Language: English

Language: English

Abstract/Notes: Montessori's first premise is that movement and cognition are closely entwined, and movement can enhance thinking and learning (Lillard, 2005). Children must move, and practice moving, to develop strength, balance, and the stability needed to fully participate in the rigors of daily life. It is imperative for young children's motor development that, on a daily basis, parents and teachers give children opportunities for physical activity. Children need time to explore, walk, run, climb, touch, smell, see, and hear the natural world. It is also imperative that teachers begin to implement opportunities for gross-motor development within classrooms. As a physical educator and movement specialist, Melani Fuchs observes children and adults in the four phases of motor development: Reflexive, Rudimentary, Fundamental, and Specialized. Here she explains that each phase lays the foundation for the phase that follows it. In this article Fuchs explains each phase and details their natural developmental progression. Having seen a need for a classroom Movement curriculum after working with special needs children within a Montessori environment, Fuchs, in collaboration with professor Diane Craft, a faculty member of the Physical Education Department at the State University of New York at Cortland, created "Movement Matters: A Movement Album for Montessori Early Childhood Programs" (Fuchs, M. & Craft, D., 2012). The album provides a developmentally appropriate Movement curriculum for Early Childhood and early Elementary programs, with in-depth explanations and illustrations of motor development concepts. As teachers cultivate an understanding of these concepts, they develop new insights and, ultimately, new techniques to assess and assist children's pathways to mature movement skills. Teachers will find practical suggestions for leading children in physical activities as well as a discussion of Maria Montessori's philosophy regarding movement. The album's lesson plans and activities are written specifically to give teachers the means to normalize movement in the classroom (to make movement a "right" choice), thus accommodating the child's natural need to move. The lessons encourage children to move to learn, to understand movement concepts, to master movement skills, to develop self-awareness, and to become joyful, healthy movers.

Language: English

ISSN: 1054-0040

Language: English

ISSN: 1054-0040

Language: English

ISSN: 1054-0040

Language: English

ISSN: 1054-0040

Abstract/Notes: The rapid pace of changes faced by todays young people calls for pedagogical practices that equip them not only with knowledge but also with the ability to think effectively, flexibly, and independently. This process rely on performance monitoring, a fundamental function of learning. When individuals notice something unexpected, such as an error, they tend to pause. In learning from this discrepant event, they adapt their behavior accordingly. Although performance monitoring is essential for academic learning and improves throughout childhood, its susceptibility to educational influences has not been studied. Pedagogical traditions differ on how they teach children to learn from feedback and errors. Traditional education provides children from one age group with opportunities to engage in work, and then to learn about and correct their performance later based on a teachers feedback and evaluation. By contrast, Montessori education focuses on supporting children in self-correcting in real time. It utilizes specialized materials that encourage childrens self-discovery of relevant concepts, and multi-age classes in which children discuss answers as they work. Here, we compared performance monitoring in children aged 4-15 years attending traditional or Montessori classes. Our multimodal approach (behavior, EEG, and MRI) revealed that 1) cortical regions related to performance monitoring un- dergo significant changes between the ages of 5 and 13 years; 2) children of that age do not process errors as adults do, and 3) pedagogical practices modulate both be- havior and neural responses. More specifically, the behavioral, morphometric and EEG neural data reveal significant differences in how students notice and react to errors, and in how they self-correct. fMRI analyses reveal difference in brain net- work connectivity between students from the two groups, and suggest differences in error correction strategies. Finally, higher academic performances were not at- tributable to higher executive functions, but rather differences in creativity abilities. Our work suggests that how students learn from errors reflects childhood schooling experience. Performance monitoring styles are also likely associated with youths cognitive flexibility more broadly, influencing how they react to novel or unex- pected outcomes. [Au vu du rythme effréné des changements auxquels sont confrontés les jeunes, il est essentiel que les pratiques pédagogiques ne se concentrent pas uniquement sur la transmission de connaissances, mais également sur leur capacité dapprendre de manière efficace, flexible et indépendante. L’élément central à cette entreprise est de favoriser une approche autodirigée et orientée sur les processus, dans laque- lle les élèves développent la capacité d’apprendre de leurs erreurs. Ce processus est appelé la gestion de la performance. Bien que la gestion de la performance soit essentielle aux apprentissages scolaires et se développe durant l’enfance, sa sus- ceptibilité aux influences pédagogiques n’a pas encore été étudiée. Ici, nous avons comparé la gestion de la performance chez des enfants âgés de 4 à 15 ans, issus de classes traditionnelles ou Montessori. Alors que les pratiques pédagogiques traditionnelles mettent l’accent sur le fait que les élèves apprennent à partir des commentaires des enseignants, les pratiques pédagogiques Montessori encouragent les élèves à travailler de manière autonome avec du matériel spéciale- ment conçu pour permettre de faire et dapprendre de leurs erreurs. Notre approche multimodale (comportement, EEG, IRM) nous a permis de dévoiler que 1) les ré- gions corticales liées à la gestion de la performance subissent des changements im- portants entre 5 et 13 ans; 2) les enfants de cet âge ne traitent pas l'erreur de la même manière que les adultes, et que 3) les pratiques pédagogiques modulent à la fois le comportement et les réponses cérébrales. Ce travail constitue une première étape connectant la recherche sur la gestion de la performance avec l’émergence des habitudes mentales chez les enfants dans leurs environnements scolaires, avec des implications directes pour la recherche en développement, les professionnels de l’enfance, et les politiques.]

Language: English

Published: Lausanne, Switzerland, 2020

Language: English

Language: English

Language: English