Date of Award
5-2020
Document Type
Action Research Project
Degree Name
Master of Arts in Education
Department
Education, Montessori
First Advisor
Bonnie Frieden
Department/School
Montessori Early Childhood
Abstract
The purpose of this action research project was to see if a program through Conscious Discipline called Connecting Rituals would decrease the number of verbal conflicts in a Montessori preschool classroom. Conscious Discipline is a non-punitive, non-adversarial behavior program that is backed by current brain science. One aspect of the Conscious Discipline model is Connecting Rituals. Connecting Rituals are short games, nursery rhymes, and finger plays that adults and children do together in large or small groups. The Connecting Rituals would increase self-regulation and social skills in a Montessori preschool classroom. The study was conducted in a Montessori preschool classroom at a small Montessori school in the Midwestern United States with 23 preschool children, 2.5-6 years old children. Data was collected over a 4 week period using tally marks to record the number of conflicts, a large group discussion, a teacher daily journal and a post-connecting ritual form. Every day the researcher did a Connecting Ritual at the large group gathering with all the children before lunch and at least one Connecting Ritual with each child during the morning work time over a two week period. The study found that the Connecting Rituals did decrease the number of verbal conflicts, but the results were not significant. Further study is needed to understand the long term effects of using Connecting Rituals in the classroom.
Recommended Citation
Budish, Dave. (2020). The Effects of Connecting Rituals on Verbal Conflicts in the Montessori Preschool Classroom. Retrieved from Sophia, the St. Catherine University repository website: https://sophia.stkate.edu/maed/363