settings. Spirituality is included in the New Zealand early childhood curriculum, Te Whariki, but is a relatively unarticulated aspect of educational practice. In order to find out how spirituality is supported in early childhood educational contexts this qualitative case study research took place in three early childhood settings: a Montessori casa, a private preschool and a Steiner (Waldorf) kindergarten. The methods used in the research included participant observation, interviews and focus groups. The teachers were asked to make a video about spirituality to reflect their own context and photographs were taken in each setting. The metaphor of spiritual landscape is used in this research. In this landscape everyday experience merged with the spiritual to form the concept of everyday spirituality. The cultural theories of everyday life supported a realisation that ordinary daily activity can become wonderful and mysterious when the spiritual dimension is realised. The themes that emerged from analysis of the case studies are conceptualised as transformative aspects of learning and relationships. They are aspects of everyday spirituality identified as spiritual withness; spiritual inbetweenness; and the spiritually elsewhere. Representing spiritual experience is challenging. The thesis is written in narrative form and contains core narratives as prose and poems. Using writing as a means of discovery made communicating spirituality through the medium of words a possibility. Spirituality is proposed to be an inclusive concept that affirms a sense of connection and this thesis found that all pedagogical practices in early childhood settings have the potential to include a spiritual aspect. In Aotearoa New Zealand many children lead their everyday lives in the context of an early childhood environment that includes teachers and parents as part of that community. This thesis argues that when everyday spirituality permeates early childhood contexts that all aspects of the curriculum are realised and the spiritual experience of everyone connected to that setting is supported.

Language: English

Published: Palmerston North, New Zealand, 2007

Language: English