Language: English

ISSN: 1054-0040

Language: Italian

ISSN: 0042-7241

Abstract/Notes: Quest’articolo descrive due esperienze molto diverse effettuate in Italia. La prima riguarda l’introduzione di un laboratorio basato sull’uso dei materiali sensoriali Montessori all’Università dell’Immagine di Milano, fondata dal fotografo Fabrizio Ferri, che offriva a creativi di varia provenienza professionale e geografica una formazione post-secondaria biennale, organizzata incinque laboratori, ciascuno dedicato a uno dei cinque sensi, condotto da un docente responsabile. Quello da me condotto aveva il titolo: “Angolo del ristoro sensoriale” ed era trasversale agli altri cinque. La seconda riguarda invece l’utilizzazione di incastri solidi, torre rosa e scala marrone, nel percorso rieducativo di una ragazza di vent’anni, affetta da grave ritardo mentale con tratti autistici. In entrambi i casi i risultati sono stati molto positivi. Nel primo, la percezione sensoriale degli studenti dell’Università dell’Immagine, si è raffinata e perfezionata.Nel secondo, il caso di ritardo mentale con tratti autistici, ha suscitato nella ragazza un interesse che si è esteso all’ambiente esterno e alle persone che interagivano con lei. Ha inoltre migliorato la manualità fine, rendendo più efficaci le indicazioni per svolgere correttamente le mansioni della vita quotidiana nella propria casa, in cui in precedenza aveva scarsissima autonomia. Con lei il percorso Montessori è iniziato in uno studio di musicoterapia e ha interagito con quelle sedute, per proseguire poi a casa sua, con varie attività di vita pratica, volte a migliorare il coordinamento del corpo nello spazio, il coordinamento oculomanuale, i movimenti raffinati delle dita e la discriminazione visiva. Queste attività hanno fatto progredire molto la sua autonomia. / En este trabajo se describen dos experiencias llevadas a cabo en Italia: la introducción de un laboratorio para el uso de los materiales sensoriales Montessori en la Universidad de la Imagen de Milán (UI) que ofrecía a los “creativos” de diversas procedencias profesionales y geográficas la formación postsecundaria según un programa experimental de dos años, organizado en cinco laboratorios, cada uno dedicado a uno de los cinco sentidos. El que yo dirigí se titulaba “Rincón de descanso sensorial” y fue trasversal a los otros cinco. Se denominaba: “Rincón de descanso sensorial” y fue transversal a los otros cinco. El segundo se refiere al uso de encajes sólidos, torre rosa y escalera marrón, en la rehabilitación de una chica de veintiún años, que sufría un retraso mental severo con rasgos autistas. En ambos casos los resultados fueron muy positivos: las percepciones sensoriales de los estudiantes de la UI se han afinado y perfeccionado; la introducción de los materiales en la rehabilitación sensorial de la chica ha despertado un interés que se ha extendido al entorno externo y a las personas que interactuaban con ella. También ha mejorado los movimientos finos de los dedos, lo cual le facilita llevar a cabo las tareas de la vida cotidiana, en la que antes tenían muy poca autonomía. Con ella el proceso Montessori comenzó en un estudio de musicoterapia, para seguir a continuación en su casa, con varias actividades de la vida práctica, para mejorar la coordinación del cuerpo en el espacio, la coordinación óculo-manual, la motricidad de los dedos y la discriminación visual. Estas actividades han mejorado su autonomía. / This paper deals with two different experiences carried out in Italy. The first concerns a Sensorial Materials workshop, which I directed in Milano at the University of Image (UI) founded by photographer Fabrizio Ferri. UI offered a post-secondary education to creative professionals, from various backgrounds and geographical areas, according to a two-year experimental program, organized in five workshops, each of them dedicated to one of the five senses and directed by a professional of the field. My workshop title was: “The corner of sensory relief” and interacted with the other five. The second relates to the use of solid insets, pink tower and brown stairs for the rehabilitation of a twenty-one years-old girl, who suffered from severe mental retardation with some autistic features. In both cases the results were very positive. In the first one, the sensory perceptions of UI students have been refined and perfected; in the second, the girl affected by mental retardation showed a great interest in the above-quoted materials. The girl has spread her interest to external environment and to the people who interacted with her. The fine movements of her fingers were also enhanced, allowing her to perform various tasks in her daily life, which previously she was unable to carry out. Her Montessori rehabilitation began during some music therapy sessions. Then it was carried out at home, where various Practical life activities were introduced. Thanks to them she improved her body coordination in space, her eye-hand coordination and visual discrimination. These activities strengthen considerably her autonomy

Language: Italian

ISSN: 2255-0666

Abstract/Notes: Maria Montessori e Ludwig Wittgenstein hanno apportato un contributo significativo allo sviluppo del concetto di linguaggio in ambito educativo. Muovendo dalla sfera del linguaggio parlato e passando poi a quella del linguaggio scritto, l’articolo che segue ha come proposito quello di far emergere le affinità concettuali rintracciate all’interno delle opere dei due autori. Tale parallelismo ha origine comune nella centralità affidata al rapporto interdipendente tra pensiero e linguaggio. L’articolo qui proposto vuole soprattutto amplificare il messaggio filosofico ed etico che accompagna questo pensiero comune ad entrambi gli autori e che può essere così riassunto: un ambiente educativo all’interno del quale venga promossa una visione filosofica ed etica del linguaggio permette al bambino di migliorare la qualità della propria vita intima e sociale. / Maria Montessori y Ludwig Wittgenstein han aportado una contribución significativa en el desarrollo del concepto de lenguaje en el ámbito educativo. Empezando por la esfera del lenguaje hablado y atravesando la de la escritura, este artículo se propone resaltar las afinidades conceptuales delineadas entre las obras de los dos autores. Este paralelismo encuentra orígenes comunes en la centralidad conferida al vínculo entre pensamiento y lenguaje. El propósito de este artículo es el de destacar el mensaje filosófico y ético que acompaña el pensamiento de los dos autores y que puede ser así resumido: un entorno educativo dentro del cual sea promovida una visión filosófica y ética del lenguaje, permite al niño mejorar la calidad de su propia vida interior y social. / Maria Montessori and Ludwig Wittgenstein contributed to formulate notions of language in the field of education. Starting from spoken language and moving to the written word, this article aims to unfold the conceptual resemblances in both authors. This parallelism finds common origins in the centrality conferred on the relationship between thought and language. The purpose of this article is to highlight the philosophical and ethical message that accompanies the thoughts of the two authors and that can be summarized that way: an educational environment within which a philosophical and ethical vision of language is promoted allows the child to improve the quality of their own individual and social life.

Language: Italian

ISSN: 2255-0666

Abstract/Notes: During the past ten years, a total of 3,642 teachers and administrators have attended the Korean Montessori Teacher Training Program (KMTTP). A sample of Montessori teachers (n = 261) and Korean parents (n = 375) from 32 Korean Montessori schools located in the major cities of Korea were surveyed in order to evaluate the effectiveness of this teacher preparation program. The EXPECTATIONS AND GOAL ATTAINMENT QUESTIONNAIRE (EGAQ), designed by the researcher, was the instrumentation used to conduct this study. Major findings demonstrated that 74.5 percent of the teachers surveyed indicated that their main reasons for attending the KMTTP were to increase their professional competency and their knowledge of child development through Montessori philosophy. The correlation between teachers' levels of satisfaction with their preparation and perceived effectiveness of the training program was higher (r =.29, p $<$.05) than between their levels of satisfaction with the program and their perceptions of their preparedness after completion of training (r =.18, p $<$.05). Significant differences existed between perceived effectiveness of the KMTTP and teachers' ages, positions, and years of experience. Older teachers and those with more advanced teaching positions expressed greater satisfaction with the program. Teachers indicated that, upon completion of the KMTTP, they felt more prepared in, than knowledgeable of, Montessori educational methodology. From the parent perspective, the most frequently cited reason (74.3%) for sending their child to a Montessori School was to provide a learning environment that nurtured their child's interpersonal growth. A majority of the parents (58.5%) were very satisfied with the Montessori experience; no parents were dissatisfied or very dissatisfied. In correlating the effectiveness of Montessori education with specific outcomes, parents indicated highest levels of satisfaction in the areas of "concentration" and "academic achievement." A majority of the teachers surveyed (52.8%) encouraged the implementation of the Montessori Teacher Training Program in neighboring countries, with 42.1 percent strongly encouraging implementation. This study demonstrated the need for further development and improvement in the area of Montessori teacher training in Korea.

Language: English

Published: San Francisco, California, 1994

Language: English

ISSN: 1071-6246

Abstract/Notes: Includes three case studies

Language: English

ISSN: 1071-6246

Language: English

Abstract/Notes: Montessori pedagogy is a century-old, whole-school system increasingly used in the public sector. In the United States, public Montessori schools are typically Title I schools that mostly serve children of color. The present secondary, exploratory data analysis examined outcomes of 134 children who entered a lottery for admission to public Montessori schools in the northeastern United States at age 3; half were admitted and enrolled and the rest enrolled at other preschool programs. About half of the children were identified as White, and half were identified as African American, Hispanic, or multiracial. Children were tested in the fall when they enrolled and again in the subsequent three springs (i.e., through the kindergarten year) on a range of measures addressing academic outcomes, executive function, and social cognition. Although the Black, Hispanic, and multiracial group tended to score lower in the beginning of preschool in both conditions, by the end of preschool, the scores of Black, Hispanic, and multiracial students enrolled in Montessori schools were not different from the White children; by contrast, such students in the business-as-usual schools continued to perform less well than White children in academic achievement and social cognition. The study has important limitations that lead us to view these findings as exploratory, but taken together with other findings, the results suggest that Montessori education may create an environment that is more conducive to racial and ethnic parity than other school environments.

Language: English

DOI: 10.17161/jomr.v9i1.19540

ISSN: 2378-3923

Abstract/Notes: This study examines the school’s physical environment as a place of learning, and takes its starting point in the phenomenology movement, inspired both by Merleau-Ponty’s thesis of man’s physical relation to the world and by the existential analysis represented by Heidegger which implies a mutual relationship between man and the world. Such a view rejects a standpoint which describes man as being divided between a material body and a thinking soul. Instead, there emerges an embodied self which engages in meaningful interaction with its surroundings. The choice of this standpoint has implications for the design of the school’s physical environment. Montessori pedagogy is one of the activity-based pedagogies which have designed the physical environment in line with this theory. The purpose of the study is to understand, but further to visualise, the way in which the conditions for learning for children and adolescents are created in schools, from pre-school to lower secondary level, which follow the Montessori pedagogy. The material for the empirical study has been gathered from Europe and the US and from differing social contexts. The reason for this is to discover what distinguishes the prepared environment. The study also discusses the way in which the argument for a form of schooling which is based on activity, from the early 20th century to the present day, has been addressed through the architectural design of schools. The thesis shows that the rich array of didactic material in the schools observed offers pupils the opportunity to perform activities which create meaning. The organisation of the environment provides the pupils with the necessary conditions to concentrate fully on their work and to complete their tasks without interruption. I see the didactic continuity which prevails from pre-school to the lower secondary school in the Montessori schools studied as a prerequisite if the pedagogical activity is to offer meaning and create the conditions for learning in the way demonstrated by the empirical studies.

Language: Swedish

Published: Stockholm, Sweden, 2012