Montessori and Adolescence: What Does the Research Say?

Montessori programs for adolescents are on the rise. There is a strong interest among parents, and for good reason! Montessori adolescents experience a rich educational setting that is unlike anything found in conventional education today.

The best news? Montessori adolescent programs are backed by research. Read more to find out how.

Montessori programs lead the way in supporting adolescent autonomy, competence, and self-determination.

Based on past research that has shown strong correlations between self-determination and achievement, this study sought to measure the former in seventh-grade students. Data collection relied on student voice, a measure that researchers and others state to be the most valuable in making decisions regarding education. A guiding question of the study, which examined how these seventh graders acclimated to their new environment, was, “How would a learning environment designed to support students’ development of autonomy, competence, and relatedness affect their sense of self-determination during their seventh-grade year?” 

The BNSW-S (the basic needs satisfaction at work scale) was modified so that the wording was applicable to students. Student volunteers then completed the survey and their scores were used to determine their various levels of self-determination (below, at, and above-expected levels). From there, one male and one female student at each of the levels were chosen to participate in the study.  

Students in the study were asked specific, open-ended questions that necessitated a narrative response. After transcribing and analyzing the interviews, some of the most commonly shared thoughts and themes were as follows:

• Choose type of work

• Choose order of tasks

• Scared at first...now I can

• Organize time

• More Social Confidence

• Capability to do well in high school

• Teacher care: help me stay on top of things

• Student care: community meeting 

Several interesting themes emerged. It was clear that all student participants had a strong sense of choice in their school experience. While students felt uneasy about their ability to complete their work at the start of the school year, by November all students felt confident in that area. Another interesting finding is that students overwhelmingly spoke about the support they received from their teachers.  

Researcher Casquejo Johnston suggests that conventional educators of middle school students who are interested in reform consider finding ways to implement personalized learning and community support, both of which are hallmarks of Montessori adolescent programs and can be attributed to the study’s positive findings.  

In Montessori adolescent programs, STEM is naturally cross-curricular and mirrors real-life scenarios.

The concept of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) in education is theoretically meant to be taught in a cohesive, interdisciplinary, and authentic manner. Realistically, this is rarely the case, and “STEM disciplines are often implemented separately using contrived contexts”. 

The researchers of this study argue that Montessori, by design, meets the theoretical intentions of STEM while also mirroring the challenges faced locally and globally, giving students practical experience and meaningful learning. They felt that in Montessori adolescent environments, STEM occurs naturally and organically, because “In these spaces, interdisciplinary science, technology, engineering and mathematics learning is contextualized within the real work of running a farm.”

In a Montessori Erdkinder environment, students are required to meet the needs of the working farm. This allows them to face challenges and learn critical STEM skills that are required in doing so. The farm is a business, and the students must not only care for the farm itself, but successfully run the business. Working together with peers and adult guides to do so gives them the necessary skills to contribute as successful adults in their communities.

Researchers surveyed guides at Montessori adolescent programs across the United States asking a variety of questions, including both scaled and short-response open-ended questions. A total of 96 responses were collected.

Interestingly, most respondents hailed from programs that did not utilize the traditional Erdkinder farm program, but rather a different program more suited to their school, as well as strong implementation of other core Montessori principles.

Six important themes emerged as components of Montessori adolescent programs surveyed:

• Authentic & contextualized work

• Community & communities of practice

• Integrated STEM teaching & learning

• Holistic education

• Driven by student interests and funds of knowledge

• Socio Cultural & socio political connections

The researchers concluded that their assumptions regarding Montessori adolescent programs’ authentic and meaningful application of STEM were correct. They believe the model has much to offer students, as well as serving as a basis from which other educational settings should derive inspiration.

Montessori adolescents report higher intrinsic motivation, interest, energy, and more compared with peers in traditional settings.

In this study, 290 middle school students from both Montessori and traditional schools were surveyed. Analysis of the results indicated that the Montessori students displayed:

• Greater affect

• Potency (feeling energetic)

• Intrinsic motivation

• Flow experience

• Undivided attention (a combination of high intrinsic motivation and importance)

Researchers noted that many studies have revealed the struggles most adolescents face during this period in their lives, and the unfortunate fact that most adolescent educational programs are not designed to meet the specific needs of the children they are meant to serve. They note that while Montessori education is typically associated with early childhood, they believe there is important information to be learned about the model’s approach for older children.

When considering the ideas set forth by numerous researchers regarding adolescent’s needs for their educational settings, Montessori provides solutions to current problems in mainstream education. Young people need experiential learning, opportunities for metacognition, increased autonomy, and a model that honors their drive to work with peers.

Typical middle school environments enact strict and rigid policies; Montessori does not. Teens in Montessori environments are given structure and guidance, but also a good amount of freedom and choice.

The Montessori schools that were chosen for this study had the following characteristics in common: each had a built-in philosophy of intrinsic motivation, rather than block periods they allowed for extended periods for self-directed work, neither grades nor standardized tests were used for comparison or placement, students took a prominent role in daily decision-making, and small-group work was encouraged over whole-class lectures.

Researchers noted that Montessori students did, indeed, display significantly higher levels of intrinsic motivation. They suggest that Montessori adolescent environments might serve as excellent models for traditional middle school reform across the United States.

Contact us to learn more about our Upper School program for adolescents.

Recent Research: How Montessori Students Benefit from the Findings

There have been a host of fascinating published research findings in recent years in regard to learning and education. In this article we’ll take a look at just a few of them and explain what the findings mean in relation to Montessori environments.

The demotivating effect (and unintended message) of awards

It is common practice in conventional schools across the nation to give students awards for good attendance records. The hope is that by honoring the hard work of children who physically get to school each day, it will motivate other children to do the same and earn the award. Unfortunately, this study determined that not only was the goal not met, the practice ends up causing a negative effect and actually increases student absences.

It all boils down to motivation.

The study included 15,000 middle and high school students and found that giving students awards for good attendance had the unfortunate effect of decreasing attendance. Researchers believe that the existence of an award creates the idea that good attendance exceeds expectations. Not only does this not motivate most students to ensure their own attendance, but those who receive the award are often not motivated to keep up the habit in the future.

So, what does this mean for Montessori schools? It may be obvious, but you would be hard pressed to find a Montessori school that utilizes attendance awards in the first place. This study is yet another example of why intrinsic motivation is a far more positive tool than extrinsic motivation. In Montessori environments, the cultivation of intrinsic motivation is the backbone of everything we do. This extends far beyond attendance awards to include things like assessments, addressing negative behaviors, and mastering academic skills. So, Montessori community, let’s keep doing what we’re doing.

Gender similarities in the brain during mathematics development

Many folks have long held the belief that girls tend to be more masterful in the areas of language and arts, while boys find ease in the studies of math and science. Not only is this outdated and sexist thinking, it’s scientifically incorrect. Still, so much of what we believe about our world is engrained due to biased learning in our past. Academic studies can help break down our misconceptions in an effort to make progress. 

In this study of children aged 3-10 years old, MRI technology was used while children watched educational math videos. Researchers noted that boys and girls showed similar neural functioning during testing, leading them to the conclusion that there is no noticeable difference in the way children’s brains process mathematical information.

In Montessori classrooms, mathematics learning is highly individualized. Children are able to progress at their own pace, without needing to feel rushed or held back by group lessons or social pressures. In this way, Montessori environments support the findings of this study; children are children - they learn at their own individual rate and variables such as gender should not factor into their work or progress.

Is Summer Learning Loss Real?

Short answer: it’s not. In the 1980s a study revealed what many of us now know as the Summer Slide, a phenomenon in which children who spend their summers playing and not studying show skill regression come the fall. For decades this idea was accepted as fact, that is, until a group of researchers recently attempted to recreate the study and were unable to do so.

Modern researchers attribute this finding to the fact that we now have more advanced, efficient, and effective means of collecting and analyzing data. By clicking the link above, you can see comparative charts showing the original data as well as more recent findings. It’s apparent that with the very rare exception, children tend to plateau or even make gains during the summer months.

Why did we include this in our article? While our students have recently returned from summer vacation, they have also returned from the completely unanticipated and unplanned spring of 2020. Teachers, administrators, families, and children all worked hard and made the best of a very challenging situation, but many of us have been concerned about the long-term negative effects this past spring may have had on our children’s academic progress. The findings of the study give us hope that a temporary pause in regular instruction may not necessarily lead to a loss in skills. We will surely learn more in time, but are encouraged by the findings.

Are you interested in learning more about the ways current research supports the work we do in Montessori schools? We will be sure to share more in the future as more findings become available, but in the meantime, Montessori: The Science Behind the Genius is a great read.

Why Montessori?

How does a parent prepare their child for an unpredictable future?  Don’t we all just want to give them every possible advantage?

How do we define success in our children’s lives?  Is it about being able to provide for oneself or is it finding joy in the work we do?  Is it about contributing to our communities or perhaps continuing to learn throughout our lives?  Couldn’t it (shouldn’t it) be a little bit of all of those things?

Goals

We think Montessori is one beautiful way to work toward all of these goals, and we are prepared to make some bold statements:

• Montessori gives children a strong understanding of basic math and language skills, starting earlier than most methods and using materials that support their development and methods that correlate with current research findings.

• Building a sense of independence and confidence is a major component of what we do. We know that children of all ages are fully capable of doing more for themselves than they are often given credit for. We have learned to sit back, observe, and assist only when necessary. This allows children to grow in incredible ways, amazing their parents (and frankly, us, too!).

• Respect for and connection to the earth is built directly into our curriculum, especially in the elementary grades. We know that around age 6, children start to think about where they fit into the bigger picture. We teach them about the universe, our solar system, the beauty of our planet, and the variety of life on it, just at a time when they are seeking those answers.

• Choice and freedom are important for all human beings. We give both to children because we believe they are capable of knowing what they need and want, and the more practice they have the better they will get at making decisions when we are not there to support them.

• We value teaching responsibility and time management skills. This goes hand in hand with focus and attentiveness. The ability to make choices about one’s learning must be balanced with accountability; as the children in our classrooms get older, they know there are certain expectations. For example, they may be able to choose the order of their work, but they know that they have to do grammar at some point during a specific time period, even if it’s not their favorite subject.

• Rather than drilling arbitrary facts into children and forcing them to memorize information that may not serve them in the future, we take a different approach. All children are exposed to a wide variety of basic scientific, geographical, and historical information, and are given extensive opportunities to more deeply explore the topics that they find fascinating.

Graduates of Montessori schools go on to be successful in other settings, whether they go on to attend other private schools or their local public schools.  They tend to view the world a little more creatively than the rest of us, and their contributions are often felt throughout society.  There are many notable public figures that credit their early Montessori education to the successes they experienced later in life.  To learn more about some of these people, take a look at this article.

Research

Montessori-specific research is a fairly new field, but the initial results in recent years are fascinating.

One study conducted in Hartford, Connecticut, took a look at preschool students in a public Montessori magnet school.  Federal magnet grants are awarded to public schools who commit to special, high-quality educational programming (in this case, Montessori) in an attempt to create a socioeconomically diverse school community within an urban setting.  In the study, two groups of preschool-aged children were observed over time: 70 children in the Montessori setting and 71 who were in other settings.  While the children tested similarly at the onset of the study, eventually the Montessori children outperformed the others academically, as well as notable increases in their enjoyment of work, social understanding, mastery orientation, and executive function.  Subgroups within the study showed some other interesting findings that suggest Montessori education might help close the gaps on certain factors that typically hinder children’s success (such as income and executive functioning).

Another study in public Montessori schools in Milwaukee concluded that a Montessori education has long-lasting positive benefits for children.  The study also determined that when Montessori-educated children eventually transitioned into more traditional educational settings they were successful and the transition was positive.

While there are other great studies out there, we will touch on just one more here.  This study took a look at the effects of a high fidelity Montessori environment versus a low fidelity Montessori or conventional classroom environment.  Children who learned in a classic Montessori program in which the guides adhered to traditional methods made significantly higher gains during the school year than their counterparts in conventional classrooms or Montessori classrooms that were supplemented with other types of learning materials and methods.

Community

Montessori schools are also something unexpected: they provide a community for more than just the children.  Parents, educators, students, and local community members gather together in support of common goals.  They work together, socialize together, and find ways to solve problems together.  In our society today, many people have lost the sense of community that is so important to our well being; Montessori schools serve an important function of not just educating children, but giving like-minded adults a way to connect and form meaningful relationships.