Applied Learning Project –
Social Studies Montessori Box
Sarah Hightower
Internship Background & Process End Conclusions
Putting this project together elicited a strong
For the past four months, I've had the When conceptualizing my Applied Learning Project, I was driven by the desire to introduce the sense of nostalgia from my days in Montessori school,
pleasure of interning with the Cobb County unique Montessori-style learning into contemporary, public classrooms. This approach, distinct from especially when I went through old projects I'd done to
STEM and Social Studies departments both in traditional methods, fosters a more hands-on learning experience, liberating children's imaginations to get ideas and make sure my product would fit most
the office and at various schools across the delve into new subjects in a manner often constrained in public schools. The prevalence of self-taught Montessori standards. The product I propose aligns
county. I've met many wonderful, intelligent or self-guided lessons in the Montessori method resonates with me, so I was eager to incorporate this with Montessori standards in terms of its hands-on
aspect that enriched my learning journey. nature, the freedom it gives to students to explore and
people, both adults and students. By spending Most of my time spent in schools was with K-5th graders, so my product is more geared toward create, and its focus on individualized learning. I was
time in classrooms and talking to administrators, those age groups. It was important to me that this product be hands-on, compact, diverse, and reminded of the joy that came with a new lesson—
I was able to pick out some of the characteristics relatively inexpensive (unlike most Montessori tools, which can cost well over $100 per lesson item). learning about the materials, carefully setting them
of public elementary schools that may benefit I was unsure of how to tackle this until I remembered the neatly packed and portable boxes we used out, and the satisfaction and pride that came from
from improvement or change, both in favor of to keep individual lesson sets in. From tiny farms to silver polishing, everything had a place. Since
getting a "good job" from my teacher.
my interests mainly lie with Social Studies, and since a majority of my internship was spent with the
teachers and students. This isn't to say that the
Social Studies department, it made sense to create my lesson within this subject area. The general
school system is inherently flawed- a lot of time idea is that any basic lesson that relates to history, geography, or human behavior can be taught with
A few things could be added or tweaked- bigger
and effort goes into curating lesson plans and the materials provided in the box and that students will be able to modify and create new lesson maps, figurines, raised topography, more models, etc.-
standards, but some elements of the curriculum experiences on their own using prompt cards. but the base product would fit right into most modern
classrooms and wouldn't require extra planning or
do have room for change. Some of this change
work for teachers. Although this product does seem as
can only be seen by students or younger adults, though it would work well, I was unable to see kids
as we can more closely relate to the interact with it or get many opinions from teachers, so
inconsistencies and issues among schools. it isn't possible to draw any conclusions on whether or
Inspiration & Research not it would be received well. To address this issue, I
propose a pilot testing phase where the product will be
Something that stuck with me that I'd observed introduced to a group of students and teachers for
during my school visits was the abundance of feedback and evaluation. From here, any necessary or
technology and lack of hands-on work. Not recommended changes could be made.
Any way that hands-on learning can be brought to
hands-on as in writing, drawing, or creating
classrooms is a win, especially if it's also cost-
posters, but hands-on tools that engage and effective and transportable. The main short-term goal
interest young children. I understand the is to spread even a little bit of Montessori magic to
importance of technology in a developing world, children and teachers who wouldn't be able to
and know the benefits of starting to use it at an The box contains experience it otherwise. Long-term, it would be great
early age, but this doesn't take away from the fact everything needed to to see a hybrid of traditional and Montessori learning
that children will always prefer to do activities styles in K-12 schools across America.
teach a lesson, and for a
that resemble play in some way- they learn and References
express themselves through playtime. It's a child to recreate/practice
proven tool when teaching complex subjects to the lesson in their own Marshall, C. Montessori education: a review of the evidence base. npj
Science Learn 2, 11 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41539-017-0012-7
younger ages. A balance between technology/pen time. Contents can be Lillard, A. S., Heise, M. J., Richey, E. M., Tong, X., Hart, A., & Bray,
P. M. (2017). Montessori Preschool Elevates and Equalizes Child Outcomes:
and paper and tangible, visual lessons is
important, and it's slowly being overlooked. This
swapped out or added A Longitudinal Study. Frontiers in psychology, 8, 1783.
https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01783
is where I pulled my inspiration from: the depending on individual Randolph, J. J., Bryson, A., Menon, L., Henderson, D. K., Kureethara
Manuel, A., Michaels, S., Rosenstein, D. L. W., McPherson, W., O'Grady, R.,
overabundance of technology and the classroom needs. & Lillard, A. S. (2023). Montessori education's impact on academic and
nonacademic outcomes: A systematic review. Campbell systematic
underabundance of child-friendly, playful reviews, 19(3), e1330. https://doi.org/10.1002/cl2.1330
learning tools.
Table 1
