The paper looks into the Montessori learning environment and the characteristics that enable the children to have a natural environment to learn, with the daily realities being the prime emphasis. The paper looks at the emotional environment, the indoor environment and the outdoor environment that Montessori system offers to enable the child learn efficiently.
Montessori Environment
Montessori education system
Education is one of the central needs for every child while growing up and it is essential to provide an environment that enables the child to grow physically, emotionally, socially and also intellectually. When an environment does not seem to offer all the above growth factors, particularly to the children, then that environment or the education system fails to meet the needs of the child.
In the course of acquiring the above mentioned development, children need to have sufficient freedom, guidance, security from harm as well as space to play so that they are in a good position to grow in an all round manner.
The Montessori learning system or environment is noted to be one of the best environments that offer children, particularly between the ages 3 years to 13 years, an ideal environment to grow in all the necessary aspects.
Characteristics of the Montessori environment
According to The International Montessori Index (2011), the environment created by the Montessori is far off or different from the other traditional learning models. While the other education environments are characterized by information passing down from the teacher to the student, here the teacher has the skills to put the child in touch with the environment and thereof derive learning materials.
The teacher will only facilitate the intelligent choice making of the child as well as helping the child to carry out research in a prepared environment. The other unique thing about the system is that the teacher is trained and has the skills to protect the concentration of the child from being interrupted and quickly helping the child regain the attention if it is interrupted. With such nurturing, the child comes to develop love for learning for a longer period of time.
The education system has basically a triangle of three people; the child, the teacher/parent and the environment. The teacher here will be charged with preparation of the environment and continued updating of the learning environment to suite the contemporary environment. He is also charged with introducing the child to the learning environment like the books, projects, materials, lessons which nurture the exploration of the child and the creativity as well.
With such and environment, the child learning here will surpass the education levels of the other children not learning under this system and even the expectations of the teachers. This is possible since the children in such an environment will always strive to find answers for themselves.
It is also worth noting that the Montessori environment is arranged in a manner that is categorical and fits the regular home setting that each child can easily identify and relate with their own at home. There are various corners that are set apart fro cooking corner, cleaning corner, gardening corner, art corner, caring for animals corner, library corner and such like. Within such an environment, the child gets all the things that they are used to seeing ordinarily at home and in the process fortifying their learning capabilities since the learning does not stop at exit from school for the day, but extends to their homes even after school.
The Montessori environment encourages participation and the children are free to move uninhibited within the room and explore the learning environment as opposed to being stacked behind desks. This freedom will extend to their mental dispositions as they will explore their deepest imaginations and creativity in the process of moving within the learning environment.
The Montessori system also discourages putting time limitations for how long the child can work on a particular item or session. This system therefore encourages the children, both fast learners and those who take more time to grasp concepts, to explore their creativity to the best of their levels without being hindered by time factor.
The Montessori system also offers a unique learning environment where all the disciplines, that is math, science, practical work, history, language, music, art, geography etc. can be studied at any one time in a given day. These will also be studied at all levels by children of mixed ages learning important lessons from each other as facilitated by the keen observation, record keeping, aid from the teacher as well as individual lessons if need be. These are children who will be practically beside them while at home hence they will be in touch with the reality and learning from it at all places.
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