Language: English

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

Language: English

Published: Northampton, England, 2021

Abstract/Notes: This dissertation analyzes the institutional frameworks that allowed for alternative sites of socialization outside of the parameters of the Franco regime, 1939-1975. This time period has traditionally been characterized as an era of political, social, and cultural oppression in which the regime tended to focus on a conservative fascist vision that stressed a homogenous Spanish nationalism and discipline. By focusing on the city of Barcelona, the capital of the northeast region of Catalonia, this study challenges the established discourses that have suggested that citizens did not have “choices” under an authoritarian regime. Local elites in the city of Barcelona focused on social reform programs that targeted one segment of the population that had the potential to alleviate existing social problems: children. By using childhood as a category of analysis, the dissertation examines how Barcelona’s elites were able to maintain some autonomy in organizing their own community. The community of Barcelona, however, was neither homogenous nor horizontal. The elites sought to “civilize the masses” as part of a larger goal of improving and modernizing the city according to their own standards and values. Through the analysis of the methodological objectives and pedagogical approaches of municipal schools and recreational activities, this study examines elite socialization projects for children within this localist modernizing agenda. The result is a larger social reform program in which some of the most influential people in Barcelona were able to roll back restrictions placed on the city of Barcelona after the Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939.

Language: English

Published: San Diego, California, 2022

Language: English

Published: Washington, D.C.: Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean, Office of Development Resources, Education and Human Resources Division, US Agency for International Development, 1993

Language: English

Published: Cleveland, Ohio: North American Montessori Teachers' Association, 1990

Language: English

Published: Cleveland, Ohio: North American Montessori Teachers' Association, 1990

Language: English

Published: Alvin, Texas: George Chyka Productions, 1978

Abstract/Notes: One key characteristic of Montessori classrooms is that children freely choose to engage with whatever they are most interested in. A common concern about Montessori is thus whether students will concentrate on their work throughout the day, and even whether they will actually choose to work at all. We completed 115 observations of children in Montessori Primary classrooms (ages 3-6), coding for children’s concentration and activity across two to three hours in the morning. The best fitting model of concentration across time was a quartic model, including age. This model indicated that 3-year-olds had two bouts of concentration, with a brief period of fatigue mid-morning. Four-year-olds showed an increased ability to concentrate across the entire morning, with minimal indication of fatigue. Five-year-olds showed a higher level of concentration than their younger peers, and were able to concentrate longer than the 3-year-olds, but this was followed by a period of fatigue. These findings are in line with Montessori theory, and suggest that children do freely choose to concentrate on their work. In regard to activities that children chose to do, we found children choose to spend a majority of the time engaged in work. Further, children distributed their time across all areas of the classroom, indicating that choice does not limit their exposure to any one area of learning.

Language: English

Published: Charlottesville, Virginia, 2020

Language: English