Integrating Montessori education principles and practices

Montessori is an educational approach that was created by the doctor and pedagogue, Maria Montessori. The basic pillars of a Montessori education revolve around the ideas of the necessity of independence, freedom within certain limits, and an overall respect for a child's organic development, in regards to all that is both psychological and physical, but also verbal, intellectual and even social. Some scholars argue that no two Montessori schools are alike and that no two Montessori classrooms are even alike. Even so, there are certain tenets of a Montessori education that continue to subsist. For instance, classrooms where there is a mix of ages is a common trend, such as a classroom with toddlers to even six-year-olds socializing and learning together. Unlike traditional schools where students have to work on certain tasks as clearly dictated by a teacher, students in Montessori have the option of engaging in activities from a wide choice of options and concepts. There are also uninterrupted chunks of working time, such as time revolving around the three hour mark. One of the most interesting or unique aspects of the Montessori method is that it is characterized by a Constructivist philosophy, where learning concepts originate from engaging with materials and unearthing results from those actions, rather than via direct teachings.

These discoveries are more likely to happen because students are working with specific and precise educational materials that were created by Montessori and her colleagues; these materials are specifically geared towards students making discoveries and building such bridges of ideas. Unlike traditional classrooms, there's also an ability for greater movement and exploration: students are confined to desks and other such fettering forms of structure: freedom of movement prevails because a trained Montessori teacher is always engaged and supervising.

All programs are designed with strong reference and regard to the Montessori model and theory of human development which Montessori essentially spent her entire lifetime developing, refining and guiding. None of the pillars of Montessori were arbitrary; instead, Montessori viewed certain characteristics as innate to the human condition: these are aspects like activity, exploration, manipulation of environment, and others.

This paper is going to examine some of the more fundamental pillars and ideas behind Montessori education and make a strong case for why this is one of the most effective and liberating forms of education for developing children and teenagers. It more readily allows them to learn in ways which are more organic to the human condition and which are more natural for children and young adults. Montessori gives children an education that will empower them to develop their abilities to be critical thinkers and creative minds, allowing them to more likely grow into adults which will make a firm impact on the world.

Education for Human Development

One of the aspects which makes a Montessori education so unique is that Montessori was able to realize the importance of personality in learning and development, and placed a value upon the personality of the child. "Montessori saw education as a means whereby children might develop their personalities so as to eventually achieve a mature and independent adulthood. She designed her educational material to aid them in this endeavour" (Montessori, 1992, 16). This distinction should not be underestimated as it represents a truly important aspect of the Montessori process: by acknowledging the truly unique variety of personalities, Montessori sought to nurture the uniqueness of children, rather than squelch it as so many other educational methods do. Montessori thus empowered children to develop inner structures out of which their personality could evolve, on their own terms and according to their own experience (1992).

Montessori readily connected these needs and conditions with the condition of the environment: "First, it should be attractive, aesthetically and practically, from e standpoint of children of different age groups, but reflect that amount of organization and order necessary for a community to function properly. The rules used to achieve this should be valid for all" (Montessori, 1992, p.18). The fact that Montessori readily acknowledges how profoundly the environment can affect the people in it is indeed demonstrative of the fact that she understands certain innate aspects of human development and nature. In fact, this belief in many ways is reflective of the theories of a range of highly esteemed thinks and theoreticians who have made a big impact on society. For instance, Florence Nightingale was the first person in the medical community to write extensively on how one's environment can have a profound impact on an individual and can greatly impeded or encourage the healing process as a whole. Nightingale encouraged an environment that was clean, light and airy in aiding the healing of the sick. Montessori encouraged an environment that made children feel comfortable and explorative, allowing them to take risks, while balancing a certain level of freedom in relation to their individual needs.

Another aspect which makes Montessori educational philosophy so effective and thus, so distinctive is that it takes into account that humans are social creatures (1992). Too many schools and teachers seek to inhibit the social quality of children, forcing them to sit at desks and to not talk, all in the name of generating "good behavior." The problem with this is that it doesn't incorporate the inherent social qualities of human beings and how those social qualities can foster the learning and development process. "Man is, above all, a social being. That is, he is dependent on his social environment not only for his physical survival but for his psychic and spiritual development. Of all living creatures, he alone possesses language. Language is not the product and possession of an individual, but of society" (Montessori, 1992, 33).

All of these ideas and concepts revolved around the notion that "education has an indispensable role in the formation of man. Without some kind of interaction with a human being whereby a minimum of cultural data is transmitted, a newborn child cannot complete the basic development necessary to become one of its species" (Montessori, 1992, p.55). This notion alone demonstrates just how cohesive the entire Montessori approach is. In order to function more fully as a social member of society, Montessori saw education as a very crucial and valuable fundamental aspect of this process. However, Montessori saw that the role of education had to function in a manner which was more organic to the overall process of human development. Human interaction was thus viewed as a crucial part of education, but also, a crucial part of being a member of one's own human race. Just as education plays an important role in the way in which a person learns, it also plays a huge role in the way in which the personality develops and functions (Montessori, 1992). Just as all of these experiences are so crucial to the role of the human being in society, they also inform the way in which a human being will be able to help adapt to a changing world. The educational and explorative experiences an adult has as a child can absolutely shape how he engages with the world, nature and how he interprets his findings. Thus, it's so important to not stifle the child during these formative learning times, but to encourage discovery and interaction with a range of materials designed for learning.

Education and the Formation of Man

One of the truly notable aspects of the entire Montessori educational experience is that Montessori viewed education as an indelible aspect of the human experience and absolutely crucial for develop of the human character and personality. Montessori's comments about society's preoccupation with social order are indeed revelatory about why so many schools function in such a generic manner and with an emphasis on the narrowness of structure: "Also our outer social organization needs order as its foundation. Social laws regulating the conduct of citizens and the e force which controls them are of basic necessity in a social structure" (Montessori, 1955, p.33). While this sheds light on why so many schools are carbon copies of one another even though they may be ineffective, it also highlights the underlying fear of society: with a desire for order comes a fear of chaos. Children are being taught in an overlying structured environment in most public schools because of an inherent lack of imagination and a desire for children to all exhibit the same "good behavior." The danger with this is that it can too easily create a situation where the desired behavior is that children act like carbon copies of one another, a goal which is not only impossible, but also undesirable. The rigid structure of public schools creates a backdrop where personalities cannot flourish as they should and real individuality cannot develop. Furthermore, it can be fascinating to see how bad behavior develops in such cases: "We can now state with certainty that the naughtiness of young children represents a disorder regarding the natural laws psychic life in course of construction. It is not does compromise the future normality of the psychic functioning of the individual" (Montessori, 1955, p.35). Experts within the Montessori school of thought have long realized that children only learn when they can exercise their own energies in conjunction with mental processes of nature -- often times working in direct opposition to the suppositions and theories of common schools (Montessori, 1955).

Furthermore, too many traditional schools forget the importance of socializing as a learning tool -- and not just kids socializing with one another, but children socializing within their larger society. Children can make progress with such valuable acquisitions of culture but in a heightened mastery of their actions, and a sense of greater assuredness in their behavior (Montessori, 1955). Such tendencies can be development when students learn in an environment which isn't stifling and which does not revolve around fear.

From Childhood to Adolescence

One of the notable distinctions of the Montessori method is that it views the successive education of the child in terms of the successive and evolving personality that the child demonstrates. "Our methods are oriented not to any pre-established principles but rather to the inherent characteristics of the different ages. The changes from one level to the other at these different ages could be compared to the metamorphoses of insects" (Montessori, 1994, 7). This philosophy is quite so clever because a child does have distinctive personalities at different ages, and does exhibit certain traits with a greater propensity at other ages. For instance the inquisitive qualities about the world around him that a child demonstrates at the age of two, is not going to be prevalent as much at the age of 16. Education needs to be able to adapt to those changes: education should still be able to enlarge the social experiences at any age.

For instance, from ages seven to twelve children are, "interested mainly in the how and the why. All that used to attract him sensorially now interests him from a different point-of-view…The role of education is to interest the child profoundly in an external activity to which he will give all his potential" (Montessori, 1994, p.25). This demonstrates that education has a necessity of expanding the child's horizons and taking that tendency to explore and fostering it beyond which the child could ever have imagined. Expansion through exploration and challenge are fundamental aspects of the Montessori experience.

Fascinating Discoveries in Education

Montessori was able to forge such meaningful discoveries in pedagogy because she took such an open-minded, avant-garde approach. Montessori was able to observe human behavior in its most organic state, without projecting her own agenda upon it. Thus, Montessori was able to courageously draw conclusions about the nature of this behavior and able to assert human tendencies that can be drawn upon in an educational context. Another brave thinker who has conducted some relevant work in this arena is the work of Roger Fouts and his work with chimpanzees. Like the work of Montessori, Fouts was continually able to conclude his work in a meaningful way and apply it to real-life interactions. "How does one account for the extraordinary connection between humans and chimpanzees? The answer has to do, oddly enough with the reason children love Curious George. Unlike other storybook animals, Curious George, the chimpanzee, was not anthropomorphized. Chimpanzee behavior really is like human behavior -- there is no need to embellish it. Children identify with George's wonder at the world around him, his innocent need to wreak havoc, his thoughtful way of solving problems, his thoughtful way solving problems that create even bigger problems, his delight in breaking rules and undermining authority figures, and his shame at being caught and punished. In short, children see themselves in Curious George" (Fouts, 1998, p.4).

Fundamentally, what Fouts is concluding is that there is a oneness between humans and chimps and that this oneness is the reason for why children are drawn to this particular character. However, even more revelatory is that Fouts suggest that children perhaps even recognize their own tendency to be curious and to explore in the actions of the monkey, and that this has an influence on how he engages with the world. Children, in being drawn to this monkey, are telling us a great deal about how they engage with the world and what they find interesting and exciting. What most interesting about the work that Fouts engaged in was that he proclaims that in seeking to learn about chimps, he actually learned more about his own species.

There still remains a tremendous amount of overlap between the work and techniques of Fouts and the work and techniques of Montessori, even though Montessori never worked with animals. Both thinkers were really pioneers in their own field, and they were willing to engage in the requisite type of bravery that is required from those who wish to make real, life-changing discoveries. The bravery that imbued the way that these two thinkers worked also helped them to more readily engage in alternative methods of teaching and communication.

For instance, when studying and working with the chimpanzee, Washoe, Fouts learned that attempting to teach him to speak was futile as vocally, this chimpanzee just wasn't capable of what humans were capable of. A lesser researcher would have given up at that point, and perhaps no further attempt at communication would have been forged. "Sign language, on the other hand, would fit with the chimpanzee's natural mode of communication. The breakthrough transformed ape language study from a dead end into a new frontier of communication between two species" (Fouts, 1998, p.25). Sign language provided a stimulating and dynamic way to communicate with the chimpanzee and is a clear example of a method of pedagogy that is akin to the work of Montessori. Montessori makes a point of understanding aspects of children/teenagers that are unique to their development and bending educational techniques so that they're more simpatico with the way that children learn. Rather than forcing children to ascribe to rigid educational norms that aren't suitable or effective for the bulk of them, Montessori adjusts educational techniques so they're more conducive to the needs of children. This is precisely what Fouts did in this instance; using sign language as a means of communication harnessed physical tendencies that were innate to the species. This allowed Fouts to engage in some of the most meaningful work and most profound discoveries.

For instance, "The evolution of human intelligence is often linked to the very traits that Washoe displayed: the ability to inhibit one's responses -- as opposed to Pavlov's salivating dogs, for example -- and the flexibility to modify one's own plans because of changing circumstances" (Fouts, 1998, 47). This modification of behavior and engagement represents an ability to adapt to one's environment and situation; this tendency to adapt, which is now found to be present in both humans and chimps (or as Fouts likes to call us, "human chimpanzees"), and is an ability that can easily be stifled by rigid educational techniques, or a reluctance to engage in more avant-garde forms of communication. This is largely a result of the fact that the pupil, (be it a human child or a chimpanzee) is the one who drives the learning process: "If you try to impose a rigid discipline while teaching a child or chimp you are working against the boundless curiosity and need for relaxed play that make learning possible in the first place" (Fouts, 1998, 78). This finding appears to directly echo the teachings of Montessori. Montessori was one of the few educators who seemed to be aware that one of the most common threads inherent in children was this curiosity -- this insatiable discovery. Rather than suppress this curiosity so that children can be instructed by rote memorization and other uninspired methods, Montessori sought to capitalize on it in order to make the overall learning experience more meaningful for children.

Leadership and the New Science

In the book, "Leadership and the New Science" Wheatley explores how the entire human experience had evolved from chaos, and that chaos in many sense is crucial for any type of development. While this is indeed an extreme viewpoint, it does demonstrate the value of Montessori's denial of the rigidity, over-organization and narrowness of traditional educational methods. "Chaos theory has taught us that "a system can descend into chaos and unpredictability, yet within that state of chaos the system is held within boundaries that are well-ordered and predictable… Chaos is necessary for new creative ordering" (Wheatley, 2006). This is indeed a brave and truly comprehensive view of the interactions of the universe and of all life forms within this universe. Chaos and a lack of rigid organization can too easily scare many people off, as it represents the absence of control and manipulation. But within that absence of control there is the capability for enormous amounts of discovery. Within this discovery, the bounds of creativity are limitless; these thematic ideas are precisely was Montessori was engaging in and in the neighborhood of. Control continues to be a very illusory topic and one which few educators and thinkers have a good command of. "All this time we have created trouble for ourselves in organizations by confusing control with order. This is no surprise, given that for most of its written history, leadership has been defined in terms of its control functions. Lenin spoke for many leaders when he said: 'Freedom is good, but control is better.' And our quest for control has been oftentimes as destructive" (Wheatley, 2006, p.33). The destruction that can be waged by a desire for control is something that Montessori was acutely aware. The desire for control was what kept lesson plans unimaginative and children shackled to their seats and desks. The desire for control was what made learning techniques very narrow and uncelebratory of the inherent curiosity of children. Curiosity and a need for discovery was what made children voracious learners, but far too many educators failed to see that.

As Montessori readily discovered, children had their own unique ways of uncovering education and determining whether or not it is meaningful, or even of ascribing their own meaning to it. These tendencies can thrive in the Montessori classroom where children engage with their environments in a more unfettered manner. The capability for ascribing meaning to things has truly monumental consequences. "When information is identified as meaningful, it is a force for change. In the system's networks and feedback loops, such information circulates and grows and mutates in the conversations and interactions that occur. This process seems to be the way nature creates the well-ordered universe and diverse beauty that delights us:: Information is generated freely by the system and fed back on itself so that it continues to grow and change" (Wheatley, 2006, 112). This demonstrates yet again, that chaos is one of the seeds or building blocks of human life.

Montessori's Science

It would be detrimental to view the entire Montessori philosophy as one which developed merely out of education. There's a very real and very scientific method present as the backbone of this education philosophy. The model of Montessori education might seem like the anti-model, because it's such a relief and an antithesis of traditional school models, but it is a shining example of the culmination of much research, debate, and science. For instance, nearly everything is made accessible to the student as much as possible, even through the simple method of having items divided clearly and on low shelves for the student. "The materials on the shelves are designed to attract children's interest and to teach concepts via repeated use. Most of the materials are made of those colors were found to attract children" (Lillard, 22). This again demonstrates the precision inherent in the work and teachings of Montessori; the items on the shelves aren't just any old educational book or toy, they're designed to stimulate repeated use. In fact, even the environment is arranged in such a manner that it is a collaborative place, making learning incredibly conducive, and making interactions pleasant and which help to further the overall learning process.

More than anything, aside from being collaborative, the environment creates a limitless kingdom for the child to move: "Dr. Montessori saw the stationary child as problematic, because she believed movement and thought were very closely tied. Movement is therefore integral to the educational program she developed" (Lillard, 2008, p.33). Thus, the environment not only encouraged the child to move around, but it was full of tools that encouraged purposeful activities, that reinforced lessons and basic processes of mental development (Lillard, 2008). Another beneficial aspect of these materials made available to the child is that the manner in which I child uses them, forces the materials to be self-correcting: for example, a child will miss a cube in a series: the mistake will be obvious to the child and the child will have to try again. Montessori also takes a firm stand on options and the abundance of choice -- or more aptly, put, the paradox of choice. "Given the positive benefits of having choice and a sense of control, it is important to bear in mind that an abundance of options is not associated with well-being. Too many options can be demotivating, an experience some have while examining extensive restaurant menus" (Lillard, 2008). One fundamental aspect of Montessori education for students of all ages is that it revolves around such carefully-chosen tools and other items that students interact with.

There's a very little danger of a student become overwhelmed, since options are limited and they are designed to pique a certain type of interest and scope. Furthermore, the crux of Montessori education revolves around the need and purpose of children having their interests awakened and permitting children to follow and engage in a form of learning that truly personally interests them (Lillard, 2008).

Another aspect of the Montessori system of learning is that it doesn't project a basic, uniformed and uninterrupted timeline onto the life of a child. Rather there are peaks, valleys and windows where certain lessons are going to be more or less interesting to the child. "In sum, Dr. Montessori believed there are sensitive periods in which particular environmental input is especially interesting to children, and that educators should capitalize on such periods by providing a great deal of high-interest input at the right time"(Lillard, 2008, p.121). This demonstrates yet again another manifestation of the organic quality of the Montessori system. Because these window of interest in certain dynamics of the world exist naturally at certain periods, the Montessori system works hard to capitalize on those inherent interests, as they are, after all, fleeting.

Even so, in order to be absolutely effective, the Montessori system cannot exist on its own. The system needs to be able to thrive with the help of a dedicated conscientious teacher, who is able to see what's working for her individual students, and what isn't. "Still, children might avoid an area, and one task of the Montessori teacher is to ensure children engage in all areas. To do this, teachers need to keep track of what children do in order to see if they are avoiding certain activities" (Lillard, 2008, p. 139).

All that is organic is a focus of Montessori education; that's why the school shuns external prizes or punishments that are so typical of traditional schools: the school sees these as things which can actually do more harm than good. In a similar fashion this is why the Montessori system has a unique view of grades, viewing grades as symbols of perhaps rote memorization, but not necessarily a sign that actual learning has occurred. "Grades and other evaluations, then, undermine motivation perhaps in part because they tend to lead to performance goals instead of mastery ones. Grades appear to lead children to view their level of performance as reflecting their being smart or dumb, not as indicative of having studies hard or not" (Lillard, 2008, 168). Montessori schools don't see the need to have such external measures of value, as the school of thought believes that the things which are actually being measured aren't of real value. Montessori wants students to build an innate and instinctual understanding of how things work in the world around them, and such a thing is truly difficult to measure using things like the more prosaic system of grading. In fact, even the comments that teachers leave on the students work is generally quite matter of fact, marking often only the date (Lillard, 2008).

As alluded to earlier, Montessori puts a strong emphasis on the fact that human beings learn in a social environment. Environments where collaboration can thrive is an extreme priority of the Montessori system. "Perhaps the reason collaborative learning becomes more beneficial with age is that children who benefit the most in collaborative learning situations are those who engage in a particular type of dialogue, termed 'transitive dialogue'"(Lillard, 2008). In conjunction with collaboration, the creation of meaningful contexts within the classroom is an additional priority. So much of the learning that can take place effectively within the classroom, occurs as a result of the context which is inherently there.

Spontaneous Activity in Education

And yet another element which makes Montessori education specifically more effective than other philosophies is that it doesn't fight the inherent nature in the human being or in the child. As was stated earlier, Montessori believed that the inherent state of an individual is motion; this is particularly true when it comes to the state of a child. Traditional schools are fighting a losing battle when they try to forbid children from engaging in the movement which is second nature to them. Teachers feel this difficulty rather acutely: "The difficulty of keeping forty or fifty children motionless for hours in the prescribed hygienic attitude, and of finding desks exactly adapted to these growing bodies, makes this remedy impracticable, so hunchbacks continue among us. The problem remains unsolved" (Lillard, 2008). Montessori uses this inherent and unavoidable tendency toward movement as a tool: education and organic learning becomes a byproduct of this movement and this tendency to engage with the outside world, and to comprehend it more fully through exploration.

However, this is not to imply that Montessori stresses the need for movement just for movement's sake. Movement needs to be guided and needs to have a purpose. "Free movement. It is now a hygienic principle universally accepted that children require movement. Thus, when we speak of 'free children,' we generally imply that they are free to move, that is, to run and jump. No mother nowadays fails to agree with the children's doctor that her child should go into parks and meadows, and move about freely in the open air"(Montessori, 1965, p.131). What is described here is precisely what's natural to a child, inhibiting this tendency not only inhibits learning but it also threaten the organic needs of the child. The teacher in traditional schools who attempts to inhibit the needs of the child in this way, is fighting a losing battle. Even so, in Montessori the movement needs to be directed. "If the child has no "intelligent aim" in his movement, he is without internal guidance, thus movement tires him. Many men feel the dreadful emptiness of being compelled to 'move without an object'" (Montessori, 1965, 159). Thus, Montessori does not stress movement for the sake of movement, but movement that is part of achieving a specific goal or end in sight. The movement is part of the act of learning: the student has to engage in movement in order to interact with the learning tools: nothing feels forced or unnatural, however.

Education and the Significance of Life

If there's one way in which Montessori can be significantly summarized, it's that it's a form of avant-garde, pioneering type of education. This is important, as educational theories which deviate from what society considers to be the largely accepted norm are usually the most positive and intensive ones available. "Conventional education makes independent thinking extremely difficult. Conformity leads to mediocrity… Revolt is of two kinds: there is violent revolt, which is mere reaction, without understanding, against the existing order; and there is the deep psychological revolt of intelligence." (Krishnamurti, 2010, p.9). The thinker and scholar Krishnamurti is someone who reflect the values of a Montessori education in his philosophies and beliefs. Krishnamurti believes that education is a far more nuanced and multi-faceted process than what is traditionally taught in schools. Krishnamurti believes that education is first an understanding of oneself which can then develop into an understanding of the whole of existence and one's place in the world. So much of the techniques and tools which permeate through Montessori revolve around these very beliefs and strive for these exact objectives. As Krishnamurti believes, the truly highest function is to foster a look of the individual as integrated and who is fully prepared to deal with an integrated form of life (2010). However, these coals cannot be achieved via traditional means, as traditional means of education revolve around baser tendencies such as conformity and obedience: "Conformity and obedience have no place in the right kind of education. Co-operation between teacher and student is impossible if there is no mutual affection, mutual respect" (Krishnamurti, 2010, p.33). This statement is truly revelatory as it demonstrates that Krishnamurti believes in almost a co-creating and a partnership between the student and teacher.