El individual Montessori en la rutina alimenticia en niños y niñas de 4 a 5 años

Abstract

The objective of this research was to determine the influence of the individual Montessori method on the development of autonomy during eating routines in children aged 4 to 5 years at the “Rinconcito de Ternuras” Basic Education School. An alternative hypothesis (H₁) was proposed, suggesting that the application of this methodology would significantly strengthen autonomy. The methodological approach was quantitative, with a pre-experimental design involving a single group with pretest and posttest measurements. The sample consisted of 20 children who were evaluated using an observation sheet before and after implementing a series of activities based on the individual Montessori method. The purpose of the intervention was to promote the development of autonomy-related skills during meals, such as proper use of utensils, cleaning up after eating, and self-regulation during food intake. For data analysis, the Shapiro-Wilk normality test was used, yielding a significance value of 0.021, indicating that the data did not follow a normal distribution. Therefore, the non-parametric Wilcoxon signed-rank test for related samples was applied. This test produced a Z value of -4.005 with a significance level of 0.001, which led to the rejection of the null hypothesis and acceptance of the alternative. In conclusion, the results showed that the application of the individual Montessori method had a positive and significant effect on the development of children's autonomy in eating routines.