Montessori's View on Children
Learn some psychology:
Children are not adults.
Montessori believes that although adults educate children by preaching, indoctrination and intervention out of the original intention of caring for and helping children, what is hidden behind it is the concept that "children are ignorant and incompetent and must rely on their own church to develop". It is this adult-centered educational concept that inhibits and hinders children's normal development and makes children's natural abilities not fully exerted. In Montessori's eyes, children are not "little adults", but independent individuals different from adults, who should be respected and have the right to seek their own perfect development through real life and order.
Children have the ability to absorb.
Children's growth, especially children aged 0-3, is controlled by strong internal potential. They have a conscious and unconscious feeling ability, that is, an absorbing mind. In the first few years of life, children unconsciously learn experience through constant contact with the surrounding environment, and gradually develop their own psychology in the process of learning experience. It is precisely because children are born with this kind of "absorptive thinking" that we have reason to believe that they can absorb information by themselves in a prepared environment. For adults, the only question is whether we provide such a beneficial environment for children.
Children's development has a sensitive period and stage.
Children will show strong interest and learning ability in a certain skill at a certain age, which Montessori calls "sensitive period". Take the sensitive period of language as an example, it appears in the first four years of children's life, and it is at this time that children learn to speak. In addition, there are sensitive periods of order (2-4 years old), action (0-6 years old), senses (0-6 years old), social norms (2.5-6 years old), writing (3.5-4.5 years old), reading (4.5-5.5 years old) and interest in subtle things.
Montessori's teaching view
A prepared environment
Montessori's "prepared learning environment" includes physical environment and psychological environment. As far as physical environment is concerned, it must be beautiful and visually harmonious; All objects should be proportional to the child's body size; From the organization of learning materials to the organization of daily activities, the principles of "structure" and "order" should be embodied. Children are very sensitive to order and will gradually form their own internal order under the subtle influence of the external orderly environment. It is necessary to prepare learning materials that children are interested in and suitable for their development level, so that children can learn independently in the interaction with the environment. As far as the psychological environment is concerned, the learning environment should give children a warm "home" atmosphere, so that every child can feel safe and respected, so that they can freely choose the time, place and content of activities and devote themselves to various activities with peace of mind and concentration.
Materialized education
For children, abstract thinking must be carried out with the help of specific image tenants It is not difficult to find that many children in Grade One and Grade Two sometimes need to use their fingers and points to cope with the addition of snapshots. The biggest feature of Montessori teaching method is materialized education, which helps children absorb various concrete or abstract experiences in the activities of operating specific objects (teaching AIDS), which is undoubtedly in line with children's learning characteristics.
Whether it is a prepared environment or a materialized education, there is only one foundation: children have an absorbing mind and can learn independently; There is only one purpose: to provide children with opportunities for autonomous learning.