How Is the Child’s Exploration and Orientation in His Physical Environment Complimented by the Montessori Materials and Presentation

The Montessori system of education was developed during the first half of the 1900’s by Dr. Maria Montessori as a result of her extensive research observations and experimental testing (Lillard, 2005, pp. 16-18). Dr. Montessori was of the belief that children contain an innate desire to learn and her research showed that, when given the

Montessori’s teaching approach aims to develop all aspects of the child mentally and socially (Pound, 2012). Montessori cautioned teachers to remember that children need to be allowed to do basic tasks to learn for themselves (Mooney, 2000, p.28). The role of the teacher in a Montessori setting is mainly observation of the child, encouragement, preparation of the environment, leadership, fostering the child’s independence (Mooney, 2000, p.29), and keeping a complex and delicate balance between each role. (Miller, 2010, p.79). Both theorists acknowledged that children learn best by doing and through repetition of tasks (Mooney, 2000, p.29). Large blocks of time for free work and play, should be scheduled as this was part of the Montessori legacy, this can also be seen in Steiner settings. (Pound, 2012). The teacher should also give children responsibility for keeping the setting space clean and tidy and allow the children to structure their own play. (Mooney, 2000, p.29). Steiner’s role of the teacher is comparable. Steiner wanted to create an education which gave children ‘clarity of thought, sensitivity of feeling and strength of will’ (Pound 2012, p28). Like Montessori the role of the teacher is all about observation, the teacher needs to be both interested and observational of the child’s basic needs to fully develop the child both

Students spend most of their time working on the floor where they have their own individual carpets. They put them down to outline their personal workspace. Instead of there being various toys and games spread through out the classroom, there are specific sensory materials and manipulatives that are self correcting and purposeful to student’s learning. On the walls students’ work fill spaces throughout the classroom, similar to the walls of a Head Start classroom. Montessori classrooms are made up of mixed grades and ages, something that is not typical of traditional classrooms.

Maria Montessori founded an education system which is called Montessori and still bares her name, her system is based on belief in the child’s creative potential, (Douglas, n.d.). Her first Casa Dei Bambini (Children’s house), where Maria was using her approach of teaching was opened in 1907 in Rome. She was great educator who believed that children are learning through their personal experience at their right time and their own pace. (Ridgway, 2007). Children rather than learning largely from what the teachers and the textbooks say, learn from “doing”,(Douglas, n.d.). To provide for children an effective, independent learning process, and that they become a competent and confident learner, Teacher had to provide for children a healthy, clean, well-prepared and well organised environment in which children could develop. Maria Montessori came up with idea that if children have to work and play independently, they have to be comfortable and need appropriately sized tools and items that fit their small hands (Mooney, 2000). Montessori believed that children learn through sensory experiences. Teacher has a responsibility to provide wonderful sights, textures, sounds, and smells for children. Sensory

Education is very important especially in this day and age. What school one attends and how they perceive school to be is a huge factor in one’s life success. There has been research done in the past few years proving that students who receive a Montessori education will prosper academically more so than those who receive a traditional education (Ryniker and Shoho, 2001). Traditional schools typically follow teacher based philosophies and the Montessori education is student centered. On average, children enjoy student based philosophy classrooms. Therefore, they are much more in tuned to what they are learning and that benefits their educational career. Having fun while learning is the key to keeping children engaged.

There are twelve principles in her approaches of teaching. Firstly, natural spirituality. Montessori saw that children were inherently

In reality, the children move about the classroom independently, choosing the order of their learning activities. There may be 15 or more activities, or ?jobs? as they are called in some Montessori classrooms, occurring at the same time with small groups or individual work, yet the classroom remains quiet, yet busy and productive, sometimes with the soft hush of classical music playing in the background. Many Montessori school classrooms place a card around the child?s neck with the day?s objectives written in the form of a checklist for the students to monitor themselves. This checklist encourages the students to take responsibility for their own learning, as well as discourages prompt-dependence, since the student need not wait for instruction. Some of the activities in a Montessori classroom include reading, pre-reading using phonics, math, discovery science and writing. Children learn skills in a way that he or she is not aware that learning is taking place. For example, a child playing in the sand box with a small rake is not aware that he or she is learning fine motor skills and how to hold and control a pencil. Another observation in a Montessori classroom is that most classrooms tend to span three grade levels. This practice allows to children to become mentors to younger students. Also, the large gap in developmental levels allows children to ?learn at their own pace? (Keller, 2001), which is another important Montessori

When the child engages with the Montessori materials in total concentration for long periods of time, a transformation occurs. This transformation is what Dr. Maria Montessori calls “normalization”. It is a process that occurs over a period of time, usually three or four years and it requires the child’s total engagement with the Montessori materials. The process of normalization is a journey. It begins when a child is introduced to activities like the practical life materials. The materials help the child to develop his motor skills , acquire a sense of order , and begin the process of extending their ability, and desire for concentrated work.

“We discovered that education is not something which the teacher does, but that it is a natural process which develops spontaneously in the human being. It is not acquired by listening to words, but in virtue of experiences in which the child acts on his environment. The teacher 's task is not to talk, but to prepare and arrange a series of motives for cultural activity in a special environment made for the child.”

Watching a small child discover how to operate his or her favorite plaything is awe inspiring. The look of wonder at the item as it's carefully chosen from amongst their belongings and studied ever so carefully for each and every nuance. How that little face lights up with each new discovery no matter how large or small. The sounds of delight an even dismay at an unwanted result are beautiful. Consider an educational system that would continue to utilize a child’s natural curiosity, unyielding ingenuity and thirst for knowledge. Montessori education creates that environment for children by allowing them the freedom to not only gain knowledge in a natural progression, but also provide a basis on which to continue to grow no matter where

Dr. Maria Montessori is the creator for the Montessori Education Method for a new world who devoted her life to improve children’s education excellence. Her educational method is widely used in schools or at home for children 3 t0 6 years old. Maria Montessori lived through one of the traumatic time eras of the world history, which changed everybody’s lives including children. It was the time of anxiety, cruelty, death, family separation and children facing starvation. Maria Montessori felt the best solution to overcome endless, war, violence and poverty is education. Therefore, Maria Montessori believed educating the next generation will improve children’s live and future of the

Dr Montessori emphasizes the importance of the development of imagination. How do cultural activities in a Montessori prepared environment aid in the development….

Montessori realized the connection between science, psychology, and the education world and began to speak out at conferences about the subject. She also studied the needs of special education children and began to establish strategies of teaching the so called ‘degenerate’ children in society (Povell, 2007). Furthermore, she was a major impact on the woman’s movement in Italy, and believed in the fact of the “new woman”, so she pushed women to take leading roles in instructional reform. In addition to being an example of the “new woman”, she used that distinction to encourage the woman to struggle for their rights and win the distinction as an equal gender. (Hainstock, 1997) Despite her success, Musilini banished her from Italy because she didn’t teach the traditional Italian way, so she went to Spain and then the Netherlands where she died in 1952, after she was nominated three times for the Nobel Prize. However, her name and philosophy are still alive in many schools around the world. (Povell, 2007) With respect to education, Maria Montessori was influenced by the works of the physicians

It is here Dr. Montessori discovered a world within each child and her ten discoveries at Casa Dei Bambini are as follows:

Dr. Maria Montessori was a keen observer of children. She used her observational and experimental proclivities from her medical background to develop, what we might today call, a Constructivist understanding of the process of learning. She studied them scientifically. If she saw some unusual behavior in a child, she would say,”I won’t believe it now, I shall if it happens again”. She studied the conditions in which the children would perform those actions.