Montessori vs. Traditional Educational Methods

Montessori

Traditional

• Emphasis on Cognitive and Social Development
• Teacher has guiding role
• Environment and method encourage   self- discipline
• Mainly individual instruction
• Mixed age groups
• Grouping encourages children to teach and collaborate
• Child chooses own work
• Child discovers own concepts from self-teaching materials
• Child is allocated time to work on and complete lesson
• Child sets own learning pace
• Child spots own errors from feedback of material

• Emphasis on Rote Learning and Social Behavior
• Teacher controls classroom
• Teacher acts as primary enforcer of discipline
• Mainly group instruction
• Same age groups
• Teaching is done by the teacher; collaboration is discouraged
• Curriculum structured for child
• Child is guided to concepts by the teacher
• Child generally allotted specific time for work
• Instruction pace set by the group
• Errors in the child’s work are highlighted by the teacher