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Montessori
- Emphasis on cognitive structures and social development
- Teacher's role is unobtrusive; child actively participates in learning
- Environment and method encourage internal self-discipline
- Individual and group instruction adapts to each student's learning style
- Mixed age grouping
- Children encouraged to teach, collaborate, and help each other
- Child chooses own work from interests, abilities
- Child formulates concepts from self-teaching materials
- Child works as long as s/he wants on chosen project
- Child sets own learning pace to internalize information
- Child spots own errors thru feedback from material
- Learning is reinforced internally thru child's own repetition of activity, internal feelings of success repetition
- Multi-sensory materials for physical exploration development
- Organized program for learning care of self and self-care environment (shoe polishing, sink washing, etc.)
- Child can work where s/he is comfortable, moves and talks at will (yet doesn't disturb others); group work is voluntary and negotiable
- Organized program for parents to understand the Montessori philosophy and participate in the learning process
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Traditional
- Emphasis on rote knowledge and social development
- Teacher's role is dominant, active; child is a passive participant
- Teacher is primary enforcer of external discipline
- Individual and group instruction conforms to the adult's teaching style
- Same age grouping
- Most teaching done by teacher and collaboration is discouraged
- Curriculum structured with little regard for child's interests
- Child is guided to concepts by teacher
- Child usually given specific time for work
- Instruction pace set by group norm or teacher
- Errors corrected by teacher
- Learning is reinforced externally by rewards, discouragements
- Few materials for sensory, concrete manipulation
- Little emphasis on instruction or classroom maintenance
- Child assigned seat; encouraged to sit still and listen during group sessions
- Voluntary parent involvement, often only as fundraisers, not participants in understanding the learning process
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