METHODS OF TEACHING
-MONTESSORI
Maria Montessori [1870-1952]
internationally renowned child educator and the originator of Montessori
Method, was an Italian doctor who brought the scientific methods of
observation, experimentation and research to the study of children, their
development and education. She believed that children should be free to find
out things for themselves and to develop through individual activity. Her
intense scientific observation of the human being from birth to maturity
allowed her to distill a complex of philosophical, psychological, and
pedagogical principles. These together with a vast range of auto-didactic
materials came to be known as the Montessori Method of Education.
Important works: From Childhood to Adolescence, Education and Peace, The Discovery of
the Child, Education for a New World, The Secrets of Childhood, The Absorbent
Mind.
The Montessori Method
The Montessori Method is a child-centered
alternative educational system developed by Maria Montessori. It was designed
to aid children in the development of intelligence and independence. She
believed that each child is born with a unique potential to be revealed, rather
than as a blank state waiting to be written upon. The Montessori Method is
based on the fact that children learn directly from their environment and
relatively little from listening to a teacher talking to a class. The
Montessori System provides a stimulating child oriented environment in which
children can explore, touch and learn without fear. It follows self-directed
interactive, materials-centered approach in which the teacher mainly observes
while the children select objects specifically designed to take advantage of
the sensitive period for learning between the ages of 3 to 6 when children can
absorb information easily from an enriched environment. It is applied primarily
in preschool and elementary school settings although some Montessori middle and
high schools exist.
Characteristics of Montessori Method
The Montessori Method is
characterized by an emphasis on self-directed activity on the part of the child
and clinical observation on the part of the teacher [directress or guide]. It
stresses the importance of adapting the child’s learning environment to his
developmental level, and of the role of physical activity in absorbing abstract
concepts and practical skills. The other important characteristics of
Montessori Method are the following:
1. Education in Montessori System is self-activated. Children learn at their own individual pace and according to their own choice of materials and activities.
2. It is based on profound respect for the child's personality as an individual.
3. It is based on the child's imperious need to learn by doing.
4. The learning environment is positive, non-threatening, and noncompetitive.
5. Children are taught through all the senses, with a special emphasis on the kinesthetic.
6. Children learn through activities that involve exploration, manipulation, order, repetition, abstraction and communication.
7. In Montessori Schools the role of the teacher is that of guide, observer, coach, facilitator and overall manager.
8. The Montessori Method facilitates learning by discovery rather than by mere instruction.
9. Montessori System teaches to individuals instead of to groups.
10. It utilizes autodidactic [self correcting] equipment for introduction and lerning oF various concepts.
Educational Principles of Montessori
The philosophy of Montessori Method
emphasizes the individual child’s initiative and independence, allowing him or
her to progress through an orderly series of structured learning activities at
his own pace. It is based on the following principles:
1 Principle
of instinctive learning: Montessori believed that human beings are natural
learners and that if children were immersed in environments rich with puzzles
and problems to explore, they would learn instinctively.
2 Principle
of development from within: Education, according to Montessori, is a process of
development from within the child. It is through his own natural curiosities
and his love of learning that the child becomes educated. The school should give the child a suitable environment that will help to unfold his potentialities.
3 Principle
of independence and freedom: The complete and spontaneous unfolding of the
potentialities of the child is possible only in an unrestricted environment. So the child must be given the freedom to use his inborn powers to develop
physically, intellectually and spiritually.
4 Principle
of intrinsic rewarding and non-punishing: according to Montessori, children are intrinsically motivated to work. The prize and the punishment are incentives towards unnatural or forced effort. So no material reward or punishment should
be used to force learning and development of the child.
5 Principle of individual development:
Montessori found out that each child
manifests his own peculiar powers in his
own way when he is left to develop spontaneously. So every child has a righted
to be treated as an individual. As such, learning activities are individualized
in Montessori System.
6 Principle
of auto-education: The stress on a child’s autonomy is central to Montessori’s
theory of education. She believed that children are capable of self- directed
learning. Self-education occurs when learners are left free to exert their own effort without censure in an environment which supports learning.
7 Principle
of sense training: Montessori observed that young children learn best through
the use of their senses. They need to touch, feel, move, see, hear, smell and taste. Effective utilization of senses demands refinement of senses which is accomplished by the training of senses [education of senses].The sense
training has,as its aim, the refinement of the differential perception of
stimuli by means of repeated exercises. Montessori developed materials for
sensorial training that help the refining of visual [sight], auditory
[hearing], olfactory [smell], gustatory [taste], tactile [touch] and steognostic
[tactile with movement] senses.
8 Principle
of motor training: Montessori believed that motor activities play
important role in the education of children. Effective co-ordination and proper use of
muscular parts of the body can be attained by muscular training. It involves a series of kinesthetic activities that may aid the normal development of muscles
and improves muscular memory.
MONTESSORI’S CONTRIBUTIONS TO EDUCATION
Maria Montessori is recognized as one
of the pioneers in the development of early childhood education. She is also
credited with promoting a substantial number of important educational reforms
that have worked their way over the course of the twentieth century into the
mainstream of education. The following are her important contributions to
education.
1, She developed a unique system of early childhood education
named Montessori system which has been used effectively with mentally retarded,
physically handicapped ,normal and gifted children in different countries
around the world.
2, The idea of
providing a specially prepared environment called Children’s House that
initiates and facilitates auto-education is another exciting contribution of
Montessori.
3, Montessori
discovered a series of standardized sensorial materials called ‘didactic
apparatus’ which have been widely used for the kinesthetic training and sense
training of pre-school children.
4, She
discovered that children have basic needs and natural tendencies and when these
are met the children progress rapidly.
5, Montessori
discovered that there are ‘planes of development’ during which children have
different focuses and learn in different ways, so she designed her schools to
cater these natural patterns.
6, Modern
educational technology suggests many extension of Montessori’s idea of prepared
environment .For example, her didactic materials could be expanded through
programmed instruction or optimum learning environments could be devised for
particular group of learners.
7,
Montessori’s major contribution to educational psychology was her recognition
of the significance of early stimulation on later learning, especially its
implications for culturally disadvantages child.
8, other contributions
of Montessori to educational psychology include the recognition of multiple
pathways to learning, the importance of concrete or hands-on learning, the
stages of cognitive development in children and the link between children’s
emotional development and their ability to learn at an optional rate.
9, Montessori
observed that young children learn best through the use of their senses. They
need to touch, feel, move, see, hear, smell and taste. This discovery opened
the new era of sensory learning in the field of pre-school education.
10, Montessori
educational theory brought some other radical changes in the field of education.
These includes :-(a) The construction of curriculum becomes oriented to the
actual needs of life.(b) it was
considered necessary to provide good environment in the school. (c) the aims of education become oriented to the
individual development of each child. (d) proper training of teachers was
considered necessary.
KINDERGARTEN AND MONTESSORI SYSTEM: A
COMPARISON
A comparison of Kindergarten and
Montessori System can be made by considering the similarities and difference
between the two schemes of education.
Similarities in Kindergarten and
Montessori System
1, Both the Kindergarten and
Montessori System are concerned with the education of young children.
2, Both defend the child’s right to
be active, to explore his environment and develop his own inner resources
through every form of investigation and creative effort.
3, Both systems stand in agreement on
the need for training of the senses.
4, Both methods affirm the need for
free bodily activity, for rhythmic exercises, and for the development of
muscular control.
5,Work with objects designed for
formal sensory, motor and intellectual training is a common feature in both
methods.
Differences Between Kindergarten And
Montessori Method
KINDERGARTEN
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MONTESSORI METHOD
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1.It is developed by Froebal.
2.It is based on philosophical principles
3.More scope for social development of
children
4.Importance has given to development of
imagination.
5.Classroom teaching is the most important part of
instruction.
6.Sense training is achieved through gifts.
7.In principle, Kindergarten system is more formal
and Montessori system.
8.There is direct teaching.
9.Training is largely in group work and games.
10.It does not prepare children for the mastery of
the school arts.
11.It involves indirect and informal training of
senses.
12.The groupings of Kindergarten children are more
often formal and prescribed
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1.It is developed by Montessori.
2.It is based on scientific principles.
3.Comparatively less scope for social development of
children.
4.Importance has given to development of realities
of life.
5.Individual learning is the most
important part of instruction
6.Sense training is achieved through didactic
apparatus.
7.It is less formal than Kindergarten system.
8.No direct teaching.
9.Training is largely in individual work.
10.It
prepares children for the mastery of school arts.
11.It involves direct and formal training of senses.
12.The groupings of the Montessori
children are largely free and unregulated
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