An Intervention Study: Removing Supplemented Materials from Montessori Classrooms Associated with Better Child Outcomes
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17161/jomr.v2i1.5678Keywords:
Montessori, early childhood educationAbstract
Montessori classrooms vary a good deal in implementation, and one way in which implementation differs is the provision of materials. Specifically, some classrooms use only Montessori materials, whereas others supplement the Montessori materials with commercially available materials like puzzles and games. A prior study suggested this might be a reason for observed differences across studies and classrooms (Author, 2012) but an intervention study is the best test. The present study presents such an intervention with 52 children in 3 Montessori classrooms with Supplementary materials. All children were given 6 pretests, and non-Montessori materials were removed from 2 of the classrooms. Four months later, children were retested to see how much they changed across that period. Children in the classrooms from which the non-Montessori materials were removed advanced significantly more in early reading and executive function, and to some degree advanced more in early math. There were no differences across the classroom types in amount of change on the tests of vocabulary, social knowledge, or social skills.
References
Ansari, A., & Winsler, A. (2014). Montessori public school pre-K programs and the school readiness of low-income Black and Latino children. Journal of Educational Psychology, 106, 1066-1079. doi: 10.1037/a0036799
Besancon, M., & Lubart, T. (2008). Differences in the development of creative competencies in children schooled in diverse learning environments. Learning and Individual Differences, 18, 381-389. doi: 10.1016/j.lindif.2007.11.009
Blachowicz, C. L., Fisher, P. J., Ogle, D., & Wattes-Taffe, S. (2006). Vocabulary: Questions from the classroom. Reading Research Quarterly, 41, 524-539.
Brown, K. E., & Steele, A. S. (2015). Racial discipline disproportionality in Montessori and traditional public schools: A comparative study using the relative rate index. Journal of Montessori Research, 1, 14-27.
Cox, M. V., & Rowlands, A. (2000). The effect of three different educational approaches on children's drawing ability: Steiner, Montessori and traditional. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 70, 485-503.
Dohrmann, K. R., Nishida, T. K., Gartner, A., Lipsky, D. K., & Grimm, K. J. (2007). High school outcomes for students in a public Montessori program. Journal of Research in Childhood Education, 22, 205-217.
Krafft, K. C., & Berk, L. E. (1998). Private speech in two preschools: Significance of open-ended activities and make-believe play for verbal self-regulation. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 13, 637-658.
Lillard, A. S., & Else-Quest, N. (2006). Evaluating Montessori education. Science, 313, 1893-1894. doi: 10.1126/science.1132362
Lillard, A. S. (2011). Materials: What belongs in a Montessori primary classroom? Results from a survey of AMI and AMS teacher trainers. Montessori Life, 22, 18-32.
Lillard, A. S. (2012). Preschool children's development in classic Montessori, supplemented Montessori, and conventional programs. Journal of School Psychology, 50, 379-401. doi: 10.1016/j.jsp.2012.01.001
Lopata, C., Wallace, N. V., & Finn, K. V. (2005). Comparison of academic achievement between Montessori and traditional education programs. Journal of Research in Childhood Education, 20, 5-13.
Miller, L. B., & Bizzell, R. P. (1984). Long-term effects of four preschool programs: Ninth- and tenth-grade results. Child Development, 55, 1570-1587.
Montessori, M. (1956). The child in the family (N. R. Cirillo, Trans.). New York: Avon.
Montessori, M. (1966). The secret of childhood (M. J. Costello, Trans.). New York: Ballantine.
Montessori, M. (1994). Creative development in the child Vol 1 (R. Ramachandran, Trans.). Madras, India: Kalakshetra Press.
Ponitz, C. C., McClelland, M. M., Jewkes, A. M., Connor, C. M., Farris, C. L., & Morrison, F. J. (2008). Touch your toes! Developing a direct measure of behavioral regulation in early childhood. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 23, 141-158. doi: 10.1016/j.ecresq.2007.01.004
Ponitz, C. C., McClelland, M. M., Matthews, J. S., & Morrison, F. J. (2009). A structured observation of behavioral self-regulation and its contribution to kindergarten outcomes. Developmental Psychology, 45, 605-619. doi: 10.1037/a0015365
Rathunde, K. R., & Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2005a). Middle school students’ motivation and quality of experience: A comparison of Montessori and traditional school environments. American Journal of Education, 111, 341-371.
Rathunde, K. R., & Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2005b). The social context of middle school: Teachers, friends, and activities in Montessori and traditional school environments. Elementary School Journal, 106, 59-79.
Rodriguez, L., Irby, B. J., Brown, G., Lara-Alecio, R., & Galloway, M. M. (2005). An analysis of second grade reading achievement related to pre-kindergarten Montessori and transitional bilingual education. In V. Gonzalez & J. Tinajero (Eds.), Review of research and practice (Vol. 3, pp. 45-65). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Rubin, K. H. (1988). The social problem-solving test-revised. University of Waterloo. Waterloo, Ontario.
Wellman, H. M., & Liu, D. (2004). Scaling of theory-of-mind tasks. Child Development, 75, 523-541.
Woodcock, R. W., McGrew, K. S., & Mather, N. (2001). Woodcock-johnson iii tests of achievement. Rolling Meadows, IL: Riverside Publishing.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal. Authors can view article download statistics for published articles within their accounts.
Journal of Montessori Research
Author Agreement
The following is an agreement between the Author (the “Corresponding Author”) acting on behalf of all authors of the work (“Authors”) and the Journal of Montessori Research (the “Journal”) regarding your article (the “Work”) that is being submitted for consideration.
Whereas the parties desire to promote effective scholarly communication that promotes local control of intellectual assets, the parties for valuable consideration agree as follows.
A. CORRESPONDING AUTHOR’S GRANT OF RIGHTS
After being accepted for publication, the Corresponding Author grants to the Journal, during the full term of copyright and any extensions or renewals of that term, the following:
1. An irrevocable non-exclusive right to reproduce, republish, transmit, sell, distribute, and otherwise use the Work in electronic and print editions of the Journal and in derivative works throughout the world, in all languages, and in all media now known or later developed.
2. An irrevocable non-exclusive right to create and store electronic archival copies of theWork, including the right to deposit the Work in open access digital repositories.
3. An irrevocable non-exclusive right to license others to reproduce, republish, transmit,and distribute the Work under the condition that the Authors are attributed. (Currently this is carried out by publishing the content under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial 4.0 license (CC BY-NC.)
4. Copyright in the Work remains with the Authors.
B. CORRESPONDING AUTHOR’S DUTIES
1. When distributing or re-publishing the Work, the Corresponding Author agrees to credit the Journal as the place of first publication.
2. The Corresponding Author agrees to inform the Journal of any changes in contact information.
C. CORRESPONDING AUTHOR’S WARRANTY
The Corresponding Author represents and warrants that the Work is the Authors’ original work and that it does not violate or infringe the law or the rights of any third party and, specifically, that the Work contains no matter that is defamatory or that infringes literary or proprietary rights, intellectual property rights, or any rights of privacy. The Corresponding Author also warrants that he or she has the full power to make this agreement, and if the Work was prepared jointly, the Corresponding Author agrees to inform the Authors of the terms of this Agreement and to obtain their written permission to sign on their behalf. The Corresponding Author agrees to hold the Journal harmless from any breach of the aforestated representations.
D. JOURNAL’S DUTIES
In consideration of the Author’s grant of rights, the Journal agrees to publish the Work, attributing the Work to the Authors.
E. ENTIRE AGREEMENT
This agreement reflects the entire understanding of the parties. This agreement may be amended only in writing by an addendum signed by the parties. Amendments are incorporated by reference to this agreement.
ACCEPTED AND AGREED BY THE CORRESPONDING AUTHOR ON BEHALF OF ALL AUTHORS CONTRIBUTING TO THIS WORK
