Download the Latest Montessori Research

Use the links below to download the latest Montessori research in PDF format. Research Downloads from NAMTA The following articles were originally published in The NAMTA Journal: A Comparison of Montessori and Traditional Middle Schools: Motivation, Quality of Experience, and Social Context by Kevin Rathunde With the help of co-investigator Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Dr. Rathunde compared the experiences and perceptions of middle school students in Montessori and traditional schools using the Experience Sampling Method (ESM). Montessori students reported a significantly better quality of experience in their academic work than did traditional students. In addition, Montessori students perceived their schools as a more positive community for learning, with more opportunities for active, rather than passive, learning. Source: The NAMTA Journal 28.3 (2003, Summer): 12-52. Click here to view/download PDF file. Requires free Adobe Reader software.

Available Downloads 1. Middle school comparison 2. Education reform 3. Research framework 4. Developmental outcomes 5. 2005 Salary Survey 6. London Times cites Montessori research 7. Elementary science command cards by Peter Gebhardt-Seele

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Montessori and Optimal Experience Research: Toward Building a Comprehensive Education Reform
by David Kahn

This article serves as a Montessori introduction to the Rathunde piece cited above. David Kahn explores the Montessori concept of normalization, comparing it to Mihaly Csikszentmihaly's "flow" construct.
Source: The NAMTA Journal 28.3 (2003, Summer): 1-10.
Click here to view/download PDF file. Requires free Adobe Reader software.

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Montessori Education and Optimal Experience: A Framework for New Research
by Kevin Rathunde

This article provides the theoretical and conceptual foundation for "A Comparison of Montessori and Traditional Middle Schools," above. It is the result of a research commission from NAMTA, under the supervision of NAMTA's Director of Research, Annette M. Haines. Working from a perspective outside the Montessori community, Dr. Rathunde puts Montessori’s rich understanding of the prepared environment and children’s concentration in tandem with contemporary thought in both education and developmental psychology.
Source: The NAMTA Journal 26.1 (2001, Winter): 11-43.
Click here to view/download PDF file. Requires free Adobe Reader software.

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Optimal Developmental Outcomes: The Social, Moral, Cognitive, and Emotional Dimensions of a Montessori Education
by Annette M. Haines, Kay Baker, and David Kahn

This series of articles (including a new introduction by Annette Haines, NAMTA's Director of Research) spells out optimal outcomes of Montessori education for the early childhood, elementary, and adolescent years. Haines states, "we find the possibility of an educational continuum that extends naturally along a developmental path from birth to adulthood. It is hoped that the delineation of this path within the three distinct developmental stages will enable educators to look at students and schools from a new perspective."
Sources: The NAMTA Journal 25:2, Spring, 2000; The NAMTA Journal 26:1, Winter, 2001; The NAMTA Journal 28:1, Winter 2003.
Click here to view/download PDF file. Requires free Adobe Reader software.

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The 2005 NAMTA Montessori School Salary Survey
interpretation and analysis by David Kahn, John McNamara, and Kristin Sasaki

This special issue of The NAMTA Journal (vol. 30, no. 3, Summer, 2005) presents the results of a survey sent in the spring of 2005 to all North American schools in the NAMTA database. Salaries of teachers and administrators are analyzed by age level taught and by years of experience. Data on school size, tuition, benefits, etc., are included.
Click here to view/download PDF file. Requires free Adobe Reader software.

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London Times article on Montessori research

Click here to read a September 29, 2006 article in the London Times citing research that shows Montessori children "develop better social and academic skills than those at conventional schools."

Peter Gebhardt-Seele's Elementary Science Command Cards

Click here for elementary science command cards related to Dr. Gebhardt-Seele's presentation at the Fourth Adolescent Colloquium (April, 2008, Chicago), "Science and Mathematics: What Is Formed in the Elementary That Blossoms in the Third Plane" (a related article appears in the summer 2008 issue of The NAMTA Journal).

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