The Montessori Method
The
basic idea in the Montessori approach to education is that children
carry within themselves the adults they will become. In order to
develop their physical, intellectual and spiritual power to the
fullest, they must have freedom – a freedom to be achieved
through order and self-discipline.
The world of children is full of sights and sounds which at first
appear to be chaotic. From this chaos, children must gradually create
order, and by learning to distinguish among the impressions that assail
their senses, slowly but surely gain mastery of themselves and their
environment. In the early 1900s Dr. Maria Montessori developed the
prepared environment which possesses a certain order and encourages
children to develop at their own speed, according to their own
capacities in a non-competitive atmosphere.
Children most easily learn the ground rules of human behavior between
three and six years. Children who have had the benefit of a Montessori
environment are better prepared as they mature to devote themselves to
development of their intellectual potential. The structure of
Montessori learning involves the use of many materials with which
children may work individually. At every step of learning, the teaching
material is designed to test their understanding and to correct their
errors.
Dr. Montessori recognized that the only valid impulse to learning is
self-motivation. Children move themselves toward learning. The teacher
prepares the environment, directs the activity, functions as the leader
and offers children stimulation, but it is the children who learn, who
are motivated through the work itself to persist in their given task.
If Montessori children are free to learn, it is because they have
acquired from their exposure to physical and mental order an
“inner discipline.” This is the core of Dr.
Montessori’s educational philosophy. Patterns of concentration
and thoroughness established in early childhood produce a confident,
competent learner in later years. Montessori introduces children to the
joy of learning at an early age and provides a framework in which the
intellectual and social discipline go hand in hand.
Briefly, the Montessori approach is designed to help children build
within themselves the foundations for a lifetime of creative learning.
In rapidly changing society, this objective becomes evermore important.
For more information on the Montessori Method, click
here.
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