learning home - Metode Montessori

METODE MONTESSORI

Maria Montessori was, in many ways, ahead of her time. Born in Italy in 1870, she became the first female physician in Italy when she graduated from medical school in 1896.
Through her medical practice, she became interested in how children learn and ultimately left medicine to become an educator.
Dr. Montessori?s pioneering work created a blueprint for educating children, from the learning disabled to the gifted, and for helping children to become self-motivated, independent and life-long learners.
Many of the concepts that she invented are now commonplace in early childhood education.

Ideas that she pioneered include:
That the most important period of life is from birth to the age of six... [as] this is the time when intelligence is being formed.
That early stimulation is very important for success in later learning.
That children learn from an active, hands-on approach that draws on all five senses.
That learning materials should be interesting, reality oriented, and designed to facilitate self-correcting and the refinement of sensory perceptions.
That real learning involves the ability to do things for oneself, not the passive reception of knowledge
That imposing immobility and silence hampers a child 's ability to learn.
That children take a natural pleasure in learning and that the sense of accomplishment that comes from learning is the basis of self-confidence necessary for independence

THE ENVIRONMENT

The Montessori learning environment is much different than the traditional model. Instead of information passing from the teacher to the student, the teacher is skilled in putting the child in touch with the environment, and helping him learn to make intelligent choices and to carry out research in a prepared environment. The teacher then protects the student's concentration from interruption. This fosters a love of lifetime learning in the student.

Keep in mind a triangle: the student, the parent or teacher, and the environment. It is the role of the adult to prepare, and continue to prepare, the environment, to link the child to it through well-thought-out introductions to books and materials, projects, and lessons, which nurture the child's exploration and creativity. Children thus taught often surpass both the level of education of their peers, and the knowledge of the adult in all areas -- then they learn to find answers for themselves.

The Montessori school environment is arranged according to subject area -- cooking, cleaning, gardening, art, caring for animals, library corner, etc. -- children always free to move around the room instead of staying at desks. There is no limit to how long a child can work on something she has chosen. At any one time in a day all subjects -- practical work, math, language, science, history, geography, art, music, etc. -- will be being studied, at all levels, by children of mixed ages learning from each other, facilitated by careful observation, individual lessons, record keeping, and help of the teacher.