Theories of Development.

Authors Avatar

Theories of Development

By Melisa Santacroce

Maria Montessori

        The Montessori pedagogy is based on the discovery of the child.  Maria Montessori brought the art of observation to the field of education.  She saw the child as a whole – body, mind and spirit.  She believed that everything that is in the mind of a developing human comes through the body, and that children are the constructors of their own intellect.  In order for children to develop to their full potential, Montessori taught that they need full sensory stimulation, movement and independence.  Montessori observed that children have a will to learn and grow and that their choice is based on the known.  Therefore, she worked to help a child to discover reality and to become aware of it, revealing choice and the will to choose.

        Montessori education is based on a balance between the educator, the child and the prepared environment.  The prepared environment for the child is the classroom.  For this, Maria Montessori developed materials to aid in the teaching of Practical Life skills, Language, Sensorimotor, and Mathematics.  She drew on the work of Seguin and Itard in the development of some of these materials, as well as in the structure of the three-period lesson.  The prepared environment for the child is meant to be comfortable to the child and flexible enough to adapt to the individual needs and will of each student.  The classroom has an underlying order and an atmosphere or freedom that allows the child to choose exactly what he needs to grow in the way that he is intended to grow.  Montessori saw the educator as an integral part of the prepared environment – the means by which the unknown is connected to the known for the child.  The Montessori educator facilitates the opportunity for each child to discover their own world.  In this way, the educator is an observer and an advocate for the needs of the child, but not the focal point of the class.  The relationship between the adults and the children in the classroom is at the same time a background to the child’s learning, and a model for future relationships in the child’s life.

        Maria Montessori’s philosophy of education is congruent in many ways with Piaget’s theory of development.  What Piaget called “stages”, Montessori called “planes of development.”  Within these four main planes of development spanning from age zero to twenty-four and divided into six year increments, the child experiences sensitive periods.  These are periods of time when a child is especially absorbent to a particular skill or concept that they are attempting to internalize.  For example, toddlers go through a sensitive period for order, which helps them to know and categorize their world.

        The goal of Maria Montessori’s philosophy of education is for a child to become normalized and thus grow into a normalized adult – capable, independent, and a life-long learner.  A child can become normalized through their work in the classroom, through his own efforts and self-discipline.  This process leads to a normalized classroom environment, which in turn leads to a normalized society.  The ultimate purpose of this normalization process is to teach and advocate peace, internally and externally.

Join now!

        The materials, philosophy and methods that Maria Montessori developed in her theories of education and development continue to influence the field of child development today.  Materials that are self-correcting allow a child to learn a process step-by-step and to repeat it as much as they need to.  The Montessori values of auto-education, liberty within limits, cooperation instead of competition and intrinsic motivation for each child shape her philosophy, and thus her methods of education.  Developmental theorists are beginning to acknowledge the ways in which Montessori was ahead of her time in her psychological theories and scientific observations of children.  Maria ...

This is a preview of the whole essay