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By: Elizabeth Silva and Gaby Mena Slide 2 Born in Ancona, Italy in 1970. Originally wanted to be an engineer. Wanted to enter medical school, and achieved to do so, even despite the head of the boards dispute. Graduated from the university of Rome in 1896 as Italys first female physician. Worked at psychiatric institution, orthophrenic school, and at the University of Rome before starting Casa dei Bambini in 1907. Died 1952 Slide 3 Sensitive Periods Free Choice Childs choices lead development Structured choice Constructive Activity Limited choice Materials Correct size Attractive Gradual learning Slide 4 Concentration Normalization Good behavior Self regulation Slide 5 When given the choice to pick an academic activity, and allowed to work independently for 810 minutes, will children be less willing to take a break than those whose academic activity is picked out for them? Slide 6 Yes. We believe that the children with free choice will be less likely to want a break than those whose academic activity is picked out for them. Slide 7 Holy Family of Nazareth Wednesday 4 December 2013 10:20 a.m.12:00 p.m. *5 tables *12 Kindergarteners * (6) Montessori materials Circular animal puzzle Bow-tying frame A mystery bag Moveable alphabet letters Movable numbers with counters Tangram shapes Slide 8 Tested Montessoris free choice theory in the following way: We worked with three groups of children at different times. The first group had 5 children, the second had 4, and the last group had 3 (12 children total). First we asked the children 2 pre-questions. Then the child was either assigned a Montessori task to complete or given the freedom to choose one. We gave them about 10 minutes to work independently & recorded their activity. We asked them in between the time limit if they wanted to take a break from their work & recorded their response. Then we asked them 3 post-questions & allowed them to go back to their classroom. Slide 9 Experimental Group (A) Allow children to choose the task they want to work with. Control Group (B) Assigned a particular task to complete. Slide 10 P RE QUESTIONS 1. What do you like most in school? Whats your favorite thing to do? Do you like reading and writing? Math? 2. What kind of toys do you like? Slide 11 Student group/ Number Pre-question 1: What do you like most about school? Pre-question 2: What toys do you like? A1 countersMathTransformers/cars A2 puzzleDrawing/writingTrain/cars A3 mystery bagPlaygroundCars A4 tangramsBlocks/countingMakeup/barbies A5 puzzleBlocks/playgroundDinosaurs A6 countersCounter boardJack-in-box/horse/cow/ everything B1 tangramsWritingTrain/planes B2 alphabetEverythingSoccer/transformers B3 alphabetBlocksShooting B4 countersBlocksMario kart/shooting B5 alphabetWritingHorses B6 mystery bagWritingBlocks Slide 12 *Would you like to take a break? Why did you/ did you not want to take a break? Did you like your activity? Slide 13 Student group/ Number Post-question 1: Would you like to take a break? Post-question 2: Why did/didnt you want a break? Post-question 3: Did you like the activity? A1 countersNoBecause I didnt want to.Yes A2 puzzleNoI wasnt tired. I love puzzles.Yes A3 mystery bagNoI wasnt tiredYes A4 tangramsNoI wanted to keep building shapes. Yes A5 puzzleNoI wanted to play againYes A6 countersNo/later Yes I was done. Yes B1 tangramsNoBecause I liked that.Yes B2 alphabet Yes I dont knowLiked it* B3 alphabetNoB/c I like doing my letters. My mommy wants me to grow up to go to my sisters school. Yes* B4 counters YesBecause I finished. I liked it a lot. B5 alphabet Yes Because my arms were getting tired. a lot B6 mystery bag YesBecause I was done. yes, a lot Slide 14 Student group/ Number BreakWhy/Why not he/she wanted to take a break Observations: A1 countersNoBecause I didnt want to.Concentrated/working diligently after we showed him how to use the tangrams A2 puzzleNoI wasnt tired. I love puzzles.Concentrated/working A3 mystery bagNoI wasnt tiredWorked, although he didnt seem to know what he was doing This is getting boring A4 tangramsNoI wanted to keep building shapes.Concentrated/working A5 puzzleNoI wanted to play againConcentrated/working A6 countersNo/Yes I was done. Determined/ Concentrated B1 tangramsNoBecause I liked that.Somewhat distracted but worked eventually B2 alphabet Yes I dont knowDisinterested This is taking a long time. B3 alphabetNoB/c I like doing my letters. My mommy wants me to grow up to go to my sisters school. Tried to work but became increasingly disinterested. Kept talking. B4 counters YesBecause I finished. Distracted after a while B5 alphabet Yes Because my arms were getting tired.Very disinterested *body language B6 mystery bag YesBecause I was done. Didnt seem to understand. Slide 15 Based on our data, our hypothesis was proved : children with free choice are less willing to take a break than those who were assigned an activity. Children who got to choose their activity were more concentrated on their work. More likely to say that they were done if they did take a break. (which fulfills what Montessori says about individual work: that when children are satisfied with their work they will stop on their own.) Children who were assigned an activity were distracted and got bored easily. Most of them took a break (4/6). Slide 16 We were only able to work with 1 kindergarten class, when we initially wanted 2. Some children wanted to work on the same things. Not sure how honest the children really were. Amount of time (perhaps). Experiment with one child at a time to prevent more than one child wanting to work with the same thing. Could have employed randomization. Furthermore, hide the extra materials when we needed to assign only one of them to a child. Limitations How could we improve this study? Slide 17 W ORKS CITED Theories of Development by William Crain The Montessori Controversy by John Chattin McNichols Maria Montessori, Her Life and Work by E.M. Standing. The Discovery of the Child by Maria Montessori The Absorbent Mind by Maria Montessori Montessori, The Science Behind the Genius by Angeline Lillard http://google.com/images http://thedx.druckerinstitute.com/2011/07/was-drucker-a- montessori-mafioso/ http://montessoridiscoverycenterschool.com/about_maria_m ontessori http://www.montessorieducationuk.org/