Montessori Education |
Traditional Education |
| View
the child holistically, valuing cognitive, psychological, social,
and spiritual development |
Views the child in terms of competence,
skill level, and achievement with and emphasis on core curricula
standards and social development |
| Child is an active participant in learning - allowed to move
about and respectfully explore the classroom environment |
Child is a more passive participant in learning |
| Teacher
is an instructional facilitator and guide |
Teacher has
a more dominant, central role in classroom activity |
| A carefully prepared learning environment
and method encourages development of internal self-discipline and
intrinsic motivation |
Teacher acts as a primary enforcer
of external discipline promoting extrinsic motivation |
| Instruction,
both individual and group, adapts to students' learning styles and
development levels |
Instruction, both
individual and group, adapts to core curricula benchmarks |
| Three-year span of age grouping |
Same-age and/or skill level grouping |
| Grace, courtesy,
and conflict resolution are integral part of daily Montessori peace
curriculum |
Conflict resolution
is usually taught separately from daily classroom activity |
| Values concentration and depth of
experience; supplies uninterrupted time for focused work cycle to
develop |
Values completion of assignments;
time is tightly scheduled |
| Child's learning
pace is internally determined |
Instructional pace
usually set by core-curricula standard expectations, group norm,
or teacher |
| Child allowed to spot own errors
through feedback from the materials; errors are viewed as part of
learning process |
Work is usually corrected by the
teacher; errors are viewed as mistakes |
| Learning is reinforced
internally through the child's own repetition of an activity and
internal feelings of success |
Learning is reinforced
externally by test scores and rewards, competition and grades |
| Care of self and environment are
emphasized as integral to the learning experience |
Less emphasis on self-care, spatial
awareness, and care of environment |
| Child
can work where he/she is comfortable and the child often has choices
between working alone or with a group |
Child is usually
assigned a specific work space; talking among peers discouraged |
| Multi-disciplinary, interwoven curriculum |
Curriculum areas usually taught as
separate topics |
| Progress is reported
through multiple formats: conferences, narrative reports, checklists
and portfolio of student's work |
Progress is usually
reported through conferences, report cards/grades, and test scores |
| Children are encouraged to teach,
collaborate, and help each other |
Most teaching is done by the teacher
and collaboration is an alternative teaching strategy |
| Child
is provided opportunities to choose own work from interest and abilities,
concepts taught within context of interest |
Curricula organized
and structured for child based on core curricula standards |
| Goal is to foster a love of learning |
Goal is to master curricula objectives |
