The Montessori Theory

Monica Sethi
The Montessori Theory is an approach to learning, developed by Dr Maria Montessori in the early 1900’s. Maria Montessori was an extraordinary individual who became one of the very first women in the late 19th century to qualify as a medical doctor in Italy.
As a doctor she specialised in Psychiatry and Paediatrics. While working with children with intellectual disabilities, she gained the important insight that in order to learn, they required an appropriate pedagogy instead of medical treatment. In 1900, she got the opportunity to begin developing her pedagogy in Rome, where she set up her first “Casa die Bambini” (‘children’s house’).
The Montessori method is based on self-directed activity,hands-on learning and collaborative play.In Montessori classrooms ,children make creative choices in their learning, while the classroom and the teacher offer age-appropriate activities to guide the process. Children work in groups and individually, learning through their own experience and at their own pace. They can respond at any moment to the natural curiosities that exist in all humans and build a solid foundation for life-long learning.
Montessori classrooms
Montessori classrooms are beautifully crafted environments designed to meet the needs of children in a specific age range. Every material in a Montessori classroom supports an aspect of child development , creating a match between the child’s natural interests and the available activities. The essential elements of a Montessori classroom are :
* Freedom of movement within the classroom.
* Specialised educational material developed by Montessori made of natural, aesthetic material like wood rather than plastic.
* The materials are organised by subject areas such as Language, Mathematics, Senatorial, Practical Life Exercises, Geography and Culture.
* The materials are arranged on shelves within the reach of the child and are appropriate in size.
* Children are allowed to choose the activity from within the prescribed range of options.
* A trained Montessori teacher follows the child and is highly experienced in observing the individual child’s characteristics, tendencies, talents and abilities.
Thus, a Montessori classroom is a thoughtfully prepared environment exhibiting calmness and order, beauty and harmony and cleanliness of the surroundings. Well trained Montessori teachers allow the children to freely choose their activities conferring a sense of freedom, however still subtly guide them towards established goals in accordance with the structured curriculum.
Conventional System versus Montessori
System of Preschool
Conventional system of preschool typically lacks any material that the children can manipulate to learn. The teacher might draw a triangle on a blackboard, for example, but such drawing of triangle is designed for learning through the eyes and ears, not through the hands.
In contrast, Montessori learning typically involves objects with which children play to learn. For example , a child learning shapes can handle objects of different shapes, tracing the forms with their fingers in addition to seeing them. In this way playful learning embodies cognition.
Research has revealed that a schooling method that focuses on personal development rather than exams produces more mature, creative and socially adept children. Psychologists have found that, in Montessori Program of preschool , the outcomes in social and cognitive realms have been far more superior than those of conventional and traditional methods of Preschool. Five year old Montessori pupils are better prepared for reading and mathematics and are significantly more creative in all fields of life. Montessori children display a greater sense of ‘justice and fairness’ and interact in an ’emotionally positive’ way than their counterparts undergoing traditional preschooling.
(The author is Coordinator at Modern Montessori International Preschool, Jammu)

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