Though Montessori training and schools have existed in India since the arrival of Dr. Maria Montessori, there has not been much formal research on the Montessori institutions or their work in this country.
The work of our Director, Professor Gupta, is featured in several Research publications in the US. Noteworthy among them are:
MONTESSORI CURRICULUM IN MINNESOTA AND WISCONSIN PUBLIC MONTESSORI ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS , A Dissertation by Michael James Dorer
There has been much work done at the grassroots level by the staff and alumni of IIMS over the years. Consultation processes have helped us refine the curriculum framework. With Hosa Chiguru and Me too for Montessori, we have applied the theory and principles of the Montessori Method along with the practical aspects, and studied its impact on the children, the teachers and the larger community. There has also been a strong element of self-study and introspection in these projects.
IIMS, during its course of work has collated data and some of it is being published now. Apart from that, individuals from different fields have also worked in this area in the recent years. The faculty and trustees of the Institute are consolidating this work to share at various educational forums. We are publishing some of the abstracts here. Those who are interested in getting the entire paper can write to the authors through our email address.
Click on the titles to download the .pdf files.
-Lavanya T.P and Dr.Tony Sam George, Dept of Psychology, Christ University
This is the abstract of the thesis of Lavanya T P based on the study of a school in Tumkur – Ankitha Montessori. The paper itself was published in the Volume 11 of the magazine, ‘The Child and You’.
-S Rekha Reddy
This is the abstract of our trustee, Rekha Reddy’s M Phil thesis from the Jain University, presented at the 5th International Pre-primary Principals Conference. She was placed first in the University for the same.
Growth of teachers in the context of a Montessori Intervention program
Nandini Prakash and Aparna Desraj Urs, Indian Institute for Montessori Studies (IIMS)
This is the abstract of the paper published by Nandini Prakash and Aparna Desraj Urs at The Institute of Education Trust, Onkarmal Somani College of Education , Mysore. This UGC sponsored National Conference on ‘Enhancing the Quality of Teacher Education’ by empowering the teacher Education was held on 19th and 20th December 2011. The ISBN Number of the paper will be available shortly.
Teaching English on the basis of Kannada
Nandini Prakash and Gowthami Bhargav, Indian Institute for Montessori Studies (IIMS)
This abstract is based on the paper presented by Nandini Prakash and Gowthami Bhargav at the National Conference on ‘Second Language Teacher Education – Issues and Challenges’ . This conference was held in February 2012 at the Regional Institute for English, South India.
Growth of teachers in the context of a Montessori intervention
Nandini Prakash and Aparna Desraj Urs, Indian Institute for Montessori Studies (IIMS), Bangalore
This poster was presented at the International Montessori Congress, organised by The American Montessori Society (AMS) at Orlando, USA in 2013.
This poster provides a case study of the impact of ‘presentations’ in Kannada (an Indian vernacular), English and Maths at early childhood level involving three teachers and 43 children of Upper Kinder Garten (Preprimary) in a traditional school over 8 months.
Use of Checklists for CCE (Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation) in Montessori Schools
Nandini Prakash, Indian Institute for Montessori Studies (IIMS), Bangalore
Transfer of Language Skills in Bilingual Classrooms
A classroom practice developed by Albert Joosten and his assistants in India, involving ‘graded picture series’, used with Moveable Alphabet was presented. Also presented was the use of a conversion chart developed by IIMS, based on the principles of Montessori Method, for transferring skills gained in the primary language to another language.
Towards excellence of teachers and teacher education
Tara Ratnam, Freelance Teacher Educator, India and Nandini Prakash, Indian Institute of Montessori Studies
This paper was presented by our Research Advisor – Tara Ratnam, and her mentee, Nandini Prakash, based on the work of IIMS at Mahila Mandali, Bangalore, under project Hosa Chiguru.
The Book of Abstracts can be found here.
Nandini Prakash and Savitha Premachandra presented a workshop on the effect of using conversion chart for second language teaching at the International Teacher Education Conference 2014, conducted by British Council and English and Foreign Languages University at Hyderabad during February 2014. The workshop was based on the work done through consultation with the teachers of Vidyanjali Academy of Learning.
Abstract from the Brochure of the conference:
The workshop introduces the Montessori classroom practice of using graded words and a conversion chart to ease the transfer of skills of associating symbols with sounds and analysing words from the first language to a second or third one, whether from vernacular to English or vice versa. The presenters showcase their study of the impact this innovation has on the learning and self-confidence of children and the teachers in a lower primary school in Bangalore.
The video of the workshop can be seen at the following link.
TEC14: Nandini Prakash & Savitha Premachandra – YouTube
Impact of the Montessori method and traditional classroom teaching on the analogical reasoning of preschool children – Lavanya T.P and Dr. Tony Sam George Student of Master’s in Psychology (clinical) and HOD, Department of psychology, Christ University Bangalore, India This study was conducted to investigate whether differences in teaching methods differ in their impact on the analogical reasoning capacity of preschoolers. It was hypothesized that no significant difference exists in the analogical reasoning capacity of preschool children from Montessori or the Structured Pedagogies. Fifty preschoolers aged 5-6 from Montessori schools and fifty preschoolers of the same age group from structured schools were a part of this study. The analogical reasoning tasks administered consisted of three sets pertaining to objects, shapes and numbers. Each of the three sets consisted of 4 tasks. The tasks in the first two sets were presented in the form of proportional analogies whereas tasks in the third set differed in the way it was presented. It consisted of tasks related to class inclusion and categorization. An independent sample t-test was conducted to determine the results. The results indicated that preschoolers from Montessori schools performed significantly better compared to the students from Structured schools on all the three sets of analogical reasoning tasks, thereby disconfirming the hypothesis. Overall, the results indicate that, the kind of methodology used to instruct students in Montessori schools is significantly better in terms of enhancing the analogical reasoning capacity of preschoolers which helps in the betterment of the overall cognitive capabilities of the child. For the full paper, please write to iims.blr@gmail.com
Socio-cultural approach in Montessori Education: with special reference to Montessori and Kindergarten schools in Bangalore – S. Rekha Reddy The early childhood, from 2 to 6 years is an important stage in the human development. It is at this stage, the child learns, how to behave and interact with the people in the society, and imbibes the cultural aspects of the society he lives in. The norms of society include the interpersonal skills which have to be cultivated in the early childhood period and this will speak about the persona when he reaches the adulthood. Therefore it is very essential to know the socio-cultural approaches that are followed in different schools imparting early childhood education. This research aims at studying the socio-cultural approaches in Montessori and Kindergarten schools of Bangalore city. It is to explore whether the children of Montessori system have more social skills and foster cultural development in classrooms compared to the children of Kindergarten system. A comparative and survey method of research was conducted where the data was collected through case study method, observation, interviews and administering different tests to observe the behaviours of children belonging to both the systems. For the full paper, please write to iims.blr@gmail.com or directly contact the author.
Growth of teachers in the context of a Montessori Intervention program – Nandini Prakash & Aparna Desraj Urs Sub theme: Total Quality Management (TQM) in TE It is not very easy to maintain quality in the work of a teacher due to various reasons like the background of the children, poor syllabus, pressure from parents, and the background of the teachers themselves, particularly when working in child-centric, multilevel multi-grade set ups. A good way of maintaining the level of learning is through the planned management of teacher education using Montessori method of learning. This paper provides a case study of Kannada learning at pre-primary level involving three teachers and 43 children of U KG over 8 months. The data for this study has been drawn from a pre-test conducted before the intervention, field notes and audio recording from continuous training, class observations, emails, samples of children’s work, audio recording and video clips of children at work, responses of teachers and parents and a post-test at the end. During this period, the teachers were given an initial training of three days with graded Montessori material, and another 14 short, one day sessions spread over the year. Data analysis shows improvement in terms of teacher development which will be presented qualitatively. These results suggest that a combination of Montessori Methodology with continuous training and support through a facilitator is one of the effective ways to provide quality education for the teacher and the taught. For the full paper, please write to iims.blr@gmail.com
TEACHING ENGLISH ON THE BASIS OF KANNADA – NANDINI PRAKASH & GOWTHAMI BHARGAV Subtheme: English language learning – problems and remedial measures. In these days when English is seen as a language of opportunities, it is not easy to teach it as a second language to young children. Except for a few children whose parents are urbanbased and educated to speak the language comfortably at home, most struggle to master the basics of reading and writing skills. Basics of the language are not strong and there is no exposure neither for the taught nor the teacher. Many teachers are themselves, first generation learners. Most importantly, there is no clearly defined link to the second language from the first language. Authorities in education and government agree on the importance of the mother tongue and teach it through text-books or text-book substitutes. English is added on a separate subject with no connections to what has already been learnt. This is a problem because the pattern of English is different from that of Indian languages such as Kannada. Thus, the methodology does not suit the needs of the child or of the teacher. One way to address this problem is to link the first language to the second. The words of the first language are analysed to find individual sounds. Letters of the alphabet are used as symbols for these sounds. Once this association is created, representing the symbols forms writing and converting symbols into their sound values forms reading. For the purpose of this paper, I will look at one aspect of second language learning, viz, reading, using the child’s knowledge of Kannada literacy as a basis. The letters of Kannada are matched to similar ones in English in a controlled sequence along with other inputs in terms of grammar, syntax, and enrichment of vocabulary. This process will lead to a spontaneous development of literacy in English. We will provide an illustration of how this was achieved in a particular section of semi-urban school in Bangalore. The data from this paper is drawn from field notes, teachers’ feedback, photos, samples of children’s work, etc. This is inductively analysed and the categories emerging from this analyses are presented here as our findings. For the full paper, please write to iims.blr@gmail.com
Downloads a PDF
Poster – Research Question: Can Montessori method be used effectively in a situation which is low in terms of resources like materials, space and training, where parents belong to a low socio-economic strata? If yes, what is its impact on the children, teachers and the community?
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