After reading this study I feel that sending a child to Montessori school would be benificial to the child. It looks like like, although the child would be learning on their own terms, the child is exceding the public school system. Also, the child is less likely to play aggresivley. From what I have read, I would prefer a Montessori school to the public school if it were available.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Montessori Schools
Montess0ri schools were something I had never heard of before class this week, so wanting to give my future children the best education, I decided to do some looking. A study done by Angeline Lillard and Nicole Else-Quest in 2006 showed that, on a Mean Z score, Montessori children, age 5, scored higher, compared to publicly schooled children, in things like applied math, word attack, positive shared play, and social cognition. Whereas the public shooled children scored higher in Ambiguous rough play. No differenc was found in picture vacabulary; this might be because vocabulary is closely related to family history. Also, no differenc was found in spatial reasoning and concept formation. The tests given were the Woodcock Johnson (WJ III) and Test Battery (7). Kids of age 12 were also tested and the findings were similar. This test was to test cognitive and academic measures by having the children complete a short story in 5 minutes, which had fill in the blank type answers. The Montessori children scored higher in sophisticated sentace structure, creative story, positive social stratigies, and a sense of school as a community. Because of costs this study was done with a lottery to pick who would be tested. The NICHD study is talked about in this study saying that their findings on parenting quality and WJ early academic testing had camparable affects to Montessori schools.
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I also had not heard of Montessori schools before class this last week. Do you think more parents would lean towards Montessori if they were more educated on the differences? I can't imagine why they wouldn't. Maybe if the current education system was approached similar to how Jamie Oliver is battling obesity in England and the US on ABC Friday nights, then the average person would be more educated and changes would be made to the current system.
ReplyDeleteI had not heard about Montessori schools before class this last week either. When discussing in class on what they were and the purpose I became intrigued with idea of sending my daughter to one if one was available. I like the idea of letting the children play to learn and be able to work on skills the child is interested in at certain moments. Montessori schools definitely have not received enough public attention. Especially, from here in Montana. I was surprised that I had not heard of them before.
ReplyDeleteThe discussion on Montess0ri schools kept me thinking as well. I work in an Intense Therapeutic group home. Going for walks with my clients, playing a interested game chosen by these individual creates opportune times to engage in conversations that at times are very hard for the individual to share. Getting them in an environment that they feel comfortable in and giving them the choice to discuss what they would like gives them a since of security and ability to discuss what is on their mind. The approach of a Montessori School seems to be similar in ways. Letting children master skills freely, seems like excellent way to learn. We do have windows for learning and for every child it is different as is learning to sit up or walk. I would like to observe a Montessori school.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the philosophy of the Montessori schools is great, however I also think one immense difference in sending your child to one of these schools in say 1970 than in 2010 is the more stimulation and exposure kids have to things of violent content, on television and in video game for example. Kids now (I believe) are more defiant and less likely to "do the right thing" as kids even forty years ago because of the amount of attention they devote to T.V. and video games versus more peer interactive games then. I think because of that kids today are more likely to be impulsive and Although I like the Montessori philosophy, I don't believe the "no rewards or punishment" mentality would be as effective in children today as more children would be inclined to be disruptive instead of helpful.
ReplyDeleteOver Easter break I visited with a family member who is a teacher. She told me that the students who transfer out of Montissori and into public schools are about 2 years behind the kids who have been in public school since kindergarten.
ReplyDeleteI was talking to my mom over the break about Montessori schools and she was telling me that the one from in Lewistown had negative affects on the childrens learing. The only thing that she could think of for ours was the teacher had some ADHD, so maybe somehow her ADHD was affecting the way she taught.
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