Abstract/Notes: The study was conducted using a qualitative research method to examine Montessori preschool education practices in Turkiye. The study group consisted of 14 teachers in Montessori classrooms of preschools in the central district of a province in Turkiye. The data were collected with a Structured Classroom Observation Form, Material Control List and Semi-structured interviews. The MAXQDA 2022 software was used for the analysis of teacher interviews. According to the findings, the structure of the Montessori classrooms was generally in accordance with the Montessori philosophy, and there was a sufficient number and variety of Montessori materials in the classrooms. Practical life and mathematics activities were frequently included in the program. The most commonly used materials were sensorial and cosmic field materials. Teachers felt inadequate about Montessori practices. There were problems with the high-class size, mixed age, cost and supply of material. According to teachers, education provides children with self-regulation skills and enables effective learning. In addition, education has some advantages for parents and teachers. Children were bored with the activities, parents had insufficient knowledge of the practices, and teachers had time management problems. Finally, teachers offered recommendations for improving practices.

Language: English

DOI: 10.5937/IstrPed2301177A

ISSN: 2217-7337

Abstract/Notes: While many BIPOC Montessori educators engage in anti-racist and culturally responsive teaching, Montessori education remains predominantly race-evasive. As a philosophy, it is rooted in colorblind perspectives in its focus on "all children" and lack of explicit centering of BIPOC students’ experiences. Teaching must account for race and racial lived realities in order to better support BIPOC students’ ways of knowing in culturally relevant and sustaining ways. This study seeks to center the voices of BIPOC Montessori educators and disrupt the pattern of Montessori research conducted without a critical racial lens. Framed by Critical Race Theory, this study focuses on the strengths, assets, and anti-racist teaching practices that one BIPOC educator brings to her classroom. I use critical ethnographic methods to better understand how a BIPOC Montessori teacher at a public charter Montessori school interprets and enacts the Montessori method to support BIPOC students. I consider how her racial identity informs her practices, and the structural barriers she faces at her school when enacting anti-racist and strength-based approaches. The guiding research questions of this study are: How does a Black Montessori teacher interpret the Montessori philosophy to more relevantly support her BIPOC students? How does she practice the Montessori method through culturally relevant and sustaining practices? What are the structural barriers that continue to challenge her as a Black educator doing her work? My analysis suggests that the teacher maintains her classroom space as a tangible and intangible cultural space that reflects and maintains her students' identities; that her own identity as a Black woman deeply contribute to the school's work around anti-racism and culturally responsive pedagogy; and that there are external barriers that both the teacher and the school face, that prevent them both from fully achieving culturally responsive teaching practices. At the core of the study, I seek to understand the possibilities and challenges of Montessori education from the perspective of BIPOC Montessori educators, and how we could learn from them to better support BIPOC students. I hope to begin a path toward more counter-stories in the Montessori community to specifically support BIPOC Montessori educators and understand the structural barriers they face to anti-racist teaching in Montessori programs in the United States.

Language: English

Published: College Park, Maryland, 2023

Abstract/Notes: The purpose of this research study was to explore the impact of multicultural culinary arts food preparation activities on food neophobia in the Montessori lower elementary classroom. The research study took place over three weeks in a public charter Montessori school, located in St. Louis, MO. Children ages 6-9 years old from one classroom participated in the study. The intervention strategy, based on Social Cognitive Theory, implemented key experience lessons, cosmic stories, and mindful eating strategies. Each food preparation activity lasted approximately 45 minutes and occurred three times a week during the study. The intervention demonstrated repeated exposure and involvement in food preparation activities helped to minimize food neophobia in lower elementary children. Further considerations include regular food preparation activities and classroom legacy projects, parent nutrition education workshops, and creating classroom cooking and eating traditions in lower elementary.

Language: English

Published: St. Paul, Minnesota, 2023

Abstract/Notes: This mixed methods study examined the impact of School Y’s Montessori approach on their students’ academic achievement, perceptions of executive functioning skills, and the school’s culture. The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of length of enrollment on academic achievement in a Montessori upper elementary and middle school classroom. Administrator, parent, student, and teacher perceptions of the impact of School Y’s Montessori approach on students’ executive functioning were examined. The stakeholders’ perceptions of School Y’s culture were also identified. There were three main findings of the study: 1) there was no statistically significant relationship between the number of years students have been enrolled and their academic scores on both the Stanford Achievement Test and the OLSAT, 2) executive functioning skills were attributed to student success, and 3) cultural practices included individual instruction, mastery, real-life learning, positive discipline, peace education, a strong sense of community, parent education and support, mindfulness in the classroom, and an emphasis on environment. Additional findings showed the NCE results of both the Stanford and the OLSAT were above grade level expectations across all grade levels and subjects. These results could be an indication that the Montessori approach used by School Y was preparing the students for success in the subjects assessed. The findings were inconclusive because there was no statistically significant relationship between the number of years students have been enrolled and their academic scores on both the Stanford Achievement Test and the OLSAT. However, their results were above grade level expectations across all grade levels and subjects.

Language: English

Published: Nashville, Tennessee, 2017

Abstract/Notes: A comparative study of selected franchise day care, Head Start, Montessori, community day care, and laboratory nursery schools.

Language: English

ISSN: 0044-0728

Abstract/Notes: This literature review provides a broad examination of the importance of culturally sustaining practices in public Montessori schools. For the purpose of this paper, culturally sustaining practices refers to any pedagogical practice or framework that prioritizes the racial and social identities of children of color, and/or the work that educators must do to strengthen these culturally sustaining practices. Culturally sustaining practices include but are not limited to Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy, which Paris (2012) adapted from Ladson-Billings' (1995) Culturally Responsive Pedagogy. Specifically examining the experiences that children of color experience in public Montessori education in the U.S., the author proposes that culturally sustaining practices combined with the Montessori method will lead to more humanizing and uplifting school experiences for Montessori families and educators. The research questions guiding the review are: (1) How does public Montessori education intersect with racial justice, social justice, and CSP, specifically as it serves children of color? (2) What is the internal work required of adults who want to employ CSP in their practice with children? The themes that arose from the literature were: the racial and economic challenges facing public Montessori in the U.S.; the varied experiences of Montessori students of color; the need for more social justice and culturally sustaining practices; and the aspects of culturally sustaining practices already existing in Montessori. The paper ends with recommendations for schools and Montessori teacher preparation.

Language: English

ISSN: 1916-8128

Abstract/Notes: This was previously published in American Montessori Society Bulletin (v. 8, no. 2, 1970) under the same title.

Language: English

Published: New York, New York: American Montessori Society, 1970

Language: English

ISSN: 0277-9064

Language: English

ISSN: 1538-6619

Abstract/Notes: Within the scope of Montessori education system, which has been widely applied in Turkey in recent years, “prepared environment”, “didactic materials” and “prepared adult” concepts have been frequently emphasized. It could be asserted that behavior management at Montessori classrooms is formed and arranged within the frame of these three basic factors. This study intends to determine the classroom management practices of Montessori educators who work in public or private preschool institutions’ three-six-year-old early childhood departments in Turkey and how they associate these practices with classroom management. The study was carried out in line with a phenomenological approach, one of the qualitative research methods, and the sample is comprised of 13 Montessori educators working in 4 different institutions located in Istanbul’s Basaksehir, Umraniye, Sancaktepe, and Sariyer districts. The data was obtained through individual face-to-face interviews and a follow-up interview by using the questions prepared by researchers. The findings were obtained by descriptive analysis. Data on the classroom management practices were collected under the theme of management of misbehaviors and 18 practices were identified under this theme. According to findings of the follow-up interview, educators associate the practices they apply for behavior management with classroom management within the frame of the prepared environment, prepared adult, and didactic materials. Future researchers can design studies to compare the practices of Montessori educators and educators working in different approaches towards misbehaviours.

Language: English

ISSN: 2821-3149