MULTI-AGE GROUPING
Observation + Imitation = Learning
"Montessori encourages learning from peers in part by using three-year age groupings. This ensures that as children move through the classroom they will be exposed to older and younger peers, facilitating both imitative learning and peer tutoring... Dr. Montessori was quite clear about the need for this mix of ages."
BENEFITS TO YOUNGER LEARNERSAlong with direct lessons given by classmates, younger students in a multi-age setting also learn by observing the activities of older peers and even by "eavesdropping" on advanced lessons given by the teacher to another child. Montessori teachers are careful to present lessons to older children in a manner that allows interested younger children to watch, listen, and learn.
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BENEFITS TO OLDER LEARNERSThere is no better way to reinforce one's own knowledge than by teaching someone else. A Montessori multi-age classroom affords children daily opportunities to teach a skill or share information with others.
When peer-to-peer learning is self-directed, when it happens because children are ready, willing, and able to participate, it bolsters the older child's self-confidence, opens doors for younger children, and sharpens the academic skills of both. |
