More and more schools are adopting a revolutionary scientific method that promotes children’s development in an environment of freedom and autonomy aligned with their natural evolution. Requests for teacher training and administrations to implement this methodology have increased exponentially. Your Montessori Guide has announced an intensive online training during the first week of September, aimed at educators and teachers looking to transform their teaching methods.
The month of August is especially significant for followers of Dr. Maria Montessori, as on the 31st of this month the 154th anniversary of her birth will be commemorated. Hundreds of teachers pay tribute to her legacy and prepare to apply her methodologies in the upcoming school year.
Maria Montessori, in her time, would have never imagined that her educational method would be fundamental for many administrations in transforming their educational centers. “The demand for this methodology, which emphasizes experiential learning, has grown significantly since the pandemic and the latest legislative change highlighting the development of competencies,” said Miriam Escacena, an expert in Montessori pedagogy.
Your Montessori Guide has designed the course “Montessori-fy your classroom,” mainly aimed at educators and teachers, although it is also open to parents interested in adopting this method at home. This training will be conducted online and already has participants from different provinces of Spain and countries such as Mexico, Colombia, Peru, Chile, Venezuela, and the United States.
Thanks to recent research in neuroscience, it has been confirmed that what Montessori called the “absorbent mind” is actually brain plasticity, especially present in the 0 to 6 age group. A study has revealed that around 400 repetitions are needed to create new synapses in the brain, except when taught through play, where the number of repetitions needed is reduced to between 10 and 20. Escacena questions: “Why insist on having children sit still, filling out worksheets, when it has been shown that learning is intimately linked to movement, emotion, experience, and interaction?”
Escacena, who also leads a postgraduate program in Montessori pedagogy accredited by the UDIMA University of Madrid, adds that the traditional system is based on inductive methods that do not consider the emotional component and offer little time for reasoning and deduction. According to Angeline Stoll Lillard’s book “The Science behind the Genius,” Montessori pedagogy is based on eight principles: order, movement, free choice, interest, intrinsic motivation, cooperation, concrete context, and the adult as guide.
The course “Montessori-fy your classroom” will address these principles and show practical examples of the Montessori method. This initiative from Your Montessori Guide is presented as their contribution to the tribute for Maria Montessori’s birth.
Information about the course and registrations, open until August 31st, can be found on the Your Montessori Guide website.
Referrer: MiMub in Spanish
