CHILDREN'S ENVIRONMENTS
RESEARCH AND DESIGN GROUP

School of Architecture and Urban Planning
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Relations between Patterns in the Physical Environment and Children, Staff, Curriculum, and Developmental Outcomes in Montessori and Waldorf Schools

Gary T. Moore, Ph.D., Principal Investigator

Problem and purpose. In visiting and reading literature on both Montessori and Waldorf preschools and kindergartens, we find that the order and ambiance of the classrooms is very different from that of traditional, eclectic preschools, kindergartens, and elementary schools. Both philosophies/manifestos/theories are rich and deep. Even a casual reading of them suggests that the architecture should be very different from that of other types of preschools, kindergartens, and primary schools. At least in the Waldorf tradition, there are books written on interpretations of Waldorf philosophy for architectural design.

In interviewing teachers at the Milwaukee Public Schools MacDowell Montessori School, one teacher said that their building was not built for them. "Oh, certainly not," she opined, which seemed to suggest that intuitively she realized the building was not close to what would be idea for a Montessori school, yet she was not able to be specific about how a Montessori inspired building would be different.

The principle investigator has visited a number of purpose-designed Waldorf schools in Sweden, Wales, and the Netherlands, and they are different, very different from other types of schools. He has also visited Waldorf and Montessori schools in Milwaukee which were not specially designed for their current use; in terms of interior organization and ambiance, they are also very different from other types of schools.

Research questions. Two research questions suggest themselves:

  1. What are the most important physical environmental differences between Waldorf, Montessori, and traditional preschools, kindergartens, and primary schools? Or, put differently, what is the necessary and sufficient set of design patterns for Waldorf schools and for Montessori schools? Books have been written on the Waldorf buildings, but are inexplicit and do not focus specifically on early childhood education environments. Some reports have been written on Montessori schools, like a master's thesis by Rachel de Jesus done under the principal investigator's supervision some nine years ago, but at the least need to be rethought and updated.

  2. Even if people say what they think are the necessary and sufficient principles for either Montessori or Waldorf schools, or even if we are able to develop two such pattern languages, is their any evidence that these principles have any significant impact on children, staff, curriculum, or outcomes?
Research approach. This line of research, therefore, would be, first, to articulate a necessary and sufficient pattern language for each of Waldorf and Montessori preschools, kindergartens, and primary schools, and, second, to investigate initially through the research literature and then through field studies if these patterns have any demonstrable effect on or are correlated highly with developmentally appropriate children's and staff behaviors, curriculum, and various social, cognitive, and affective outcomes.

This project would welcome the active involvement of doctoral students and/or visiting post-masters or post-doctoral scholars.

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