This is the third and final post in a three-part series on progressive preschool curricular approaches. This week, we look at Montessori education. Timothy J. Purnell, chief executive officer of the American Montessori Society and adjunct professor at Montclair State University, introduces the curricular approach in this 15-minute TED Talk.
Montessori education is a child-centred approach, which was developed by Italy’s first woman physician Maria Montessori in the early 1900s.
In Montessori classrooms, learners are offered various carefully-arranged activity stations to choose from throughout the day. Stations are equipped with different hands-on learning tools, which provide children with opportunities to discover key learning outcomes through repetition and practise.
Examples of Montessori materials include sandpaper letters as well as the iconic pink tower (10 pink wooden cubes—in three different dimensions—designed to support concepts of size, muscular coordination and preparation for abstract mathematical concepts like spatial volume, and the cube root).
Montessori teachers are unobtrusive. Children are provided with 3-hour, uninterrupted work periods as educators believe that interrupting children when engaged in purposeful activity interferes with their momentum and interest. Through interaction with the structured and orderly prepared environment, children naturally absorb information.
Montessorians believe that young children do not distinguish fantasy from reality. So, books made available to young children in Montessori classrooms present real world images (e.g., diverse homes, people or foods) in beautiful ways. Fantasy books (e.g., with talking animals, magic, super powers) are not introduced until around age 6.
In Montessori education, children work in mixed age groups (e.g., 3 to 6 years), in order to promote close peer relationships. Peace education is a major component of the Montessori classroom. Adults model peaceful and respectful behaviour, and older learners serve as role models for younger children.
Maria Montessori’s books The Absorbent Mind (1949), Dr. Montessori's Own Handbook (1914), and The Montessori Method (1909) are available from the National Library Board (NLB) Singapore.
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