Montessori education is a teaching approach which was developed by Maria Montessori, an Italian physician and educator. This approach in education emphasises on independence, freedom within scopes and respect for a child's natural psychological development. Its development is traced back to 1897 when Montessori started developing her philosophy and methods. Today, there are at least 20,000 schools around the globe who use the approach in educating children as early as birth to 18 years old.
- Practices – The Montessori education emphases mentioned are practice using the essential elements of mixed age classrooms, student choice of activity, uninterrupted work time, learning theory of constructivism and specialised educational materials. The most common mixed age classroom involve children aged 2 ½ or 3 to 6 years old. As far as the activity choice is concerned, the choices come within a prescribe range. Uninterrupted work time comes in blocked times. In constructivism, students learn concepts by working with materials as opposed to listening to lectures. The Montessori approach also uses specialised educational materials which was developed by Montessori herself and her collaborators. Lots of Montessori schools design their own programs basing on Montessori model of human development which is found in her published works. These schools also use lessons, pedagogy and materials based on materials introduced in teaching courses conducted by Montessori.
- Model – Montessori education is basically based on the model of human development; it is also a model of human development itself. Two basic elements is featured in the model. They are (1) children and developing adults are involved in psychological self-construction through interaction within their environments and (2) children, especially under six years old, have an innate path of psychological development. Montessori believed, based on her observations, that children can act spontaneously towards best development if they have the freedom to choose and act freely within an environment which is prepared for them using the development model developed by her.
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