What are the discoveries of Dr. Maria Montessori free essay sample

Dr. Maria Montessori, internationally renowned child educator, was originally a medical doctor who brought the scientific methods of observation, experimentation, and research to the study of children, their development and education. As a doctor, Montessori came to believe that many of the problems of the children she was working with were educational rather than medical. In examining education she felt that children were not achieving their potential because education was not based upon science. Her first step, then, was to attempt to abandon preconceived ideas about education and to begin to study children, their development and the process of learning through scientific methods of observation and experimentation. In doing so, she made what she considered to be a number of startling discoveries. Through her research, she discovered that children possessed different and high qualities than those we usually attribute to them. Among these qualities are: a) Amazing Mental Concentration: Previously it was believed that children had short attention spans. Dr. Montessori was amazed to observe the length of time that very young children would choose to attend to tasks which interested them. When spontaneous repetition of an activity is done with interest the natural result is concentration. But concentration is not the end product of education, it’s only the beginning. Any true learning happens only with concentration. The children reveal that they can work with concentration when they find the right conditions. b) Love of Repetition: On their own, children would choose to practice things they were trying to master over and over again. When something answers an inner need meets with the inner urge the spontaneous interest is kindled. When this interest finds suitable conditions to work spontaneous repetition is resulted. When this spontaneous repetition of an activity is done with interest the natural result is concentration. For example, once a child decides to learn how to tie shoes, the child may tie and untie shoes many times, continuing the repetition until the task is mastered. c) Love of order: Whereas we normally think of children as messy, Dr. Montessori found that children have a natural inclination for organization and orderliness. This natural inclination can be helped and developed if provision is made to foster it. This order need not be only with things in the environment but also with values, functions and other human activities. The child needs to experience human values like â€Å"telling the truth† being practised. If not so, the child gets confused and this can create a warp in his development. A contrary instruction about behaviour muddles his decision. We need to remember that the young child is in process of building his personality which lasts his lifetime. He needs consistency in everything in his environment. It takes a while for him to understand that things also can be different. d) Freedom of choice: Children like to choose things they do. If materials are set out for children so that they have easy access to them, children will choose, take and replace them with without the need of assistance from an adult. Dr. Montessori found out that the child is capable of choosing the type of activity that satisfies his inner urge and offers challenge. When an environment provides many options in developmental activities, the children choose activities according to their capacities. This further helps them to enhance their abilities and developmental attributes. The adult needs to be the instigators but only have to provide the necessary conditions. Total development results only when the child can work in the various fields of human activity. e) Children Prefer Work to Play: One of the greatest surprises for Dr. Montessori was the discovery that children preferred work to play. Sometimes adults tend to think children only want to play and not to work. However, Dr. Montessori found that play was a substitute for what the children really wanted to do, but couldn’t. For example, children like to play â€Å"house†. They may pretend to cook, to bake pies, to clean house, etc. however, if given a choice, the children prefer to be in the real kitchen with their mother (or father) learning how to prepare â€Å"real† food. The introduction of exercise of practical life as developmental activities was Dr. Montessori’s contribution to education. She found out how the children needed to perform the activities in daily life because they brought the intelligence, will and voluntary movements together. This co-ordination brought about integration of the personality. f) No Need for Reward and Punishment: Montessori discovered that children are intrinsically motivated to work. No one wants to be problem. So, they do not need external rewards and punishments. What they do need is help. The adult can help the child by showing the child how to do what he or she is trying to accomplish. Accomplishment, competence, and being a contributing member of a society are rewarding in themselves, and it is reward enough. There are many instances in Dr. Montessori’s work where she explains why she â€Å"eventually†¦gave up either punishing or rewarding the children†. She explains that this method is â€Å"always a form of repression†, and is based upon our – in her opinion tragically erroneous – belief that children â€Å"come into the world bad and full of naughtiness. † She found, after careful observation, that both punishment and reward were equally ineffective tools for supporting the type of development that she felt was important (i. e. the normalization of the individual and the valorisation of mankind). In fact she observed that children were disinterested in both of these methods and often could not even tell the difference between them. g) The Children Refuse Sweets: Children often show an indifference to the allurements of sweets when placed in conflict with the interest of the mind. Children love to work purposefully. If it corresponds with the inner development need they work until they reach their goal, in this any external stimulant effects negligibly. The inner drive is sufficient to show them the right path. h) Lovers of Silence: Whereas it is easy to think of children as noisy, Montessori discovered that children enjoy finding out how quiet they can be. The children like to listen to silence and to soft sounds. It is like a game to see if they can move a chair without making a sound. i) Sense of Personal Dignity: Children have a deep sense of personal dignity just as adults do. They want to be capable and held in high regard. They want to be able to do things for themselves. They can get embarrassed and can feel ashamed. A child would rather tie his own shoes than have tied for him. j) Desire to Read and Write: In the beginning, Dr. Montessori didn’t believe that young children of four and five years of age should be involved in reading and writing. However, the children showed such interest that she provided some beginning materials. She was astonished by how the children seeped to â€Å"burst spontaneously† into writing and then reading if provided with the right materials. Dr. Montessori discovered that the children are often seen to behave in a certain manner; destructive, disorderly, stubborn, disobedient etc. But in specially prepared environments and with specially trained adults they show orderly, responsible, loving behaviour, both are seemingly real. As a reason of contradiction, Dr. Montessori explains that the second instance is the real one and they very common behaviour is the result of the child not finding the right conditions for development. This discovery was possible because she could witness this grandeur of human normality. It is well known that human life is a series of steps in gaining independence and credit would go to Dr. Montessori who pointed that this is true in child’s life also. All the help we offer should lead the child to independence in his individual and social life. We might conclude by saying Dr. Montessori calls upon every adult human being to develop the humility to learn from the children in order to help the child create a healthy human being.