What is the Montessori method of education and its basic components
Maria Montessori:
1- Introduction:
Maria Montessori was born on August 31, 1870 in a
middle-class family in Chiaravalle, Italy. Her parents were highly qualified
Montessori was
graduated from the Medical School of the University of Rome in 1896 with
distinction. Thus she was the first woman doctor to graduate from Italy's
University of Rome, she was the first to work for underprivileged children and
participated in educational affairs as a doctor.
After the study of Itard and Sequin and observation
of young children
Montessori created special materials and science style
educational environment for children's education.
These initiatives of Montessori proved to be quite
successful and they gained popularity worldwide, she devoted all her energies
of rest of her life for further research in the field of education.
The first Children's Home or Casa Dei Babini was established in 1907, after which Montessori schools were built in about 50 countries, Montessori has been playing the most important role in raising the quality of children's education.
Her recommended methods and materials are being adopted
in public and private schools around the world.
2-Maria Montessori's Method and Philosophy:
Engaging children as valued individuals is the foundation of the Montessori method of education. According to Montessori, children need independence for self-esteem. She observed a special phenomenon in children which is called the Absorbent Mind. According to Montessori, children absorb information from their surroundings without intentional and conscious effort, they do not need to be forced to learn , writing, reading and arithmetic if children are given the right environment and freedom to work they can learn to do as well as they learn to walk and talk.
3- What is Montessori?
Montessori is a unique way of gathering children and adults in this method the planning of experiment for making the students confident and creative. Montessori's philosophy of education has affected all aspects of children's experiences. Under this, all the activities are arranged with great care to make them simple and easy for the children to help them become special individuals. In this, the role of the teacher is like a guide or an administrator who only guides the children and tells them the way, it is not his job to give orders about each action, it establishes a relationship of mutual respect and compassion. And children learn to live up to their potential. In this way, different types of contents are presented to children and the children are also given the opportunity to observe other older children, and new activities are given to increase their motivation. Children are encouraged to participate fully in these activities. Thus, children learn very quickly how to identify a problem and how to find a solution.
It increases children's confidence in their own abilities, in this way the child solves problems like a scientist, plays with different diagrams like a mathematician, cultivates creativity like an artist. Montessori has provided a stage for children where they can perform the above mentioned exercises without affecting each other.
4-The First Six Years:
According to Montessori, the most important period of life is not in university education, but from birth to the age up to six years is most important. It is now a recognized fact that stability during pregnancy and birth accounts for 50% of an individual's mature intelligence growth, with the next 30% occurring between the ages of 4 and 8, making it the earliest years of life. In this the importance of the developmental and early environment of intelligence becomes fully apparent. While it is also true that different children learn at different rates, Montessori observed that children have special periods of attraction to different subjects during which children can learn to climb stairs and talk better. There are many skills that are easier to learn at these sensitive ages, which children in a Montessori classroom can learn.
They are provided the opportunity of taking up the
activities in which they feel special attraction. Everyone is aware of the
importance of the first 6 years of life. During this period, the child adapts
to his specific environment and culture. .
A child who spends the first 6 years of his life in a
loving and encouraging environment learns to love himself and feel secure in
the world. Every child instinctively wants to learn, and wants to perfect their
skills. In the first 6 years of life, he learns all this through imitation of
the people around him, to meet this need, we must carefully create the physical
and social environment of the child, in which the child has such things. In
this a child should be given such things which help him in the formation of his
self. If special attention is paid to the needs of growing children, sometimes
children learn to read and count prematurely. However, teaching quickly was not
the goal of Maria Montessori, she wanted the learning process to be done in a
natural way so that it would be enjoyable for every child.
She said that we cannot create extraordinary geniuses but
we can definitely give every child the opportunity to become a free, safe and
balanced person by bringing the skills to perfection.
5-What is the Montessori Philosophy?
According to Dr. Maria Montessori, a child's job is to create the person he will have to become in the future. Children are born with some special ability, this ability helps them in personality formation. It helps them in personality development. However, children cannot do this without taking purposeful steps and exploring their environment, they must have ample opportunity to develop their inner potential physically, mentally and spiritually. The Montessori classroom provides a special opportunity of living in a special environment and it instills a sense of discipline and self-control in children.
The basis of Montessori's philosophy is also the
discovery of sensitive periods of children's development, in these periods,
children are searching for certain desires with great intensity, so in these
periods, children can learn certain skills very easily.
Dr. Maria Montessori has created special educational
materials for children for each of these stages, it is the responsibility of
teachers to identify these periods in each child and provide them with
educational materials accordingly.
6-Developmental stages:
Montessori education focuses on keeping in tune with children's natural stages of development. It emphasizes the development of human natural abilities. In this, it goes after the child, that is, keeping in mind his characteristics and developmental needs, an environment is created in which he can achieve the best growth. According to Maria Montessori, the child goes through different stages of development and reaches puberty, these levels are called Planes of Development. She described four levels of development, Montessori classrooms are divided into three age groupings, these groups are three to six years, six to nine years, 9 to 12 years and 12 to 15 years of age. From birth to six years of age is the initial stage of child’s development, in which the child has a charming mind, he is absorbing his environment, the language and culture spoken around him. Between the ages of six and twelve, which is the second stage of development, the child uses the reasoning mind and explores the world through imagination and thought. The third level i.e. the age of 12 to 18 years is the humanistic mind of the nonage who are eager to understand humanity and contribute to the society. At the fourth stage from 18 to 24 an adult explores the world with a specialist mind. Maria Montessori believed that if children are educated according to their natural development, society would gradually grow towards a higher level of cooperation, peace and harmony.
7-Factors Affecting development:
Dr. Montessori has described two factors that are essential for the development of a child.
The first factor is the environment in which the mental
health of the child is taken care of as well as the spiritual life. While the
second factor is the child's ability to move freely in his environment, through
these two factors the child can interact with objects and enjoy fully and
learns in a better way.
8-Prepared Environment:
Humans are constantly changing their environment for their work and convenience, in other words the environment has to be changed to fulfill the special material and spiritual needs of man. But the question is,
is the changed environment suitable for everyone?
Dr Maria says that the environment of adults is not
suitable for children. Therefore, they do not want children to live in the
environment of adults, but they recommend creating a special environment for
them. According to her difficulties must be overcome for the better development
and growth of children this includes correcting both indoor and outdoor
environments. To understand the prepared environment described by Montessori,
it is necessary to examine the schoolhouse or children's house where Montessori
taught. Common office furniture, cabinets and other equipment are too big for
children, children cannot lift anything from the shelves.
Therefore, Montessori designed small-sized furniture for
children, which children could easily use. Small furniture is often seen in
preschools these days. According to Montessori the decoration should be simple
but attractive. In Dr. Montessori's schoolhouse, every place was orderly, and every object had its place,
while every object of use was outlined so that the children could use it
and can be kept in the same place after
using it. Small chairs and tables were arranged in the school house, the floor
was carpeted and everything was designed entirely for children. The environment
outside the school was also designed with children in mind, with a children's
playground and a garden planted with various species of trees and flowering
plants for children to walk around.
There was a way, as a doctor, Montessori paid special
attention to the physical and natural development of children.
9-Freedom in Education:
According to Montessori, freedom does not mean allowing the child to grow up on his own. Rather, according to her, educational freedom means reducing the difficulties in the way of children that can hinder the normal development of the child. In a Montessori environment, older children do not dictate what to do and what not to do. Educational freedom also means that the child is allowed to work in a place of his choice in a prepared environment. In Montessori's schoolhouse, children were free to do their work whether sitting on a chair or at a table or on a carpeted floor. In a Montessori environment, the activity schedule of older children is not changed, but children are given complete freedom to work and complete their work as long as they want. In a Montessori environment, children also have the freedom to pursue activities of their choice.
10-Movement in Education:
According to Dr. Montessori, movement is of particular importance in education, both inside and outside the schoolhouse.
Dr. Montessori walked with dignity
while teaching inside the school house without bumping
into something. Montessori believed that children should also play outside the
school house. They believe that active and rich activities strengthen
children's muscles and bones.
According to Montessori, exercise is important not only
for children but for everyone, she says everyone should exercise to keep their
muscles healthy.
Maria Montessori did not use ordinary toys for
educational purposes, but developed special toy-type devices for children's
education. For example she made stitched button on cloth and made holes for
button infront of children sothat they can learn and practice using buttons and
button holes.
11-Sensory Education and Music:
Dr. Montessori. says that all the senses should be used in education, so she suggested different types of activities for all sense, to improve the sense of touch of children, she used different types of materials, for example, linen, cotton, silk, etc. To improve the sense of sight, Montessori used not only different colors but also their shades. Regarding music, Dr. Montessori wanted children to hear it in a different voice, for that they used melodious bells of different tones and introduced the children to the identification of soft and loud bells.
12-Intellectual Education:
Dr. Montessori begins teaching children to write by touching wooden letters with their index finger. Then she teaches the use of two fingers and after that she teaches letter recognition with a wooden stick or pencil. In this way children start to recognize letters while preparing to write. In geography, children are shown the shapes of the continents using wood. For mathematics education she used the smallest rods of 10 cm while the others were added 10, 10 cm. , identify the balls etc. but also learn the difference between them. For this, the children were also made to do the activity of putting similar shapes together. Montessori also suggested some traditional gymnastics exercises, which children develop the ability to perform coordinated movements. Special attention is paid to the development of children's muscles through grasping and working with hands.
13-Exercises for Sense Training:
Montessori gave more importance to the sense training of children than deducting and thinking. According to her through Didactic Apparatus, students' senses and learning are improved. With the help of different types of materials like blocks, cylinders, paper, cupboards, coins, tables, chairs, pencils, different colored clothes, boxes, rods, water of different temperature etc. can highlight the concepts of the above things in children. To improve the sense of touch, cold and hot water was used. for each of which they designed special equipment and exercises to improve the children's senses.
14-Didactic Exercises for Teaching 3R's:
After the senses training, the children were taught to read and write and calculate, in the Montessori system, writing is started before reading, for this, Montessori psychological principles depend on the transfer of training. In the 1960s, Dr. Nancy McCormick Rambusch led the renaissance of Montessori schools.
The Montessori system has been adopted worldwide,
Montessori died on May 6, 1952 in the Netherlands.
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