The Montessori Philosophy
Maria Montessori was a leading educational theorist who lived from 1870 to 1952. She spent a lifetime observing young children to understand how they learn. She developed a philosophy for modern educational practice that is used in Montessori schools all over the world.
Basically, she developed two fundamental philosophies:
1. Children learn through movement, using their hands.
"...We can see that all changes in man's environment are brought about by his hands. For if men had only used speech to communicate their thought, if their wisdom had been expressed in words alone, no traces would remain of past generations. It is thanks to the hand, the companion of the mind, that civilization has arisen. The hand has been the organ of this great gift that we inherit." p. 151, The Absorbent Mind, by Maria Montessori.
Small children learn through touching objects, moving them around, working with them. Our Montessori classroom is equipped with very special objects which the children use primarily with their hands to learn fundamental concepts such as quantity, shape and name (vocabulary). At the same time, they learn motor skills, both large and fine, dexterity, visual discrimination, problem solving, and cognitive skills.
2. Children have an innate (internal) drive to learn.
Through scientific observation, Montessori proved that inside each and every child there is an innate drive that guides the child to learn and develop. This development occurs spontaneously - each child actively looks for learning opportunities. The teacher's job is to provide the right circumstances (through close monitoring and skilful guidance of each child and an academically rich, prepared learning environment) which lead to the development of the child's highest potential.
Other Characteristics of a Montessori environment:
The prepared environment of the school is designed to move children sequentially from the concrete to the abstract. Academic areas of a Montessori classroom include Practical Life (exercises of daily living that help create a necessary foundation within each child for further exploration and learning of the more advanced academic areas of the classroom), Sensorial (pre-math), Mathematics, Language (writing and reading), Cultural Subjects, Science and Art.