Maria Montessori was born in 1870 in Italy. She was a physician and anthropologist who studied the socially, intellectually, physically and spiritual development of children. Her method is based on the observation because through it, she discovered universal patterns of development in all children.
She designed some materials to make sure they matched children’s interests and support the child’s development. They are also designed to respect the children’s rhythms and to use the child’s experiences to learn.
In a Montessori school, the classroom is decorated with children’s productions. In addition, they use children’s experiences to learn and therefore, achieve a deeper understanding. In all stages, the main goal is to make children feel safe, confident, and independent and develop trust and social skills.
Now, I am going to explain you three of the five waves that took place. I have chosen Montessori and Dalton Plan because I had the chance to visit two schools that follow these methods. I have also chosen Jenaplan because I want to search more information about this method and having to explain it to you is a great way to know more of it.
Helen Parkhurst (1886-1873) created the Dalton Plan method. After experiencing as a student the lack of desire to learn. Helen realized that it was impossible to teach the same thing to so many children, at the same time and in the same place.
The main idea of this method is that students can choose what they want to learn during the lesson. Even if the learning material is already planned by the teacher, this method helps students develop their own learning program and enhance student’s motivation.
Students learn how to plan the time they need to spend, their goals, where they want to do it and with whom. The teacher’s role is to observe students and help those who need it, by preparing a specific lesson.
Helen created this method with three educational goals:
1- to tailor the program of each student to match his/her needs, interests, and abilities
2- to promote both independence and dependability
3- to enhance the student's social skills and sense of responsibility toward others
This methodology has three pillars responsibility, independence and cooperation.