Language: English

Language: English

Published: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1977

Language: English

Published: Kingston, Ontario, Canada, 1988

Abstract/Notes: La pédagogie Montessori est une méthode d’éducation qui a été mise au point au début du siècle dernier par Maria Montessori pour des enfants d’un quartier défavorisé de Rome en Italie. Depuis sa création, elle s’est développée à la marge de l’éducation nationale et se retrouve principalement dans des écoles privées. La pédagogie Montessori devient cependant de plus en plus populaire auprès des enseignants de l’école maternelle publique. Ce récent engouement apparaît fondé à la vue de plusieurs principes de cette méthode. En effet, elle promeut l’autonomie, l’auto-régulation, la coopération entre pairs d’âges variés et l’apprentissage à partir de matériels sensoriels et auto-correctifs. Ces caractéristiques sont plutôt en accord avec les connaissances scientifiques sur l’apprentissage et le développement de l’enfant. Cependant, à ce jour, les preuves expérimentales rigoureuses de son efficacité sont limitées. Dans cette thèse, nous avons mesuré les compétences langagières, mathématiques, exécutives et sociales d’enfants d’une école maternelle, repartis aléatoirement entre des classes appliquant la pédagogie Montessori ou une pédagogie conventionnelle. Nous avons suivi leurs progrès au cours des trois années de l’école maternelle (étude longitudinale) et avons comparé les performances des enfants en fin de Grande Section (étude transversale). Nous avons également élaboré une mesure pour évaluer objectivement la qualité d’implémentation de la pédagogie Montessori dans cette école, situé dans un quartier défavorisé. Nos résultats ne montrent pas de différences entre les groupes dans les domaines des mathématiques, des compétences exécutives et des compétences sociales. Cependant, les enfants issus des classes Montessori avaient de meilleures performances en lecture que les enfants issus des classes conventionnelles en fin de Grande Section. La pédagogie Montessori apparaît donc comme adaptée à l’apprentissage de la lecture chez le jeune enfant. [The Montessori method of education was created at the beginning of the last century by Maria Montessori to help children in a disadvantaged neighborhood of Rome in Italy. Although it is nowadays most commonly found in private schools, the Montessori method has gained popularity among teachers in public preschool and kindergarten in France and around the world. This popularity may appear legitimate with regards to the principles underlying the Montessori methods, which involve autonomy, self-regulation, cooperation between children from different age groups and learning with multi-sensorial and self-correcting materials. These characteristics are broadly in line with research on learning and development in young children. However, there is limited evidence for the effectiveness of the Montessori method in the scientific literature. In this thesis, we measured the linguistic, mathematical, executive and social skills of preschoolers and kindergarteners from a public school in which children were randomly assigned to classrooms in which the Montessori method was implemented or to classrooms in which a conventional teaching was used. We followed children from the first year of preschool to kindergarten (longitudinal study) and compared the performance of children at the end of kindergarten (cross-sectional study). We also developed a scale to evaluate the quality of implementation of the Montessori method in the school, located in a disadvantaged neighborhood. Our results do not show any difference between groups in terms of mathematical, executive and social skills. However, children from Montessori classrooms had better reading performance than children from conventional classrooms at the end of kindergarten. Therefore, the Montessori method appears to be well suited for developing reading skills of young children.]

Language: French

Published: Lyon, France, 2019

Abstract/Notes: The individual through earliest recorded history reveals contradictory views of the human life-span. "Am I a free and unique individual, able to make choices and decide my own destiny?, or, "Am I only a victim of circumstance, a speck of dust in the universe's whirlwind of fate?" Each view is recognized in education and psychology, but the latter outlook is often prominent in schools which discourage decision making. Throughout the life-span, however, the individual must make choices. Allowing the young student to progress on the road to autonomy, requires a new educational outlook. How might teacher education focus on this new perspective? Rational Autonomy (RA) is an original conceptualization of the psychological foundations for a learning-teaching theory of practice; one which promotes autonomy and reasonable decision making in children and adults. Its purpose is to provide a framework for the development of an autonomous educator who may conceptualize the interaction between the dichotomies of autonomy and rationality. These values are imbedded within the leitmotif of liberty and freedom; individuality and socialization; creativity and cooperation all natural tensions within a democracy and a democratic classroom. Cognitive psychologies today advance a view reflecting an autonomous individual who is interactive, purposeful and capable of conscious decision making. Montessori (1870-1952) recognized these traits as inherent in most children. Viewing autonomy and reason as the individual's means to full cognitive and personality development, she proposed an expansive educational psychology which would anticipate this view in cognitive psychology. Until now, few psychological definitions were available to define Montessori's theories. Thus, this thesis defines existent psychology as providing a "Social Cognitive Field" frame in which to define her theories and derive a new concept. The concept of Rational Autonomy incorporates psychological principles from human development, social, personality and learning theories. Constructs are demonstrated by interaction models of the child, family and educator. These are exemplified in a school program through a site and case study. Elementary and early childhood teacher education extends the Design into a life-span theory. The mentor-teacher relationship, curricular implications, educator group facilitation and university aims are included in the RA Design.

Language: English

Published: Corvallis, Oregon, 1989

Language: English

Published: Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1970

Abstract/Notes: This study examines the effect of combining vigorous exercise with cognitively engaging games on children’s executive functioning skills such as self-direction, engagement, and focus. Over four weeks, the research took place in a Montessori early childhood classroom with 17 children ages 2.6 to 6. The four-week study included a one-week baseline week to collect initial data on the capabilities of self-direction and comprehensive data on energy levels and engagement. The children participated in a 14-minute movement activity with 7 minutes of vigorous exercise and 7 minutes of cognitive-engaging games. The researcher used both quantitative and qualitative data tools to examine the effects on children’s ability to independently choose an activity, engage, and focus during the morning. The increased movement and cognitive exercise positively impacted children’s executive functioning skills. Future recommendations would include extending the intervention to study further if productivity continued to increase as the children had more days to engage in the exercises. Based on the data gathered in this action research, I recommend that teachers provide an opportunity for children aged three to six to participate in a short morning gathering where they can engage in vigorous movement and a cognitively engaging game.

Language: English

Published: St. Paul, Minnesota, 2022

Language: English

Published: Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1970

Abstract/Notes: The purpose of this study was to investigate young children’s perception of melodic construction in hope of finding clues about their broader cognitive development in nonmusical domains. Following Jeanne Bamberger’s example of musical-perceptual tasks with Montessori bells, four children aged three to six were presented with a melodic construction task and asked to create a representation of their work. Analysis of data revealed common themes with varied results of (a) eagerness or hesitancy to participate, (b) whether bells were moved or played, (c) exploration of bells, (d) internalization of rhythm, (e) cognitive readiness for melodic construction, and (f) role of visual representation. No cross-case findings could be drawn about broader cognitive development, however specific characteristics of the children and their approach to the melodic construction task are presented. Recommendations for further study center on potential clues a melodic construction task could provide about language construction in individual children.

Language: English

ISSN: 1938-2065

Abstract/Notes: British Infant vs Montessori preschool programs, logical structure & number comprehension & cognitive development & social interaction, male vs female, 3 vs 4 yr olds

Language: English

Published: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1977