The Montessori Model

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Real world problem:

There is an evolving realization and consensus

that our current educational system is no longer meeting the needs

of today’s children.

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In international rankings, our students came in at 23rd in science (out of 30) and 16th in math, especially in the area of application of information. Further, there are reported shortages in the US in fields of applied sciences, and projections that these shortages will continue as fewer students sign up for classes in engineering and other “hard sciences.”

Howard Gardner of Harvard tells us:

“Many schools have fallen into a pattern of giving kids exercises and drills that result in their getting answers on tests that look like understanding. Most students, from as young as those in kindergarten to students in some of the finest colleges in America do not understand what they've studied, in the most basic sense of the term.”

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Is there a way to explain what might be happening?

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What’s CHANGED?

• Family size, and the number

of children in neighborhoods

• Family structure and time

with adults

• The amount of time children spend playing and designing their own time

• The size of the space a child can freely explore on their own

• The type of activities (now mostly passive and indoors) 5

to use cognitive science

to explain our current

educational problems…

as well as to propose

solutions.

Knowing that children are sensorial learners, and that humans need to encode stimuli with many retrieval cues (in order to process and use information)…we can try

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Proposal :

Use Montessori pedagogies that address the changes to the modern lives of children,

and are consistent with leading cognitive theories of

learning, memory, and application.

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Children’s House

Sensorial Language

Practical Life

Math Cultural

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Children’s House

Letter recog/

Care of indoors

Math Cultural+ - x / sq- cubes

SensorialThe five sensesAttributes of geometry

Care of the person

Care of outdoors

Practical Life

Handwriting

Word blg/ grammar

Language

Mathematics1-10, 1- 9,999

Properties/ frac

Cultural Arts, SciencesCultures, Time

Cultural Arts, SciencesCultures, Time

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SensorialThe five senses Attributes of geometry

Arts, SciencesCultures, Time

Cultural

Arts, SciencesCultures, Time

Length, width, height

Depth, circumference

Shapes- circles, rectangles, triangles (sides-equilateral, isosceles, scalene, and angles-right, acute, obtuse) polygons (pentagon, hexagon, heptagon, octagon, nonagon, decagon) and curvilinear shapes (oval, ellipse, trefoil, quatrefoil)

Volume-geometric solids (cube, rectangular prism, cone, ovoid, ellipsoid, square based pyramid, triangular based pyramid, etc.)

Trigonometry-constructing other geometric shapes (hexagons, trapezoids, parallelograms and other triangles) out of different triangles (in preparation for trigonometry).

Algebra - Use geometric attributes to discover algebraic concepts

Vision (color discrimination), Auditory (pitch, gradation), Tactile (rough-smooth, stereognostic senses), Olfactory (smelling bottles), Taste (bitter, sweet, etc.)

Art -artistic expression, art history,

Geography- Land, water, continents, oceans, landforms (lake, island, isthmus strait, peninsula, gulf, etc.) and waterways (oceans, etc.)

Zoology- Vertebrates/parts of a fish, amphibian, reptile, bird mammal, invertebrates, insects

Botany- parts of a plant, flower, leaf, identifications, shapes, margins

Cultures flags, art, clothing, costumes, food, traditions, clothing and transportation, money,

Time-Year, month, day, hour, minutes

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Children need organized learning environments and educational materials

that provide enriching meaningful experiences to support their cognitive

development. 12

Our earth has LAND and WATER, and is surrounded by a blanket of air

We call the large masses of land “continents.”

We call the large bodies of water

“oceans”

We can learnthe names ofthe continents and oceans.

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1 2 3 4

5 6 7 8

9 10 11 12

13 14 15 16 15

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Working Memory

The visio-spatial sketchpad, the phonological loop, and

procedural memory

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1. Start with real life

2. Move to 2D representations

3. Provide interactive activities

4. Attach language with incrementally increasing complexity

1.

2.

3, 4

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Real life objects (with indicators for faces and bases)

1.2. 2D representations and language reinforcement

3. Matching objects to pictures and words

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Subvocal

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faYco1b-IJI&feature=related

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Research

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The video mentioned Lillard’s research model.

The most difficult factor to parse out in educational research is parental influence. The question becomes: “Are parents who make the effort to enroll their children in Montessori schools generally more likely to know about child development, and therefore would be providing optimal learning environments for their children both in and out of the classroom anyway”?

Lillard’s study- used a lottery system. Parents did not know in advance, and could not influence, which school their children attended. Socioeconomic conditions, and other factors were all similar.

Outcomes: Students showed significantly differences in creative writing skills, exhibited greater social skills, had better coping skills, more positive outlooks on life, and higher academic scores in many areas.

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I know for a fact that without this school and my teachers, I would never have had the courage to explain the process of how a Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell works in front of a national panel of engineers.”

~Lara K. (7th grade)

Anecdotal evidence:

Montessori schools have been consistent top winners in Future Cities engineering competitions, as well as the Geo (Geography) Bee.

Clark Montessori was in the top three schools in the recent nationwide Race to the Top campaign.

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Other Anecdotal Evidence: An Inner City Success Story

East Dallas Community School:67% from families living at or below poverty level 49% are learning English as a second language  •In a neighborhood where the high school graduation rate is less than 50%, 94% of third-grade alumni have graduated from high school; 88% of those have gone on to college. •99% of the public charter school students have passed the high stakes state reading competency tests.

•According to a ten-year study of standardized test scores (1993-2003), EDCS students' average scores were in the top 36% nationwide in reading and math. •In 2009, EDCS was awarded Gold Performance acknowledgments in both reading and math by the State of Texas. 

•Once again in 2010, the EDCS Charter School was rated as exemplary.

H. Ross Perot proposed using this program as our national model for public schools during his presidential campaign in the 1980s.

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Famous Alumni

Sergey Brin & Larry Page, Founders of Google Jimmy Wales, Creator of Wikipedia Jeff Bezos, Financial Analyst, Founder of AmazonWill Wright, Video Game Designer and Creator of SimCity, The SimsGeorge Clooney, Actor Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Nobel Prize winner for Literature Peter Drucker, entrepreneur and business management expert Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis,  Editor, Former First Lady (John F. Kennedy) T. Berry Brazelton, Pediatrician and author Sean Combs, Music producer Anne Frank, Author of  The Diary of Anne Frank Dakota Fanning -ActressPrince William and Prince Harry, British Royal Family Julia Child, Chef, star of many TV cooking shows, and author Melissa Gilbert and Sarah Gilbert, Actresses Katherine Graham, Owner/Editor of The Washington Post John Cusak and Joan Cusak, actors Friedensreich Hundertwasser , Austrian painter/Architect

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Conclusion:Dr. Montessori travelled the world and discovered that “children naturally have the same drive to develop in a cognitive sense as they do in a physical sense. The desire of an elementary student to master equivalent fractions can be just as strong as the desire of the infant to crawl…unless the desire has been diminished by the circumstances of the child’s life.”  

In the 21st century, we can support those drives by intentionally creating responsive environments that meet the natural needs of our curious, social, and growing children.

THE END

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Print out “notes” underneath if you want a hardcopy script of the presentation.

You are free to add any information to personalize this power point for your individual school.

This can be used for educational purposes ONLY under the “fair use” copyright laws. Copyrights have not been purchased for all photos.

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References

Baddeley, A. (2002). Is working memory still working?. European Psychologist, 7(2), 85-97. Clements, Rhonda. (2004). An Investigation of the Status of Outdoor Play Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, Volume 5, Number 1, 2004 Durr, Patricia. (2008). Children’s Environment and Health Strategy for the UK The Children’s Society Response, June, 2008 November, 2010 http://www.childrenssociety.org.uk/resources/documents/Policy/7670_full.pdf

Glod, Maria. U.S. Teens Trail Peers Around World on Math-Science Test. The Washington Post. December 5, 2005

Lillard, Angeline & Nicole, Else. (2006) Evaluating Montessori Education. Science, Volume 313, September 29, 2006 < http://www.montessori- ami.org/research/ScienceLillard060929.pdf>

Matthews, Christine (2010) Foreign Science and Engineering Presence in U. S. Institution and the Labor Force. The Congressional Research Service. Washington, DC

Quinette, P., Guillery, B., Desgranges, B., de la Sayette, V., Viader, F., & Eustache, F. (2003). Working memory and executive functions in transient global amnesia. Brain: A Journal of Neurology, 126(9), 1917-1934. doi:10.1093/brain/awg201.

Whitley, Peggy (2008). The Lone Star College- Kingwood Library website. American Cultural History 1900-1909. <http://kclibrary.lonestar.edu/decade00.html>