Follow-up Investigation Of Intelligence And Behavior Development Of Children Trained With Montessori

The method of Montessori Education was set up by an Italian named Dr. Maria Montessori,and it has been experienced and spread for many years in our country.The main task of the method is to inspire and exert the potentiality of children.It emphasizes the full development of children's intelligence,mentality and physical quality.It helps the children form the good qualities,such as initiative study,independence,esteeming others, self-discipline,helping each other,self-confidence,and being responsible for others.It also advocates exploiting and advancing the creativity of the children. Among the studies of Montessori Education method,there is a lack of a follow-up investigation of children who have graduated from Montessori Education method.Aim;To explore the long-time effects of Montessori education on the mentality and behavior in the children who have gone to primary schools. Following-up investigations will be utilized to find out whether Montessori education have the functions of exerting the development of children's intelligence,mentality and physical quality,helping the children form good qualities,such as initiative study,independence,esteeming others, self-discipline,helping each other,self-confidence,and being responsible for others,advocating exploiting and advancing the creativity of the children.Methods;Wechsler Intelligence's Scale for Children and Achenbach children behavior measuring scale(CBCL)which are specific for Chinese children,besides the self-designed questionnaire concerning general conditions were used in this research.196 children with ages varied from 6 to 11 years old that graduated from Jilin University Kindergarten were followed up and analyzed with matched method.The 196 children have respectively received Montessori Education and common education in kindergarten and are studying in primary schools.Investigation contents consist of pupile's intelligence quotient,social ability,action ability and commonly status of children and their parents.The children's age,sex and general condition of parents and family are almost equal in the two groups.Results;In the 6-11 years old pupils,general intelligence quotient in group of children with Montessori Education(121.53±10.48)are statistically higher than that in group of children with common education(115.29±8.37) (t=4.664,P＜0.0001).Verbal IQ in group of children with Montessori Education(125.23±11.04)are higher than that in group of children with common education(116.74±9.90)(t=5.750,P＜0.0001).Performance IQ in group of children with Montessori Education(116.98±12.18)are higher than that in group of children with common education(108.66±10.48)(t=4.812, P＜0.0001).Social ability scores including action ability,social intercourse ability and learning ability in group of children with Montessori Education are higher than that in group of children with common education(p＜0.05).8 of the 98 children in the group with Montessori Educational class have behavior problems,including 4 boys and 4 girls,and general morbidity is 8.16%,while 20 of 98 children with common education have behavior problems,including 12 boys and 8 girls,and general morbidity is 20.41%。Chi-square analysis discovered that compared to children with common education,less children with Montessori Educational have behavior problems,and the difference is statistically significant(p＜0.05).There are more children with high melancholy index in common education class than those in Montessori Educational class,and the difference have statistics meaning(p＜0.05).The achievement in Chinese,maths,English,art,music and gym have been compared in the two groups.Results indicate that average Chinese score in the Montessori Educational class is higher than that in common education class (p＜0.05),although other subjects have no difference.There are more children participating in leader task in Montessori education class than those in common education class(p＜0.05).The numbers of children who have been awarded "student of Triple Excellence" and gained awards in special techniques such as drawing,calligraphy and musical instrument et al.have no statistical difference in the two groups(p＞0.05).Conclusion;The results of this research indicate that Montessori education is propitious to promote the development of children's intelligence and social ability,besides lower behavior problems incidence.