Montessori Education – Questions and Answers
1. What is Montessori?
Montessori is a philosophy with the fundamental tent that a child learns best within a social environment which supports each individual's unique development.
2. How did it Begin?
Dr. Maria Montessori, the creator of what is called the Montessori Method of Education, based this new education on her scientific observations of your children’s behaviour.
Montessori’s dynamic theories included such revolutionary premises as:
Children are to be respected as different from all adults, and as individuals who are different from one another;Children create themselves through purposeful activity;The most important years for learning are from birth to six years. Children possess unusual sensitivity and mental powers for absorbing and learning their environment, which includes people as well as materials.·
3. What Makes Montessori Education Unique?
The “Whole Child” Approach:
The primary goal of a Montessori program is to help each child reach his/her potential in all areas of life. Activities promote the development of social skills, emotional growth, physical coordination, and cognitive preparation. The holistic curriculum, under the direction of a specially prepared teacher, allows the child to experience the joy of learning and to enjoy the process. It provides the experience from which children create their own knowledge and the skills to build their confidence, to insure the development of self esteem.
“The Prepared Environment”
In order for self directed learning to take place, the whole learning environment: classroom, materials, social climate and the role of teacher must be supportive of the learner. The teacher provides necessary resources, including opportunities for children to function in a safe and positive climate. The teacher thus gains the children’s trust, which enables them to try new things and build self-confidence.
The Montessori Materials
Dr. Maria Montessori’s scientific observation of children led her to design a number of multisensory, sequential and self-correcting materials which facilitate the learning skills and lead to learning abstract ideas by the construction of knowledge.
The Teacher
Originally called the “Directress”, the Montessori Teacher is one who directs the learning process. The teacher functions as a designer of the environment, resource person, role model, demonstrator, record keeper and meticulous observer of each child’s behaviour and growth.
4. How does it Work?
Each Montessori class, from toddlers through elementary, operates on the principle of freedom from limits. Every program has its set of ground rules which differ from age to age, but is always based on core Montessori beliefs: respect for each other and for the environment. Children are free to work at their own pace with materials they have been previously shown and chosen, either alone or with others. The teacher relies on his or her observations of the children to determine which new activities and materials may be introduced to an individual child or to a small or large group. The aim is to encourage active, self-directed learning and to strike a balance of individual mastery with small group collaboration within the whole group community.
The multi age grouping in each classroom (2 ½ to 6 yrs.) provides a family-like grouping, where learning can take place naturally. Older children share what they have learned, while reinforcing their own learning. The younger child is inspired to do more advanced work by having older children working in the same environment. Since this peer group learning is intrinsic to Montessori, there are often more conversation-language experiences in the Montessori classroom than in conventional early education settings.
1. What is Montessori?
Montessori is a philosophy with the fundamental tent that a child learns best within a social environment which supports each individual's unique development.
2. How did it Begin?
Dr. Maria Montessori, the creator of what is called the Montessori Method of Education, based this new education on her scientific observations of your children’s behaviour.
Montessori’s dynamic theories included such revolutionary premises as:
Children are to be respected as different from all adults, and as individuals who are different from one another;Children create themselves through purposeful activity;The most important years for learning are from birth to six years. Children possess unusual sensitivity and mental powers for absorbing and learning their environment, which includes people as well as materials.·
3. What Makes Montessori Education Unique?
The “Whole Child” Approach:
The primary goal of a Montessori program is to help each child reach his/her potential in all areas of life. Activities promote the development of social skills, emotional growth, physical coordination, and cognitive preparation. The holistic curriculum, under the direction of a specially prepared teacher, allows the child to experience the joy of learning and to enjoy the process. It provides the experience from which children create their own knowledge and the skills to build their confidence, to insure the development of self esteem.
“The Prepared Environment”
In order for self directed learning to take place, the whole learning environment: classroom, materials, social climate and the role of teacher must be supportive of the learner. The teacher provides necessary resources, including opportunities for children to function in a safe and positive climate. The teacher thus gains the children’s trust, which enables them to try new things and build self-confidence.
The Montessori Materials
Dr. Maria Montessori’s scientific observation of children led her to design a number of multisensory, sequential and self-correcting materials which facilitate the learning skills and lead to learning abstract ideas by the construction of knowledge.
The Teacher
Originally called the “Directress”, the Montessori Teacher is one who directs the learning process. The teacher functions as a designer of the environment, resource person, role model, demonstrator, record keeper and meticulous observer of each child’s behaviour and growth.
4. How does it Work?
Each Montessori class, from toddlers through elementary, operates on the principle of freedom from limits. Every program has its set of ground rules which differ from age to age, but is always based on core Montessori beliefs: respect for each other and for the environment. Children are free to work at their own pace with materials they have been previously shown and chosen, either alone or with others. The teacher relies on his or her observations of the children to determine which new activities and materials may be introduced to an individual child or to a small or large group. The aim is to encourage active, self-directed learning and to strike a balance of individual mastery with small group collaboration within the whole group community.
The multi age grouping in each classroom (2 ½ to 6 yrs.) provides a family-like grouping, where learning can take place naturally. Older children share what they have learned, while reinforcing their own learning. The younger child is inspired to do more advanced work by having older children working in the same environment. Since this peer group learning is intrinsic to Montessori, there are often more conversation-language experiences in the Montessori classroom than in conventional early education settings.