One of the major components of Dr. Montessori's plan for peace education is a curriculum that de-emphasizes nationalism. The "big picture" of the cultural curriculum encourages the perspective that people are citizens of Earth first, and only secondarily American, Japanese, Polish, or other nationalities. Through the fundamental needs…

"Pre-Katrina" and "Post-Katrina" are common terms for time frames these days in New Orleans, often reminding me of the BCE/CE timeline distinctions. You hear "Pre-Katrina" and "Post-Katrina" on the news, in the paper, and in everyday conversations. Although more and more people have moved back to New…

Ukraine had been under Soviet domination for 75 years. Its institutions, including its educational system, were guided by rules established in Moscow. When the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991, the country had opportunities to reinvent itself. In this article, the author discusses the Ukrainian Montessori Project, a successful partnership between…

The system of education developed by Maria Montessori, noted Italian feminist, anthropologist and physician, is the single largest pedagogy in the world with over 22,000 public, private, parochial, and charter schools on six continents, enduring even as other teaching methods have waxed and waned. Despite its international diffusion and longevity,…

Background/Context: Montessori education has flourished as an alternative approach to schooling for a hundred years. In the century since the first Montessori school opened in the slums of Rome, the movement has undergone sustained growth while simultaneously enduring efforts to modify the method in order to reach a wider audience. Despite…

Over the past 5 years, the author has visited scores of Montessori classrooms, most of them in the United States and Canada, and has observed many commonalities among them. For example, in almost every classroom, children freely chose their activities and engaged hands-on with material objects. They took care of the environment, wiping up their…

The purpose of the study was to examine students' expected and observable civic engagement in a Montessori Erdkinder-based middle school classroom. Research questions included: (a) In what ways is civic engagement addressed in the Montessori Erdkinder-based middle school explicit curriculum? (b) How does the expected civic engagement in the…

This article explores the benefits and challenges of a Spanish language immersion preschool from the perspective of a non-Spanish speaking African American family. Data explored include the decision to enroll, reactions from peers and family, home-school communication issues, language development, and family involvement. In addition,…

A disconnect exists between how students communicate using their mobile phones outside of school and how they use them in the classroom. Many high schools across the United States ban their use, even though numerous mobile learning strategies are available. Although research pertaining to m-learning has been conducted at the collegiate level, a…

This article presents an excerpt from a typed manuscript of one of many lectures Maria Montessori delivered in 1915 in San Francisco, San Diego, and Los Angeles. In this particular lecture, Montessori talked about how teachers can make a profound change in their way of teaching. Instead of doing the traditional lecture, teachers can learn how to…

This article presents an interview with Montessorians, namely Vicki Dimmer, Dottie Feldman, and Patti Tepper-Rasmussen. In an interview, these Montessorians discuss how they become involved with Montessori education and describe their involvement in Montessori over the years. They also discuss the impact of their Montessori training on their…

Schools following the Montessori philosophy use individual and small-group teaching methods and hands-on, concrete materials. This study investigated the understanding of place value concepts and abilities of Montessori students by comparing interview task responses of 93 students in grades 1-3 in a Montessori school (n = 47) and in a mostly…

There are two purposes of the current study. First was to examine whether or not children in the elementary school in Taiwan who had received Montessori early childhood education obtain significantly higher scores on tests of language arts, math, and social studies than children who attended non-Montessori pre-elementary programs. Second one was…

Public schools are offering more choices because educators increasingly have come to believe that a broader instructional menu brings positive results for everyone involved. The days of parents simply signing up their children at the neighborhood school for a one-size-fits-all curriculum are nearly over. In South Carolina, parents in high-choice…

At Montessori schools, students are given tasks called "practical life" exercises. In these exercises, students learn to take care of themselves and their environment. Students at the Robert Goddard Montessori School are also familiar with the drill of workbooks, testing sheets, and homework--features that would never be part of a…