By Li Lian This past summer, I took an internship as a part-time teacher in a kindergarten, because I wanted to find out more about patterns of learning in children to help me in my research on museum education. Luckily, I was able to observe a new education system with which I was previously unfamiliar, the Montessori system. The Montessori system was established by Mrs. Maria Montessori, an Italian pediatrician who credited her success to an excellent education provided by her own family when she was a child. In medical school she specialized in embryology and evolution, and after completing her education she became an assistant pediatrician in the University Children’s Hospital in Rome. She paid great attention to mentally-challenged children and did further research on treatment which could help these children have a better life. She felt sorry for them, treated with no dignity and living in unsanitary conditions. She called for establishing special schools for abused children. She believed that dealing with mentally challenged children was an education problem instead of a medical one. From 1903 to 1907, Montessori developed a theory of human biology and pedagogy, after gaining insight from working in a Children’s Home. She then taught neuropsychiatry and became an experienced educator who found a pattern to children’s learning at different growth stages. Montessori developed the Montessori education method in 1896. Many children were taught by this method, although it was abandoned in the 1940s by most hospitals. However, it is still widely known and implemented across Europe and the USA. Montessori’s philosophy was as follows:
A childhood sense of order: Montessori found that one of the characteristics of children ’s behavior is their innate sense of order. Most people believe that a child’s room or playground is a mess. However, Montessori believed that adults are the reason why children cannot arrange their toys in an orderly fashion and develop good cleaning habits. Children are born with the natural sense of order, but this is broken by the adults in power. During my internship I noticed that the instructors (traditionally called teachers) were there only to “help” the children with their tasks instead of telling them what to do. The Montessori method respects children and gives them the freedom of choice. Children are aware of and curious about everything they touch and see, and they build their own concepts toward the outside world through these sensory experiences. The Montessori system is very different from traditional kindergartens in Taiwan. For example, Montessori schools employ mixed age teaching, which focuses on the differences between every child and puts emphasis on the cultivation of wisdom and personal character development. The Montessori system emphasizes the individual child’s growth pace and integrates learning with the children’s environment. They also do away with rewards and penalties. I believe this education method works well on 3-6-year-old children. Whenever I came into the classroom and observed the way they behaved, they looked mature and educated. It’s also a system based on scientific research, which tries to let children become their own teachers and take responsibility for finishing their own tasks. I think the Montessori philosophy can also work on university students or learners of any age, by encouraging children to be responsible and to be their ow teachers. While we may not become kindergarten teachers, there is a great possibility that someday we become someone’s parents. The Montessori method represents is another way to educate your children. a
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May 2024
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