Dr Maria Montessori’s curricula have been used in schools for over 100 years. One of the main concepts behind of her ideas is control of error; the material design sets the child up for success–and growth–through small, acceptable failures.
After 2 years in our classroom, our students are so accustomed to accepting new challenges and learning from their mistakes. In the second week of school this year, this third-year students was ready to up the ante. She requested to put on a blindfold to do our classic cylinder block works.
Working with a Blindfold from Highland Montessori School on Vimeo.
Current brain research highlights the genius behind The Montessori Method. For one, Dr Carol Dweck explained in her 2007 book, Mindset, how consistently challenging oneself is the key to mental development, both for children and adults. By working through mistakes, one grows and grows, what Dr. Dweck calls a “growth mindset.” The alternative is letting the mistakes dominate you and falling into a “fixed mindset” in which learning and growth are not just less likely to occur, but may regress.
It goes without saying that we at HMS thoroughly enjoy watching our young scholars grow!