What is the difference between Montessori education and traditional education?

[Abstract] Foreign related research shows that Montessori education and traditional education have little difference on children's academic performance; In terms of perceptual motor skills, Montessori education is more conducive to children's development; In terms of personality characteristics and social development, the advantages of Montessori education have also been supported by more research. We should strengthen the comparative study of the localization of the effects of the two educational models, treat the existing research results scientifically, and deeply explore the reasons for the different effects of the two educational models in order to promote the development of Montessori education in China.

Since 1907 Montessori Education Law came into being. The debate on it in theory and practice has never stopped. An important reason for this debate is that researchers and practitioners have different understandings of children's development between Montessori education and traditional education. However, supporters and opponents of Montessori education law are under pressure to collect research data, and they all "need more research to prove the superiority of Montessori schools or Montessori institutions to children's development". This paper attempts to introduce the comparative research results of foreign researchers on Montessori education and traditional education from four aspects: children's academic skills, perceptual motor skills, personality characteristics and social development, in order to help preschool teachers better understand and apply Montessori education law.

I. Concept definition

Montessori education refers to the educational activities organized by Montessori schools or curriculum institutions authorized and certified by the International Montessori Association (AMI) and the National Montessori Association (AMS), and implemented by teachers who are trained and certified by AMI or AMS and conform to Montessori's educational philosophy. Montessori education generally has the following characteristics: mixed age and class placement; There is a set of special teaching materials: children have enough time and space to choose and operate teaching AIDS independently; Advocating cooperation; There are no classes according to age, and there are no exams; Teachers use individual or group guidance to help children develop their academic and social skills.

Traditional education is regarded as an educational model guided by behaviorism theory and methods, which promotes children's learning through target management, behavior shaping and strengthening. Some studies have pointed out that. Traditional education, especially traditional basic education, has five characteristics: it does not emphasize children's intrinsic motivation; Children are not provided with extra and sufficient time for autonomous learning; Evaluate children's performance through standardized tests; There are no relevant systems and regulations to ensure children's opportunities to participate in school daily affairs decision-making; Emphasize children's listening skills and the ability to take notes.

Second, the effect comparison

1 the influence of Montessori education and traditional education on children's academic skills

The influence of different educational methods and models on children is first manifested in the differences in learning skills and academic performance, which is also the field that researchers are most concerned about.

Baines (1973) pointed out. In the past 60 years, although Montessori education method has threatened the position of traditional educational practice to some extent, there is little research on how Montessori education method affects children's classroom behavior. Many reports from public and private schools say that children taking Montessori courses are as good as or even better than children in traditional schools in academic skills. For example, Epstein (1990) thinks that children who study Montessori have higher academic performance than children in traditional schools 10 ~ 0 points. However, most of these initial studies are phenomenon description and personal experience summary, and there are few quantitative studies.

The study named "Golden Sands Plan" conducted in Cincinnati in the late 1960s was one of the early quantitative studies to compare the effects of Montessori education and traditional education. This study lasted for 6 years and there were 3 independent research reports. In the first research report, banta (1968) compared the differences of children's academic performance in Montessori school, Kaitou school and traditional school, and found that children in Montessori school and Kaitou school had better academic performance than children in traditional school. In the second research report three years later, Gross and others found that the number of children in Montessori school was 65,438. In the third research report six years later. The findings of Sierra et al. are the same as those of the previous two research reports. They think that children in Montessori school scored higher than the control group in seven sub-tests of achievement test (CA7), but the difference is not significant.

Some horizontal studies have found that children in Montessori schools have better academic performance than children in traditional schools. Lillard and others selected about 5-year-old and 12-year-old children from a Montessori public school that has been running for 9 years, and compared their differences in cognitive and academic skills with those of children receiving traditional education. The results show that the scores of children in the 5-year-old group are higher than those in the traditional education group. Children in 12 age group are more creative in completing the task of continuing stories, and they use more complicated sentence structures. However, some cross-sectional studies have reached the opposite result. For example, Jing Zhang (2004) compared the reading and writing abilities of 4-and 5-year-old children in traditional preschool and Montessori preschool. Turns out. Children in the traditional group scored higher in all tests than those in the Montessori group, especially in completing writing tasks. In fact, more horizontal studies have found that there is no significant difference between Montessori education and traditional education in children's academic performance. Taking Claxton( 1982) as an example, this paper compares the academic achievements of children from kindergarten to grade three in Montessori school and traditional school. It is found that although the achievements of senior one students in traditional school are significantly higher than those in Montessori school, the similarities between the two courses are far greater than their differences, that is, there is no significant difference in the influence of the two educational models on children's academic achievements.

It is difficult to find the lasting influence of different educational models on children's development through horizontal research. Therefore, some researchers use longitudinal research methods to study this. They found in their research. Compared with children in traditional schools, children in Montessori schools improve their academic performance faster. For example, Manner( 1999) tracked and compared the differences between children in Montessori school and traditional school in mathematics and reading, and found that although there was no significant difference between the two groups in grade one, the academic performance of Montessori children in grade two was 3 percentage points higher than that of the traditional group, and that of Montessori children in grade three was 7 percentage points higher than that of the traditional group. However, some studies have reached the opposite result. For example, Cisneros (1994) conducted a one-year follow-up study on the reading and math scores of third-grade children in Montessori schools and traditional schools. The results show that although there is no significant difference in the scores of the two groups at the initial test, it is found that the scores of Montessori children are obviously behind those of non-Montessori children at the post-test one year later. However, like horizontal studies, most longitudinal studies still find that there is no significant difference in children's academic performance between the two educational models. Miller et al. (1983) compared the IQ and academic skills of children under four preschool curriculum models (including Montessori education and traditional education) in a longitudinal study of 10. The results show that although the academic performance of boys in Montessori group has always been the highest, there is no significant difference in IQ among the children in each group. At the same time, their research on low-income African-American children found that there was no significant difference in reading and mathematics between boys in Montessori group and other groups.

2 The influence of Montessori education and traditional education on children's perceptual motor skills

Sensory training is an important content and feature of Montessori education, and most studies have also found the superiority of Montessori education in promoting the development of children's perceptual motor skills. such as

A longitudinal study of Prendergast( 1969) found that children in Montessori group performed better in hand-eye coordination than children in traditional group. At the same time, children in Montessori group are better than children in traditional group in hearing, vision and receptive language. The research of Stodolsky et al. (1972) also shows that children in Montessori group are better than those in traditional group in visual-motor combination, matching and classification skills, psychological skills and number concepts.

Children in Montessori group also developed better other skills based on perceptual motor skills, such as observation, attention and time allocation. For example, Baines and Snorrum( 1973) found that children in traditional schools spend 90% of their time on activities under the supervision of teachers and 60% on activities within the class. On the contrary, children in Montessori schools spend 44% of their time on autonomous learning and 40% on group cooperation. Children in Montessori school spend 2 1% of their time helping other children, 15% receiving help from other children and 20% receiving help from teachers. Compared with children in traditional schools. Children in Montessori school spend more time on autonomous learning, and they are more willing to accept the help of their peers than the help of teachers like children in traditional groups.

3 The influence of Montessori education and traditional education on children's personality characteristics

Glenn( 1996) conducted a follow-up study on children in Montessori schools for 10 years, and found that children's personality characteristics were not directly related to the length of Montessori education. Rathude(2003) compared the academic motivation, academic quality and social interaction of children in sixth grade of Montessori school and traditional school with those in 8th grade, and found that children in Montessori school had more positive emotional experiences in learning than children in traditional groups. Children in Montessori school think that teachers are fairer, more active and more enthusiastic when dealing with classroom problems, and they will not show too much confusion when facing children's wrong behaviors, which makes children feel more secure in the classroom. At the same time, Montessori school children seldom spend their time passively listening to lectures and watching TV, but prefer to engage in personal activities and cooperative learning.

However, some researchers believe that there is no significant difference between Montessori education and traditional education in children's personality characteristics. Castellanos(2002), for example, compared children from the second to sixth grades who began to contact Montessori education with children in traditional schools, and found that there was no significant difference in self-esteem, self-efficacy and prosocial behavior between children in Montessori schools and children in traditional schools.

4. The influence of Montessori education and traditional education on children's social development.

Yunik( 1973) compared three different types of preschool education courses, and found that compared with the children in the traditional group, the children in the Montessori group spent more time in peer interaction and less time in interaction with adults (teachers). The research by Murphy and Goldner( 1976) also proves that children in Montessori schools spend more time in oral communication. Reuters and others found that children in Montessori schools are much less aggressive and lazy than children in traditional groups. Burke (199 1) found that children in Montessori school have the least destructive behavior compared with other educational models. At the same time, Montessori school children show more prosocial behavior. Simmons et al. (1983) studied the altruistic behavior of children aged 4-6 in Montessori schools and traditional schools. The results show that children in Montessori schools tend to provide support when their peers need help. Children in traditional groups often ask teachers to help their peers. Compared with traditional schools, Montessori school children's ability to make friends and maintain friendship will be significantly improved with age. Lillard(2006) compared the differences in social development between children in Montessori school and other schools, and found that children in Montessori school in the 5-year-old group can use higher-level reasoning to complete tasks in moral reasoning. By comparing the performance of the two groups of children in playground games, the researcher found that compared with children in other schools, the 5-year-old children in Montessori group can participate in peer games more actively and show less blind game behavior.

However, some studies have found that there is no significant difference in moral reasoning ability between children in Montessori school and children in other schools. For example, Lowell( 1979) compared the moral reasoning ability of fifth-grade children in Montessori school and traditional school, and found that there was no significant difference in children's reasoning ability.

Three. Discussion and prospect

1 Strengthen localization research

Although many related studies abroad have revealed the different effects of Montessori education and traditional education on children's development to some extent, the efforts of researchers have not stopped there. With the further understanding, researchers try to compare which educational method can promote children's development more effectively in a wider range.

Montessori education has become an important educational model of kindergarten education in China. Preschool educators have a heated debate on the rationality and effect of Montessori education, but there are few comparative studies on the localization of Montessori education and traditional education, especially empirical studies. Whether we want to make Montessori education law more in line with the actual needs of China or promote the development and innovation of Montessori education law, we need reliable research evidence to support this point. Therefore. Whether in theory or practice, it is necessary to strengthen the study of Montessori education law. Compare the different influences of Montessori education and traditional education on children's development at the localization level, so as to provide basis for the development and innovation of Montessori education law.

Drawing lessons from foreign research results, the author thinks that the localization of Montessori education and traditional education in China should be compared? We should pay attention to scientific research methods, especially strengthen field empirical research, in order to better compare the different effects of two different educational models on children's perceptual motor skills, academic performance, social development and personality characteristics.

2. Treat the existing comparative research results scientifically.

From many comparative studies, it seems that the different roles of traditional education and Montessori education in promoting children's development can be outlined: the influence of traditional education and Montessori education on children's academic performance is not much different; In terms of perceptual motor skills, Montessori education is more conducive to children's development; In terms of personality characteristics and social development, the advantages of Montessori education have also been supported by more research.

However, we should also note that Montessori education was originally considered as a supplement to American traditional education. In the 1970s, with the "magnet school" project. With the implementation of "Montessori School", Montessori School has received financial support from the American government, developed more rapidly and was favored by parents. In this context, some researchers put Montessori education in opposition to traditional education. Some people also have some prejudices against traditional education. We can find that most studies that find Montessori education is better than traditional education think that Montessori education is more suitable for children's development and more in line with the characteristics of modern education. In addition, these studies are carried out in a certain range, and there are some defects in the design of research methods and measurement tools. Even the researchers themselves believe that these research conclusions need more research to verify. Therefore, we should recognize the limitations of the generalization of these research conclusions. Especially compared with foreign countries, Montessori education in kindergartens in China is very different from foreign countries in terms of teacher training, teaching methods and teacher concepts, so we should be more cautious about these existing comparative research results.

3. Explore the reasons for the differences.

When we find that there are differences between the two educational models in promoting children's development, we need to further ask which factors in the educational model lead to the differences in children's development. Did Montessori emphasize the mixed-age education model and group cooperation and communication to promote the social development of children? Does Montessori's emphasis on sensory training promote the improvement of children's perceptual motor skills ... At the same time, most of the existing comparative studies focus on primary and secondary school students, lacking the research on the difference between the two educational models in early childhood. Therefore, in addition to analyzing the different effects of the two educational models on children's development from the educational concepts and methods. The age characteristics that cause this difference should be further explored. In addition, what is the difference between China's Montessori education and traditional education in terms of children's development, given the great differences in educational content, teaching methods and teaching materials between them and foreign Montessori education? If there are differences, what are the reasons? These problems deserve our serious study.