Montessori World Educational Institute
The Montessori Approach to Education
Children want and need to be active. They want and need things to do. They are developing their system and their ability to do things. The things they particularly enjoy help them develop their abilities. They are not born with fixed intelligence and they don't develop abilities automatically. They develop through being engaged in activities that support development. As a result, adults need to understand the abilities that children need to develop, and the activities and conditions that support that development.
As a result, the Montessori approach to education has grown out of research on how children develop and learn, and what the conditions are that maximizes the release of the child's potential. The focus is on the learner and learning. It is on identifying what the learner needs to be able to do in order to develop. And so, the Montessori approach is activity based, and the classroom is organized, and time and process is structured, to support engagement in meaningful activity. If properly achieved, the result is satisfied, content, and happy children.
