Montessori Method
Dr. Maria Montessori (1870-1952) was an Italian physician who developed a unique method of education resulting from her studies of children from birth through all stages of life. She believed that the aim of education should not be to feed children bits of information, instead the child's natural curiosity and thirst for knowledge should be cultivated. Once motivated from within and having learnt larger entities, the child will continue on his search for knowledge of what he has already learned. Between 3-6 years of age children learn the rules of human behaviour most easily, they also have extraordinary powers of mind which Maria Montessori called ''the absorbent mind''.
The absorbent mind is not created by the voluntary actions of a child. It is guided by the child's inner desires which occur at different stages of a child's natural growth and development. Dr. Montessori called this period the ''sensitive periods''. A sensitive period refers to the period in a child's life when the urge or desire to acquire a particular skill is very strong. It is only for a short period of time and once that particular skill has been acquired by the child, it disappears. It was in the 'Children’s House' set up by the Montessori schools that it was discovered that the sensitive periods exist in children and are very useful in teaching.
In the Montessori Prepared Environment (M.P.E.) which is a specially prepared environment, the child is allowed the freedom to move and explore and engage himself in activities that will stimulate his inner need to work. It is a place where the child can do things for himself in order that he may reveal his potentials and assist in its further development. One of the most interesting features of the M.P.E. is related to the concept of freedom that is very much encouraged. Dr. Montessori believed that only a child who is free can reveal himself to us. Therefore as adults whose duty is to aid the child in its unfolding process must provide and observe the child in such an environment.
The Montessori Directress prepares the environment, where everything is clean, attractive and ready to serve the child. The Directress controls activities, which offer the child stimulation, but it is the child who learns. It is the child who is motivated through work itself, not only by the Directress, to persist in a given task. If Montessori children are free to learn, it's because they have an ''inner discipline'' from their exposure to both physical and mental orders. This is the core of Maria Montessori's philosophy.
