Last year, when the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge announced they planned to send Prince George to a local Montessori preschool, a new spotlight shone on what many parents around the world already know: a Montessori education offers advantages in their child’s education and development that have a ripple effect into their life. The Montessori Method offers a holistic education that develops not only the intellectual capacities of a child, but also develops their socio-emotional, moral, and physical capacities. This unified approach integrates diverse academic subjects, in a robust environment which nurtures students’ curiosity. Together they develop a life-long love of learning rooted in learning for knowledge rather than learning for assessment.
What makes the Montessori pedagogy such a unique and sought after form of education? The list is long, but several primary features are:
- The Education Triad – Dr. Montessori found, through years of scientific observation, that students learn best in a carefully prepared environment of lessons that build in complexity; with a teacher who serves as guide to differentiate learning for each child, rather than serves as an orchestrator of activities. This triad of student-environment-teacher/guide gives students the opportunity to acquire content in a way optimally suited to their learning style. Thus they develop confidence in their skills, as they persevere to learn new material.
- Mixed-Age Groups – Dr. Montessori understood the inherent value in keeping children together in 3-year age groupings which foster collaborative thinking, teamwork, and community, where older students mentor younger students. In addition, the child has the same teacher for three years, and this consistent and meaningful relationship becomes a support to learning.
- Learning Across Channels – Dr. Montessori observed that children learned in a variety of ways, and thus she ensured that all concepts are first learned in a concrete fashion, before a child moves to abstract reasoning. Thus she developed special materials, which enable students to learn kinesthetically, visually, and auditorially. Recent brain research underscores the importance of this multi-channel learning.
- Deep respect for child development and Sensitive Periods – Dr. Montessori analyzed child development around the world and found that all children pass through Sensitive Periods for intellectual development and skill acquisition. Sensitive Periods are intervals in a child’s development where they absorb information or acquire a particular skill (like reading) in a far more intuitive and easy manner. Thus Montessori teachers leverage Sensitive Periods, link children to the correct materials/lessons, and allow them to hyper-focus for that period of time on content acquisition or skill development.
Recent research on the Montessori Method shows that students who attend Montessori schools are likely to have better results in reading and math assessments, than their non-Montessori peers, and that they have significantly better executive functioning and socio-behavioral outcomes. But perhaps those we should listen to the innovators who credit their Montessori education for their success: Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the founders of Google, credit Montessori education with nurturing their out of the box thinking; Will Wright, the creator of the video game Sim City, said “Montessori taught me the joy of discovery;” and the mother of Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, explains that Mr. Bezos' Montessori teachers always protected his development when in a Sensitive Period, which allowed him to think deeply and innovatively.
In a landscape analysis on creative business executives, and how they think, the authors said “A number of the innovative entrepreneurs . . . went to Montessori schools, where they learned to follow their curiosity. To paraphrase the famous Apple ad campaign, innovators not only learned early on to think different, they act different (and even talk different).” In addition to out of the box thinking, Montessori students learn self-management, responsibility for their learning, they learn from their mistakes, and they value service to others (bred from the mixed age classrooms).
Perhaps the final word on the advantage of a Montessori education should go to Nobel Prize laureate Gabriel García Márquez who said “I do not believe there is a method better than Montessori for making children sensitive to the beauties of the world and awakening their curiosity regarding the secrets of life.”
MONTESSORI SCHOOL OF EVERGREEN
Montessori School of Evergreen is an independent school that links high-quality academics with meaningful experiential education to give students the best start possible in life. Our highly-trained master teachers nurture a love of learning and an innate curiosity in each student. We prepare our students for the future by equipping them with 21st century skills, and encouraging them to think out of the box to new solutions. Montessori School of Evergreen is the advantage that lasts a lifetime.
Two locations:
- Troutdale Campus - 29740 Troutdale Scenic Drive, Evergreen, CO 80439
- Marshdale Campus - 6979 Highway 73, Evergreen, CO 80439
Phone: (303) 674-0093
Email: cleitinger@montessori-evergreen.org
Website: http://www.montessori-evergreen.org
