CoP 3 - Research - Theory - Montessori

Research into Montessori, looking at her methods, particularly in early years education, where we can look at the bridge between going from nursery to school. Different teaching methods compared to other theorists, classroom setups and classroom resources. 

Lillard A. (2016) Montessori: The Science Behind the Genius Oxford: Oxford University Press

Montessori M (1988) The Montessori Method, Berlin: Schocken Books

Newell H. (2013) Montessori Classrooms: Observations Through a Design Lens available at: https://www.core77.com/posts/25499/Montessori-Classrooms-Observations-through-a-Design-Lens-by-Heidi-Newell (Accessed on October 2018)

‘Children’s spontaneous interest in learning’

Conceptions Dissonant with Montessori’s - Seeing radical changes since World War 2

‘The notion that school experience for three and four year olds could be significantly important for later developed was deprecated’

William McDougall (1908) Instincts - Social Psychology 

C. Lloyd Morgan (1894) - Animal Subjects

Edward L Thorndike (1898) - Animal Subjects

Freud (1900) - Drive Theory - All behaviour is motivated

‘Traditional desire of teachers for an orderly classroom and for control over the educational process’.

‘In Houses of Children, the role of the teacher was limited to that of observer-helper of the children’

John Dewey and Montessori

Kilpatrik ‘Both have organised experimental schools , both have emphasised the freedom , self activity and self education , most have used practical life activities’

‘There are also wide differences, Montessori provides a set of mechanically simple devices, which in large measure do the teaching, a simple procedure embodied in definite , tangible apparatus is a powerful incentive to popular interest, she had a much narrower conception on education. Devising more satisfactory methods of teaching reading and writing.

Montessori’s pedagogica  emphasis on sensory learning.

We can well emulate Montesori’s model, but we should not stop with it. 

Montessori schools might well increase the variety of sensory materials, they might well supply opportunities for children to encounter more in the way of art and music. 

Montessori’s pedagogy is her willingness and ability to observe children working and from observation invent on the pot modifications that will foster a child’s physiological devleopment. 

There may be the danger of developing a cult which will restrict innovation and evaluation.

Those revisiting Montessori should imitate her resourcefulness in inventing pedagogical apparatus and in adapting it to the tase of individual children.

Various people have complained about Montessori teachers who insist that each child must pass through each a set of prescribes steps of work with each material.

Loses the basic advantage of the lock-step of having all children doing the same thing at the same time. The basic pedagogical implication of individual differences is missed.

Dangers of underemphasis in interpersonal relationships and the affective and aesthetics of life concerned with art and music. 

Careful clinical observation is needed in pedagogy.

Mental deficiency presented a pedagogical problem rather than medical.

Children may be free to come and go throughout the day.

Abolition of desks, benches and stationary chairs.

Light tables and chairs so that children can carry them around.

Long, low cupboards for didactic materials.

Blackboards, potted plants, aquariums.

‘The liberty of the child, and liberty is activity’

‘The same didactic material used with deficients makes education possible , while with normal children it provokes auto-education.

‘Tactile and thermic senses education’

‘In many of our lessons in the colours, we make use dof brightly colours tuff and of balls covered with different coloured wool. 

Free design, such drawings have long been of interest of experimental psychologists. Their importance lies in the fact they reveal the capacity of the child for observing and also shows their individual tendencies. 

Graphic Language, compromising dictation and reading. A new language of eminent social importance , cultural significance.

The children work by themselves and in doing so make a conquest of active displace and independence in the acts of daily life.

We have been mistaken in thinking the act that the natural education of children should be purely physical, our methods take into consideration the spontaneous psychic development of the child. 

Wikipedia

• Acquisition of language—from birth to around 6 years old
• Interest in small objects—from around 18 months to 3 years old
• Order—from around 1 to 3 years old
• Sensory refinement—from birth to around 4 years old
• Social behavior—from around 2½ to 4 years old

Preventing conflicts is the work of politics; establishing peace is the work of education.

http://www.montessori-science.org/science_journal_article.htm

Montessori children also displayed better abilities on the social and behavioral tests, demonstrating a greater sense of justice and fairness.

Much more likely to engage in emotionally positive play with peers, and less likely to engage in rough play.

Proved to be significantly better prepared for elementary school in reading and math skills than the non-Montessori children. They also tested better on “executive function,” the ability to adapt to changing and more complex problems, an indicator of future school and life success.

An approach grounded in close and insightful observations of children rather than in adult convenience and misconception. 

Montessori: The Science behind the Genius, 3rd edition
by Angeline S. Lillard, PhD

First, traditional schools are modeled on factories, because the birth of mass public schooling coincided with the age of efficiency. Efficiency is a laudable goal, but it led to the creation of a school system that treats children as if they were all pretty much the same. In some ways they are, but in many ways they are not, and the factory model has a host of consequences that result in suboptimal learning conditions. We might also question its relevance to today’s social and economic conditions, in which individual initiative, rather than blind obedience to the bells of a factory, is the key to progress.

Over the years several alternatives to the behaviorist view have been provided by educational theorists such as Dewey, Piaget, Bruner, and Montessori. These theorists are referred to as constructivists, because they view children as constructing knowledge, rather than simply taking it in like an empty vessel. 

Materials both within and across subject areas are placed thoughtfully, so the arrangements make logical sense. 

Underlying Montessori education is a model of the child as a motivated doer, rather than an empty vessel. 

Thus it is not surprising that Piaget and Montessori’s theories share some crucial ideas, such as the notion of children as active learners (Elkind, 1967). Children in Montessori classrooms work as motivated doers, learning through self-instigated actions on the environment. 

1. that movement and cognition are closely entwined, and movement can enhance thinking and learning; (
2. that learning and well-being are improved when people have a sense of control over their lives; 
3. that people learn better when they are interested in what they are learning;
4. that tying extrinsic rewards to an activity, like money for reading or high grades for tests, negatively impacts motivation to engage in that activity when the reward is withdrawn; 
5. that collaborative arrangements can be very conducive to learning; 
6. that learning situated in meaningful contexts is often deeper and richer than learning in abstract contexts; 
7. that particular forms of adult interaction are associated with more optimal child outcomes; and 
8. (8) that order in the environment is beneficial to children.

Montessori Classrooms

https://www.core77.com/posts/25499/Montessori-Classrooms-Observations-through-a-Design-Lens-by-Heidi-Newell

Designers would be among her top teaching recruits for their skills in observation and empathy.

In both universes there is an enormous emphasis on design problem solving, disciplined observation and innate empathy, not to mention findings reports

A fundamental principle of human dignity, with a modest lack of assumption about an individual's truth; under observation, user testers navigate our prepared prototypes and reveal where our designs match or fail human intuition. Children navigate a Montessori 'prepared environment' and reveal their individual selves.

Montessori school rooms support this absorbent mind of children through a balanced practice of allowing providing direction, allowing freedom and individual choice, while maintaining respect for group consensus. 

As in the best instances of design, the classroom setup and observational teaching style are conscious decisions, organized down to tiniest of details, for conscious reasons supported by Dr. Montessori's life of education research.

She rather sought to defend children's miraculous abilities through refinement of a myriad of designs. These included beginning-to-end learning tools in language, math, science, geography and practical life. Through a process of observation, design, testing and rapid refinement, she eventually arrived at a comprehensive learning environment.

Furniture designers will also enjoy discovering Dr. Montessori's frequent railings against the ill-advised attempts of the educational establishment to control children's movement.

The Directors spend much of their time observing a child's natural patterns, as it is in the repeated interactions that each child's individual spirit is allowed to emerge and self-realize.

https://montessori.agency/services/montessori-print-design/

Traditional print design materials are a mainstay at any educational institution. For many Montessori schools, the challenge is not having access to an affordable and professional print designer to create the materials.

O.K.Moore Typewriter Analogy