Montessori, Piaget, and the Common Core Research study by Bridget Paschall and Marie DiLucca

Maria Montessori 1870 - 1952 Montessori was the first woman physician of Italy and had an interest in mental retardation of children after working in the insane asylums of Rome. She followed the methodologies of Seguin and Froebel who believed that children learn from nature’s plan. Montessori realized that developmentally challenged children could still learn but in ways that focused on physical activity and sensory stimulation. In 1907 she opened the Casa De Bambini, a school for poor children where she implemented her educational ideas. The interest in the Montessori method of education spread in the 1960’s and have led to many Montessori Schools opening.

Jean Piaget 1896 - 1980 Piaget was born in Switzerland and earned his Doctorate in the Natural Sciences. He was interested in Biology and Philosophy in his early career. Then he became interested in Child Psychology at 23. He began his scientific research by creating questions and interviews to learn more about children’s ideas. Piaget advanced a Theory of Cognitive Development that consisted of stages in which a child goes through while demonstrating distinct patterns of thinking. He received the Erasmus in 1972 and the Balzan in 1978 right before his death in 1980.

Montessori’s Sensitive Periods Sensitive Periods are blocks of time in a child’s life when they are absorbed with one characteristic of the environment to the exclusion of others. They are innate in the child and come at develop at different paces in every child. The child has an intense interest for repeating certain actions for no obvious reason but because of the repetition, fresh functions appear with force. Sensitive Periods are genetically based and apply both to cognitive and physical abilities. Montessori taught that if the child is prevented from following the interest given in any Sensitive Period, the opportunity for a natural conquest is lost forever.

Montessori’s Sensitive Periods Order: Takes place during the first 3 years of a child. It is when the child has a strong need for order and they move about placing objects where they belong. Details: Between 1 and 2, children place their attention on little details as they try to fill in their experiences fully. This is a change in psychic development. Hands: Between 18 months and 3 years, children use their hands to grasp objects. During this time they refine their movements and sense of touch. Walking: This is when a child passes from a helpless to an active being. Children walk for the sake of walking as they are driven by an inner impulse. Language: Children master language unconsciously and without thinking about it. If a child is exposed to languages, they master them along with grammar and tenses.

Montessori’s Sensitive Periods The timing with which a child is taught certain skills or concepts is detrimental for the child to grasp the lesson at hand. “A lesson must be given at the opportune moment in a child’s development. If given too early, the children will find it too difficult, and if given too late, the child will be bored by it” ~Angeline Stoll Lillard

Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development Sensorimotor Intelligence (Birth to 2 years) PreOperational Thought (2 to 7/8 years) Concrete Operations (7/8 to 11 years) Formal Operations (11 to adulthood) Piaget says there is “an internal mechanism” acting within the child prompting him or her to move from stage to stage

PreOperational Thought A child in this stage has “rigid and irreversible thinking. He is dominated by his perception. Since logical structures have not yet been acquired by him, he must operate on the basis of his perception. If something looks like it has more, then it must be more” ~Neufeld

Common Core’s Theory The technique used within the Common Core is known as progression. The Common Core claims “the general reasoning processes of conservation (of length and number), and classification (which lies at the heart of the standards discussed in the K–3 Categorical Data Progression) predict success in early childhood as well as later schooling” (North Carolina DPI) They admit that “conservation of number is a developmental milestone of which some Kindergarten children will not have mastered”

Purpose of the study To test how preoperational students will react to a lesson that involves concepts that are not yet internally developed, which is a factor of the progression technique

Questions asked by the Study Is conservation of number a concept that children from ages 6 to 8 have already developed? Does prompting a child to study a concept, like conservation of number, before he or she is able to understand it (as the Common Core does) frustrate a child’s learning ability OR prepare the child’s mind for when he or she is able to grasp the concept?

Hypotheses From kindergarten to second grade, children will go from not having conservation of number, or preopertional thought, to transitioning to concrete operational thought. The children that have preoperational thought and those transitioning from it will experience frustration with the concept when asked to rationalize their answer.

Participants 8 six year olds, 3 female and 5 male 11 seven year olds, 5 female and 6 male 5 eight year olds, 2 female and 3 male The children were from a small faith-based elementary school in North Texas Each child was asked to answer questions about one task and explain their answers The experiment took place in their school in the presence of their teachers

Procedure We laid out 2 lines of 8 pennies. Each line was the same length. We asked the child ‘which line has more pennies or do they have the same amount’.

Procedure Then, in front of the child, we spread out the first line of pennies apart from each other, so that the lines were different lengths. Again, we asked the child ‘which line has more pennies or do they have the same amount’.

Data Total No Conservation Transitioning Conservation Achieved Frustrated 6 year old (male) 5 4 6 year old (female) 3 2 1 7 year old (male) 7 year old (female) 6 8 year old (male) 8 year old (female)

Results

Results

Results

Results

Conclusions Question: Is conservation of number a concept that children from ages 6 to 8 have already developed? Hypothesis: From kindergarten to second grade, children will go from not having conservation of number to transitioning to concrete operational thought. Correct! Children are just beginning their transition around these ages, so the numbers show a steady incline from no conservation to transitioning to the stage of thought necessary to conserve.

Conclusions Question: Does prompting a child to study a concept, like conservation of number, before he or she is able to understand it (as the Common Core does) frustrate a child’s learning ability OR prepare the child’s mind for when he or she is able to grasp the concept? Hypothesis: The children that have preoperational thought and those transitioning from it will experience frustration with the concept when asked to rationalize their answer. Incorrect. Only some of the children showed this frustration outwardly. Most of the children who did were 6 year olds

Limitations Setting of the Interview: a.) We had to ask some of the children while they were eating lunch in the lunchroom which led to chaos and inability to ask them further questions. b.)The 2nd graders watched each other participate which could have affected their answers. Time: We were unable to ask the children questions as to why they answered the way they did so we were unable to see if they would become frustrated. Number of People: We did not have enough Kindergartners for the study as we would have liked. Question: We had to come up with our own frustration question which led to an inability to score it or figure out how to get the child to show us their frustration.

Nature Vs. Nurture Piaget NATURE NURTURE Montessori