Dr Montessori dedicated the greater part of her life to studying child development and working and teaching about these practices. Her method was based on a Constructivist or 'discovery' model, where children learn concepts from working with materials rather than by direct instruction.
Some key features of her unique approach are: the fundamental principles about the way that children grow, their sensitive periods, special ways of thinking and human tendencies; the specialised educational materials developed by Maria Montessori and her collaborators; classrooms with mixed aged groups; and children working in uninterrupted blocks of time with a choice of activities from within a prescribed range of options.
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