Why does montessori have vertical grouping

First, multi-age groupings encourage children to aspire to the achievements of older peers. New students enter an established and mature environment with effective models of both work and social interaction. In multi-age groupings children are able to work through the curriculum at their own pace without being limited to one year of the curriculum only.

Contemporary studies in neuroscience support the value of multi-age groupings in educational settings, as argued by Geake in the following way:.

Skip to main content. You are here Home. Multi-age Groupings. When an older child teaches a younger one, it reinforces previously learned concepts and is actually an aid in complete mastery of concepts. Younger children learn about courtesy, manners, and conflict resolution by watching the older children in the class.

This is a striking difference from traditional education, where everyone turns to page 33 of the book and stays there until every child understands the concept. This community aids the development of students as role models for one another. Siblings have a built-in support community for education and play, and benefit in the same ways that mixed age peers do as described above.

Isolation: One major criticism for the Montessori mixed age group classroom is that children tend to work in isolation at their own tasks, with little social cooperation among students. In any classroom that allows children to work at their own pace, mixed age or not, this could potentially be the case.

Overburdened Older Students: Some people feel that a teacher should be the one to help a child when he or she needs help with a particular concept. There is always the possibility that older children are unreliable sources or ineffective teachers who may further confuse a peer.

If older students are teaching or helping younger ones, they may be missing out on part of their own education. Some parents fear that by allowing each child to work at their own pace that they may fall behind, that Montessori is too slow. In fact, Montessori work can be slow. Children will repeat activities and lessons until they are confident in their mastery, and only then will they move on.

But at House on the Hill, we do not ascribe a negative connotation to slowness, instead we see a lot of value gained when children learn at their own pace. When children are given time to repeat, explore, ask more questions, and practice again they achieve a deeper comprehension of ideas, find mastery in skills, and build firmer foundations that will propel them further in their studies than cursory understandings. Working at their own pace allows children to develop confidence and self-esteem in their abilities; no child is being compared to another child, eliminating unhealthy competition and self-doubt.

When we do not allow children to learn at their own pace, we are more likely to see children with anxiety, incorrect understandings of key concepts, and missing foundations for future lessons. Vertical learning and individualized pacing work together to create one of the many unique experiences in a Montessori classroom. Children between the ages of 3 and 6 can learn together in one classroom because each child follows an individualized path of learning.

Older children act as resources and guides for their younger peers who are eager and receptive to learn from them, and older children develop leadership skills along the way. All children benefit from the community and consistency created by vertical learning, and by the confidence and skill mastery that comes from learning at an individualized pace. To see the magic of Montessori for yourselves we welcome you to visit our classrooms!

Written by. Sunshine Goh. Pasir Panjang Campus Principal. They are aware of those around them, and one often sees the small ones intently watching the work of others, particularly the older ones.

In doing this they absorb much more than it seems, and are already preparing themselves for more active social participation in the community of the class.

The main thing is that the groups should contain different ages, because it has great influence on the cultural development of the child. This is obtained by the relations of the children among themselves.