MONTESSORI AND FREE CHOICE

By: Elizabeth Silva and Gaby Mena

BIOGRAPHY 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 board’s dispute.

Graduated from the university of Rome in 1896 as Italy’s first female physician.

Worked at psychiatric institution, orthophrenic school, and at the University of Rome before starting Casa dei Bambini in 1907.

Died 1952

MONTESSORI’S THEORIESSensitive PeriodsFree Choice

Child’s choices lead developmentStructured choice

Constructive ActivityLimited choice

Materials Correct sizeAttractiveGradual learning

SURPRISING DISCOVERYConcentration

NormalizationGood behavior

Self –regulation

OUR QUESTION When given the

choice to pick an academic activity, and allowed to work independently for 8—10 minutes, will children be less willing to take a break than those whose academic activity is picked out for them?

HYPOTHESIS

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.

RESEARCH SETTING 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

WHAT WE DID Tested Montessori’s 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.

THE STUDYExperimental Group (A)•Allow children to choose the task they want to work with.

Control Group (B)

• Assigned a particular task to complete.

PRE QUESTIONS 1. What do you like most in school? What’s

your favorite thing to do? Do you like reading and writing? Math?

2. What kind of toys do you like?

Student group/ Number

Pre-question 1:What do you like most about school?

Pre-question 2:What toys do you like?

A1 counters Math Transformers/carsA2 puzzle Drawing/writing Train/carsA3 mystery bag Playground CarsA4 tangrams Blocks/counting Makeup/barbiesA5 puzzle Blocks/playground DinosaursA6 counters Counter board Jack-in-box/horse/cow/

everythingB1 tangrams Writing Train/planesB2 alphabet Everything Soccer/transformersB3 alphabet Blocks ShootingB4 counters Blocks Mario kart/shootingB5 alphabet Writing HorsesB6 mystery bag Writing Blocks

POST QUESTIONS *Would you like to take a break? Why did you/ did you not want to take a

break? Did you like your activity?

Student group/Number

Post-question 1:Would you like to take a break?

Post-question 2:Why did/didn’t you want a break?

Post-question 3:Did you like the activity?

A1 counters No “Because I didn’t want to.” Yes

A2 puzzle No “I wasn’t tired. I love puzzles.”

Yes

A3 mystery bag No “I wasn’t tired” Yes

A4 tangrams No “I wanted to keep building shapes.”

Yes

A5 puzzle No “I wanted to play again” Yes

A6 counters No/later Yes “I was done.” Yes

B1 tangrams No “Because I liked that.” Yes

B2 alphabet Yes “I don’t know” Liked it*

B3 alphabet No “B/c I like doing my letters. My mommy wants me to grow up to go to my sisters school.”

Yes*

B4 counters Yes “Because I finished.” “I liked it a lot.”

B5 alphabet Yes “Because my arms were getting tired.”

“a lot”

B6 mystery bag Yes “Because I was done.” “yes, a lot”

Student group/Number

Break Why/Why not he/she wanted to take a break

Observations:

A1 counters No “Because I didn’t want to.” Concentrated/working diligently after we showed him how to use the tangrams

A2 puzzle No “I wasn’t tired. I love puzzles.” Concentrated/workingA3 mystery bag No “I wasn’t tired” Worked, although he didn’t

seem to know what he was doing“This is getting boring”

A4 tangrams No “I wanted to keep building shapes.” Concentrated/working

A5 puzzle No “I wanted to play again” Concentrated/working

A6 counters No/Yes “I was done.” Determined/ Concentrated

B1 tangrams No “Because I liked that.” Somewhat distracted but worked eventually

B2 alphabet Yes “I don’t know” Disinterested“This is taking a long time.”

B3 alphabet No “B/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 Yes “Because I finished.” Distracted after a while

B5 alphabet Yes “Because my arms were getting tired.” Very disinterested*body language

B6 mystery bag Yes “Because I was done.” Didn’t seem to understand.

CONCLUSION 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).

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?

WORKS 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-druc

ker-a-montessori-mafioso/ http://montessoridiscoverycenterschool.com/about

_maria_montessori http://www.montessorieducationuk.org/