MONTESSORI VS TRADITIONAL LEARNING
Some Differences Between Montessori And Traditional Kindergartens
The goal of both Montessori and traditional kindergarten is the same: to provide learning experiences for the child. The biggest differences lie in the kind of learning experiences each school provides and the methods they use to accomplish this goal.
Montessori educators believe both differences are important because they help shape what a child learns, his work habits, and his future attitudes toward himself and the world around him.
Montessori Kindergartens
•Emphasis On Cognitive Development
•Teacher-pupil ratio about 1 to 10
•Teacher has unobtrusive role in classroom
•Environment and method encourage self-discipline
•Mainly individual instruction
•Grouping encourages children to teach and help one another
•Child chooses own work
•Child discovers own concepts for self-teaching
•Child works as long as he wishes for work
•Child sets own learning pace
•Child reinforces own learning by repetition of work and internal feelings of success
Traditional Kindergartens
•Emphasis on social development
•Teacher-pupil ratio about 1 to 25
•Teacher is center of classroom as “controller”
•Teacher acts as primary enforcer of discipline
•Mainly group instruction
•Most teaching done by teacher
•Curriculum structured for child
•Child is guided to concepts by teacher
•Child generally allotted specific time
•Instruction pace usually set by group norm
•Learning is reinforced externally by repetition, rewards, and punishment
