Language: English

ISSN: 0571-1142

Language: English

ISSN: 1054-0040

Abstract/Notes: During the preschool years, the socio-emotional responses children receive from interactions with teachers are incorporated into their own social behaviors. This is one of the key ways in which children acquire social and emotional skills. Based on field studies, it can be found that this learning process is not simple imitation of children, but of a more complex context of group interaction. To further clarify the impact of kindergarten teachers’ emotion on the sociometric status and behavior of 3–5 year-old children in their classes, the researchers chose a Montessori mixed-age kindergarten in Beijing as the field site and observed five classes within the kindergarten over a 2-month period in this ethnographic case study. The study found that the power gap between teacher and pupil spreads rapidly to all children in the classroom as a result of the teacher’s emotions, and even stimulates power stratification within the children. In addition, there are differences in the social behaviors between the children of different levels of power. As preschool children are in a critical developmental window when social knowledge is being accumulated and social skills are being acquired, using power relations within the kindergarten classroom as an entry point to analyze the impact of teachers’ emotions on children’s social behavior provides a new breakthrough for the professional development of early childhood education and the better achievement of educational goals.

Language: English

DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.808847

ISSN: 1664-1078

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

Language: English

ISSN: 1071-6246

Language: English

Abstract/Notes: Review

Language: English

Language: English

ISSN: 1071-6246

Abstract/Notes: The purpose of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of olfactory stimuli using aromatherapy in an early childhood Montessori classroom. This study explores the effectiveness of essential oil in a collective setting with younger students. Also, this research seeks to evaluate the usefulness of aromatherapy as a tool of the Prepared Environment or materials for a Montessori classroom. The 26 students between three to six years old from a Children’s House were observed for 45 minutes during morning work cycle and the data was collected in both control condition (non-essential oil) and lemon essential oil condition days. Lemon essential oil was distributed by two diffusers in the classroom during the research periods. The data was collected collectively and independently. Four quantitative and one qualitative instruments were used for data collection. In conclusion, the lemon essential oil condition lowered productivity and stimulated students during the study period. However, this result indicated that aromatherapy intervention impacted the student’s productivity. With further careful consideration, aromatherapy can be an effective tool for the Prepared Environment and positive intervention if it is the right kind of essential oil.

Language: English

Published: River Falls, Wisconsin, 2020