Montessori Method
MONTESSORI METHOD
Dr. Maria Montessori
“Scientific observation has established that education is not what the teacher gives; education is a natural process spontaneously carried out by the human individual, and is acquired not by listening to words but by experiences upon the environment.
The task of the teacher becomes that of preparing a series of motives of cultural activity, spread over a specially prepared environment, and then refraining from obtrusive interference.
Human teachers can only help the great work that is being done, as servants help the master. Doing so, they will be witnesses to the unfolding of the human soul and to the rising of a New Man who will not be a victim of events, but will have the clarity of vision to direct and shape the future of human society.”
The Montessori Method
Dr. Maria Montessori developed the Montessori method through her extensive work with children and her keen insight and observation skills.
She based her educational methods on scientific observation of children’s learning processes. Guided by her discovery that children teach themselves, she designed a “prepared environment” in which children could freely choose from a number of developmentally appropriate activities.
Now, nearly a century after Maria Montessori’s first casa dei bambini (“children’s house”) in Rome, Montessori education is found all over the world, spanning ages from birth to adolescence.
The Objectives of Montessori Method
- To normalize a child by providing an environment that trains all senses and improves his perceptions.
- To help him make a higher form of personality that remained concealed under the mask of deviation.
- To help and prepare the child to live a confident and independent life even as a child.
- To develop the sensitive periods of the “spiritual embryo
- To help a child to be respected as different from adults and as an individual who differs from each other.
- To provide the opportunity to do the purposeful movement and have freedom of choice.
The child has a deep love and needs for purposeful work. He works, however, not as an adult for the completion of a job, but for the sake of an activity itself.
It is this activity which enables him to accomplish his most important goal- the development of himself: his mental, physical, and psychological powers.
Method of Attaining the Objectives
The Montessori environment is set up with specialized equipment to provide training in:-
- Practical Life Exercises.
- Sensorial Training.
- Language.
- Mathematical Exercises.
- Cultural Subjects.
