Dr Montessori believes that education should include three factors: teachers, environment and children, and they will interact with each other. In a well-designed environment that will arouse learners' interest, children will interact with the environment purposefully and freely, and at the same time generate their own ideas. So Dr. Montessori once said that her educational method can also be called "environmental education". She believes that children and students have the potential of self-construction, and this potential must be realized through the environment, and then become independent individuals-adults.
The relationship between children and the environment is different from ours. Adults appreciate the environment and can remember it and recall it, but children absorb it. Children will not only remember what they see, but also make it a part of their hearts. Everything you see and hear around you will become a part of your body.
In addition, children have their own critical period of development at different stages. If children are in the sensitive period of learning and there are no suitable materials in the environment, they will no longer be interested in this kind of learning and it will be more difficult to learn after the sensitive period.
So it can be seen that the environment is the most important tool for educating children. In order to meet children's learning needs at every stage, this environment must be carefully prepared, so we also call it a "prepared environment".
What is Montessori's "prepared environment"
It refers to an environment that can contain the psychological, cultural, social, spiritual and other aspects that children need to grow up. In short, it contains the basic elements of growth. The classroom is quiet and lively, and there is a lot of room for activities. These areas are divided according to different stages of children's development. Teaching AIDS are placed on multi-layer shelves in a fixed order, from the simplest to the most complex, which is very orderly and convenient for children to use. Children can find the teaching AIDS they need from hundreds of teaching AIDS in a fixed place. The areas where various teaching AIDS are located are divided into daily life area, sensory area, language area, mathematics area and science and culture area according to different learning categories.
Factors that should be included in the "prepared environment"
1, concept of freedom
Dr. Montessori believes that only in a free atmosphere can children reveal their own essence, and adults can observe their interests and activities, understand their personality and development, and improve the environment at any time to meet their needs. In an increasingly interesting environment, children can freely choose the job they are interested in and focus on it, so as to achieve the realm of self-control and self-education, and have the opportunity to understand the influence of behavior on themselves and others, as well as their own abilities and shortcomings. This opportunity of self-knowledge is also the most important result brought by the freedom of Montessori classroom.
2. Structure and sequence
The external sense of order helps to develop children's internal sense of order, so the external organization of the environment must imitate or promote children's internal order. Because children are very sensitive to order, the rhythm and daily activities in class must be predictable, the learning materials must be orderly, the teacher must guide the children's behavior correctly and accurately, and the children can find the activity materials where they expect. However, Montessori also stressed that not everything stays in the same place, and keen teachers will change the position of things in the environment regularly to keep up with the growth of children.
3. Truth and nature
Because children have a strong psychological absorption ability, Dr. Montessori believes that the activity materials held by children must be true and credible. The tools provided by the Montessori environment for children are real and operable, and match the child's body shape. For example, brooms, garbage shovels and glass bowls and cups commonly used in Montessori classrooms are all directly proportional to the size of children. Montessori teaching AIDS often use strong hardwood, glass and high-quality plastic (at the corresponding age stage).
Children are strongly attracted by nature, including its cycle law, rhythm and internal order. Therefore, Montessori believes that nature must be a part of the learning environment. In many Montessori classrooms, plants, animals and small gardens taken care of by children themselves are common natural things for children to learn.
4. Beauty and atmosphere
Montessori advocates that not only the active materials should have aesthetic feeling, but also the environment itself should have a harmonious atmosphere. She believes that true beauty is based on simplicity, and its classroom environment should be visually coordinated, vivid, beautiful and generous, but it does not appear overly stimulating and messy. In addition to beauty, Montessori also advocates that the whole environment should be peaceful, nourishing, relaxed and warm, so that children can enjoy it.
5. Montessori teaching AIDS
Montessori teaching AIDS are the most striking of Montessori's educational methods. Because of their practicality, these teaching AIDS are often paid more attention than other contents, but they are also misunderstood as training children's various skills. Different from toys, Montessori teaching AIDS are a series of structural and orderly working materials developed by Dr. Montessori according to modern scientific theories. They are not for teachers, but for children to do "growth work" when using materials; They are not the objects of assisting teachers in class, but the media for children's self-education and self-exploration. Children develop intelligence, attention, lasting psychological balance, abstract thinking and natural creation in the process of self-practice. It can be said that teaching AIDS are the crystallization of Dr. Montessori's environmental theory.
Specifically, according to the different teaching contents, in Casa environment, Montessori teaching AIDS can be divided into daily life teaching AIDS, sensory teaching AIDS, language teaching AIDS, mathematics teaching AIDS and scientific and cultural teaching AIDS. There is only one copy of each teaching aid in the classroom, and the classroom cannot become a market for teaching AIDS. Stimulating children's fine senses is enough, too much is enough. Each teaching aid should be able to complete a certain teaching task.
6. Development of social life
Environment not only refers to material materials, but also includes people who interact with children, and talents are the main objects of children's learning and absorption, including children's interaction with children and children's interaction with teachers.
Interaction between children
Montessori education adopts mixed-age classes, that is, children of different ages are mixed in one class. In such mixed-age classes, older children will help younger children spontaneously, while younger children can get inspiration and role models from older children's work, which is conducive to the development of their social life. This kind of teaching is very valuable, because the mind of 5-year-old children is closer to that of 3-year-old children than we are, and there is a kind of spiritual "infiltration" between them, which makes it easy for children to learn what we can't teach.
In addition, in a "prepared environment", all the equipment is arranged for children, not adults, who can carry out activities independently and interact socially. The taking, putting, using and operating of all kinds of appliances and teaching AIDS in class also follow certain requirements and laws. We should always consider whether it is convenient for others and whether our behavior is civilized, which promotes the development of children's social acquisition.
Children interact with teachers.
Montessori advocated example rather than words. If we want children to talk in a low voice, we can talk to them in a lower voice instead of giving them the order to "speak in a low voice". The decibel of children's speech decreases as the environment becomes quieter. Don't forget the child's absorbing mind.