Could Technology Ever Be Part of Montessori Education?
The Montessori education method has provided children and teenagers across the globe a better chance of living a successful life as an adult. This is the primary driving force behind the entire method of education. However, the Montessori method appears to produce higher results than traditional education does.
Several contributing factors lead to this. There is first the student-centric perspective of learning. Everything that happens in a Montessori classroom was developed due to the idea that learners are curious, by nature, about the world around them. They want to learn new things each day.
The Role of the Teacher
In a Montessori classroom, the teacher’s role is a guide rather than a guardian of the knowledge students crave. Learners do not have to be lectured under the most convenient circumstances for the teacher. Because Montessori focuses on students, they need the information from teachers when they need it.
Teachers move about the class and look over the students’ activities, only interjecting when they feel their guidance and insight are needed. They present the students with new challenges and concepts and determine when the right time to do so would be.
The Learning Environment
All of the items in a Montessori classroom have been placed there because they contribute to and encourage learning somehow. Organic and natural materials are usually given preference over industrial, man-made ones. Sometimes, nature is the host for learning activities.
Other than that, the environment in which learning takes place is a clean one, structured and ordered in a way that learners will find safe, warm, and pleasant to view. To put it simply, the environment must be beautiful.
Technology and the Montessori Method
You might feel that the Montessori classroom is about a century behind the modern, technologically-advanced classrooms you’re used to. That’s because it is. The proprietor of the method, Dr. Maria Montessori, did not add technology in the education method, as there was hardly any technology in her day.
However, it’s no secret that technology has had a significant influence on how education has been developed throughout the years. It will continue to be one of the main driving forces for the innovation of education. Several schools have introduced BYOD programs and use technology in the classroom daily.
Other than the student-oriented learning approach and the teacher’s role as a guide is the essence of how Dr. Montessori imagined education – children should be allowed to discover their world at will, and understand it wholly.
Technology is a part of everyone’s life these days, regardless of how old you are. It should not be overlooked in the learning process – in fact, Montessori educational institutions should strive to blend technology with their learning environments.
Concluding Thoughts
Technology is inevitable wherever we go. It’s in our homes, workplaces, and even in our schools, and is one of society’s driving forces. Who’s to say it should not be part of the Montessori classroom?