Language: English

DOI: 10.15088/00002124

ISSN: 1884-8907

Abstract/Notes: It was hypothesized that the Montessori curriculum accelerates the acquisition of a number of concrete operational skills. To test this, eighty 4-year-old children were given three Piagetian problems—seriation, classification, and conservation. Half of the subjects were from Montessori schools, and the other half were from more traditional nursery settings. Within each type of school, half of the children were first year and the other half were second year enrollees. Results showed that significantly more Montessori than traditional children seriated and classified objects like concrete thinkers but that there were no differences on the conservation problem. Year of enrollment did not influence performance on any of the tasks. It was concluded that the hypothesis was confirmed and that the failure to find acceleration of conservation performance was due to its advanced nature relative to the other problems and/or the tangential manner in which Montessori exercises deal with the critical concepts that underly it.

Language: English

DOI: 10.1016/0361-476X(76)90055-2

ISSN: 0361-476X

Abstract/Notes: This meta-analysis examines the effects of Montessori Education (ME) on five dimensions of development and learning in preschool and school-age children. It includes data from 33 experimental or quasi-experimental studies comparing ME with other pedagogical approaches (268 effect sizes; n = 21,67). These studies were conducted in North-America, Asia and Europe, and published between 1991 and 2021. Effect size estimated using Hedges’ unbiased g, and a 3-level multilevel meta-analytic approach applied due to the dependency among the effect sizes obtained from the same study. Results showed that ME’s effects on development and learning are positive and vary from moderate to high, depending on the dimension considered: cognitive abilities (g = 0.17), social skills (g = 0.22), creativity (g = 0.25), motor skills (g = 0.27), and academic achievement (g = 1.10). Analyses of different moderators did not reveal differences by school level, type of publication and continent.

Language: English

DOI: 10.1016/j.cedpsych.2023.102182

ISSN: 0361-476X

Abstract/Notes: Teachers' communication skills are one of the most critical aspects that must be considered in teaching-learning, especially in Montessori education, where the children are in the initial linguistic and cognitive development stage. Montessori classes provide designed environments, allowing children to exercise autonomy in selecting their tasks and actively engage in self-directed learning. If the teacher and children are not well prepared in the triangle of classroom environment, and management, it will be futile to teach the Montessori children. The study is designed to explore the Montessori teachers' effects on communication skills of the children's cognitive development. Private Montessori School of Karachi. This study uses the qualitative method for data collection and analysis. Semi-structured interviews with six teachers were conducted. The finding shows that Montessori teachers' communication skills are essential to students' cognitive and language development. Effective communication skills of teachers contribute to the holistic development of children. It is recommended that teachers be professionally trained, and a better classroom environment should be provided for self-learning based on auto-corrective strategies.

Language: English

DOI: 10.59670/jns.v33i.4413

ISSN: 1863-5954, 2197-5523

Language: English

Abstract/Notes: Review

Language: English

Abstract/Notes: I investigated the effect of introducing cooperative games during recess to reduce aggressive behaviors in preschool-age children. The action research was done at an intentionally culturally and socio-economically diverse Montessori school in St. Paul, Minnesota. The 23 children involved were all children from the three to six age group who take daily naps. I recorded every aggressive incident I saw before, during, and after the intervention. I also recorded what cooperative activities I introduced for the intervention. Once before and after the intervention I asked the children if they enjoyed recess. I recorded observational notes such as weather conditions, and what activities the children chose each day. The data did not show that the cooperative games had a significant effect on the number of aggressive incidents recorded. Many more boys than girls were involved in aggressive incidents. There was no significant change in how the children reported their enjoyment of recess. Aggressive behavior could possibly be reduced through another action research project with a longer intervention period, a conflict resolution plan, and more purposeful activities for the children outside.

Language: English

Published: St. Paul, Minnesota, 2016

Abstract/Notes: This article discusses an approach designed for mathematics educators. Maria Montessori intended this knowledge to be shared with other teachers, increasing the Montessori community's understanding of children's thinking. A group of Montessorians has even tried to formalize this process with a program called Teachers' Research Network. Similarly, the intent is to share mathematics education research and practices. Specifically, the author would like to suggest the use of word problems to help children build a more abstract understanding of addition and subtraction. In mathematics education, researchers are examining how children invent arithmetic operations in a program called Cognitively Guided Instruction (CGI). The author describes the aspects of CGI that are similar to the Montessori tradition. Children use a variety of materials and strategies to solve problems. The role of the teacher is to modify the environment (using a variety of problem types and difficulties) to learn about each child's understanding. By observing how children pursue word problems, the researchers were able to assess what the children understood about operations, looking beyond whether or not they could perform the simple arithmetic calculations. Through quantitative and qualitative analyses, they discovered that children were indeed capable of solving complex word problems, including problems that involved more than one operation, in a variety of ways. The teacher's new understanding of the children's mathematical thinking is then used to vary the types of problems given in order to help children become more abstract thinkers. (Contains 1 table.)

Language: English

ISSN: 1054-0040

Language: English

ISSN: 0047-6765

Language: Italian

Published: Roma, Italy: Comitato italiano dell'OMEP, 1967