Montessori education: what is it, and why should you care?

Ask any child psychologist worth their salt, and they'll tell you one shocking thing: that your child's mind is like a sponge during their formative (early) years. Sounds like a grotesque thing, right? But here's the point: during these early years, your little one is more tractable and open to new ideas and concepts than ever before.

 

 

A child learns faster between 0-5 years than a typical college student learns in their entire academic career. An adult brain may want to criticize, evaluate, and judge new information before absorbing it into memory. And that's probably because of the unpredictable nature of events. On the other hand, a child's brain is more like a muddy puddle. It eagerly absorbs new information without any second thought or preconceived notions.

 

You'll notice your toddler eagerly crawling and exploring everything and saying statements like, "ooh, what's this? Oh, that's bitter! oh, can I touch it? Does it look great? oh, what does it do?" The child is learning rapidly and getting introduced to concepts and ideas that will serve them well throughout their lives.

 

 

But what have these got to do with Montessori education? Well, Montessori is an educational approach firmly established on the scientific fact that young children learn best by playing and exploring through their senses. Suffice it to say brilliant kids learn best when they explore their environment through their senses and discover new things for themselves without adult interruption.

 

 

Walk into a Montessori classroom, and you'll notice the classrooms are filled with vibrant colors, interesting pieces of art, and insatiably curious kids who are encouraged to touch, feel, and experience everything around them. You'll also notice the teacher seated peacefully and observing every action in the classroom, ready to guide in case of need. Here the role of a teacher is more like a guide or facilitator rather than a tutor or lecturer. You won't see the teacher dictating notes or telling children to change subjects. The teacher will only intervene when a child calls for assistance or needs more resources. Again the teacher's role in the Montessori classroom is not to dictate. Still, their role is to create a stimulating environment, step back and let the kids follow their learning instinct, and intervene if the child needs assistance.

 

The chief principle emphasized by Montessori is self-directed learning and discovery. Kids are expected to work independently and at their own pace and be self-disciplined with one another. They exhibit this by returning objects once they finish learning. No punishment or rewards are given- just gentle guidance and support when needed.

 

You might think, "isn't this just some sort of childcare?" Well, yes and no. Montessori education is set apart in its focus on developing the whole child- physically, emotionally, cognitively, and socially. In fact, the Montessori approach is thoroughly backed by scientific research and has been around for over 100 years. It's not a modern fad school popping up worldwide. Great people like Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Sergey Brin, and Larry Page all have something in common- they all attended Montessori schools as young children.

 

 

It's an approach based on Jean Piaget's theory, a famous swiss physicist. Piaget's theory states that children actively construct their education and knowledge as they interact with their environment. This learning is accomplished through a series of hands-on learning experiences, including playing with items such as puzzles, cardboard, and so on.

 

Piaget further breaks the four states of cognitive development into sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational. The first sensorimotor stage occurs from birth to around two years old. During this stage, the child is like a little scientist. They learn about their environment through their five senses, motor skills, and downright trial and error. Next is the preoperational stage, where children develop their sense of imagination and play peekaboo. Often they play pretend games like a police officer or mom cooking in the kitchen.

 

Next is the concrete operational period, which takes place from around 7-11 years old. This stage is when kids start to think more logically and abstractly. They can understand imaginary concepts like division, multiplication, addition, etc. And ultimately, we have the formal operational stage, which occurs from around 12 years old. Kids at this stage can think about complex concepts and problems such as algebra, geometry, Pythagoras, etc.

 

 

The Montessori method takes advantage of the first stages of sensitive periods and introduces specific materials and activities at each stage to help children learn effectively. For example, in the sensorimotor stage, kids might be introduced to materials like sandpaper letters which help them learn the shapes & sounds of letters.

 

In the preoperational stage, they might start learning concepts such as object permanence, where they play with the imbucare box and balls. In the formal operational stage, they might be challenged with more complex problems to solve, such as building a cardboard house with tape measures - although the most common in preschool and kindergarten.

 

So, as you can see, the Montessori method is a brilliant way to help kids learn faster and develop into well-rounded individuals. If you were on the fence about traditional education methods or just comparing, then Montessori might be the way to go.