Montessori Education- 21st Century Solution

At Wilmington Montessori School, we strive to change the face of education! We are bold enough to imagine a world in which schools value the development of creativity, thinking skills, innovation, leadership, flexibility, and social responsibility. Even with continual changes in our cultural and global needs, many traditional program models continue to uphold their standard practices. In contrast, Montessori Education stands at the forefront of educational reform with its paradigm of integrated, developmentally appropriate, individualized, and global education for the 21st Century. Sir Ken Robinson (a featured speaker at the upcoming American Montessori Society conference) challenges us to explore new educational paradigms. I encourage you to take a moment and view the RSA animation of Sir Ken Robinson’s lecture below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U

Montessori Kids

“Montessori kids are good at doing things,” states Dr. Steve Hughes, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and Neurology at the University of Minnesota Medical School.

Recently, I had the opportunity to view Dr. Hughes’ screencast describing Dr. Maria Montessori’s brain-based approach to education. Dr. Hugh’s screencast smartly illustrates the parallels between Montessori education and current research on brain development. Throughout his talk, he highlights the methods by which Montessori Education cultivates advanced cognitive functions, social cognition, and higher-order competencies. These particular aptitudes are often used to describe the essence of a successful 21st Century learner, collaborator, and leader.

Speaking of ‘good at doing things’, I would like to share one of my favorite Montessori success stories captured in this video clip from a Barbara Walter’s interview:



You can also view Dr. Hughes’ entire screencast at http://goodatdoingthings.com/