The Purpose of Montessori
Education
Dr. Maria
Montessori believed
that no human being is educated by another person. He/she must
do it
himself or it will never be done. A truly educated individual
continues
learning long after the hours and years he/she spends in the
classroom
because he/she is motivated from within by a natural curiosity
and love
for knowledge. Dr. Montessori felt, therefore, that the goal
of early
education should not be to fill the child with facts from a
pre-selected
course of studies, but rather to cultivate his/her own natural
desire
to learn.In the Montessori classroom this objective
is approached
in two ways: first, by allowing each child to experience the
excitement
of learning by his/her own choice rather than by being forced;
and second,
by helping him/her to perfect all his/her natural tools for
learning,
so that his/her ability will be at a maximum in future
learning situations.
The Montessori materials have this dual long-range purpose in
addition
to their immediate purpose of giving specific information to
the child.
The
Importance Of The Early
Years
In the
Absorbent Mind, Dr.
Montessori wrote, one of the most important periods of life is
not the
age of university studies, but the period from birth to the
age of six.
For that is the time when man's intelligence itself, his/her
greatest
implement is being formed. Not only of his/her intelligence,
but the
full totality of his/her psychic powers... At no other age has
the child
greater need of an intelligent help, and any obstacle that
impedes his/her
creative work will lessen the chance he/she has of achieving
perfection."Recent
psychological studies based on controlled research have
confirmed these
theories of Dr. Montessori. After analyzing thousands of such
studies,
Dr. Benjamin S. Bloom of the University to Chicago wrote in
Stability
and Change in Human Characteristics, from conception to age 4,
the individual
develops 50% of his/her mature intelligence, from ages 4 to 8
he/she
develops another 30%... This would suggest the very rapid
growth of
intelligence in the early years and the possible great
influence of
the early environment on this development."
Like Dr.
Montessori, Dr. Bloom believes that
the environment will have maximum impact on a specific trait
during
that trait's period of most rapid growth." As an extreme
example,
a starvation diet would not affect the height of an eighteen
year-old,
but could severely retard the growth of a one year-old baby.
Since eighty
percent of the child's mental development takes place before
he/she
is eight years old, the importance of favorable conditions
during these
years can hardly be over emphasized.
Sensitive
Periods
Another
observation of Dr. Montessori's philosophy
that has been reemphasized by contemporary research is the
importance
of the sensitive periods for early learning. These are periods
of intense
fascination for learning on a particular characteristic or
skill, such
as going up and down steps, putting things in order, counting
or reading.
It easier to learn these skills during the corresponding
sensitive period
than at any other time in his/her life. The Montessori
classroom takes
advantage of these sensitive periods by allowing the children
freedom
to select individual activities which correspond to his/her
own periods
of interest.
"A
Parents"
Guide
to
the Montessori Classroom
by
Aline D. Wolf
PARENT
CHILD PRESS
P.O.
Box 675Hollidaysburg,
Pennsylvania 16648
|