Language: English, Italian

Published: Rome, Italy: Opera Nazionale Montessori, 2006

ISBN: 88-88227-33-4

Abstract/Notes: The birth of Montessori’s Case dei Bambini (“Children’s Houses”) and the adoption of her innovative teaching method constitute an interesting chapter in the renewal of educational practices in Italy in the early years of the 20th century. Spreading from North to South, the biggest impact was felt where the social question was most acute. Milan, Rome and Città di Castello (the location of the Villa Montesca belonging to Leopoldo Franchetti and his wife Alice Hallgarten), together with very small communities such as those of Ferruzzano and Saccuti in the province of Reggio Calabria, were ideal contexts in which to test the assumptions of Maria Montessori’s approach to pedagogy. Specifically, this paper examines the experience of the Children’s Houses and nursery schools set up in Calabria by the Associazione Nazionale per gli Interessi del Mezzogiorno d’Italia (ANIMI, the National Association for the Interests of the Italian Mezzogiorno). The use of partly unpublished materials kept in the Association’s Historic Archive makes it possible to reconstruct the enthusiasm for the Montessori method of some teachers who were not from Calabria and to assess its positive effects on the children, who were among the country’s most neglected, often condemned to a series of privations. 

Language: Italian

DOI: 10.36253/rse-10369

ISSN: 2532-2818

Language: English

ISSN: 1522-9734

Abstract/Notes: "Just as every child is human, every child, no matter the circumstances, deserves an education that promotes his or her development to the fullest human potential." Using Cornerstone Montessori, a public Montessori school, as a case study, Liesl Taylor sets out to show the importance and impact that the Montessori approach can have on the lives of children in crisis. Using many specific examples, she highlights how to support elementary children in crisis through an understanding and commitment to the characteristics of the child of this age. [This talk was presented at the NAMTA conference titled "Children on the Edge: Creating a Path for Happy, Healthy Development," January 12-15, 2017 in New Orleans, LA.]

Language: English

ISSN: 1522-9734

Abstract/Notes: includes photo

Language: English

ISSN: 1071-6246

Abstract/Notes: Photo with caption: "This school for the children of the tenements, conducted according to the methods of Dr. Montessori, has recently been opened. In the picture some of the little pupils are seen washing up the dishes which they have used at the five-cent luncheon which they serve to themselves. Their enjoyment of this part of the new educational plan is evident."

Language: English

Language: English

Language: English

ISSN: 0040-7887

Language: English

ISSN: 0022-0574, 2515-5741

Abstract/Notes: Although children’s books often include fantasy, research suggests that children do not learn as well from fantastical stories as from realistic ones. The current studies investigated whether the type of fantasy matters, in effect testing two possible mechanisms for fantasy’s interference. Across two studies, 110 5-year-olds were read different types of fantastical stories containing a problem and then were asked to solve an analogous problem in a real lab setting. Children who were read a minimally fantastical version of the story, in which the story occurred on another planet “that looked just like Earth,” were no more likely to transfer the solution than children who heard a story that was slightly more fantastical in that the story occurred on another planet and that planet looked different from Earth (e.g., orange grass, a green sky). In contrast, significantly higher rates of learning were observed when the story contained those elements and two physically impossible events (e.g., walking through walls). Furthermore, this improvement was obtained only when the impossible events preceded, and not when they followed, the educational content. Although fantasy may sometimes detract from learning (as other research has shown), these new studies suggest that minimal fantasy does not and that particular types of fantasy may even increase learning. We propose that the mechanism for this may be that a small dose of impossible events induces deeper processing of the subsequent events in the story.

Language: English

DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2021.105212

ISSN: 0022-0965