OFFICIAL49 What does the example of the brown stairs demonstrate about Montessori classroom materials?

[00:00.00]NARRATOR: Listen to part of a lecture in an education class. [00:04.96]The professor is discussing the Italian educator Maria Montessori.
[00:09.93]FEMALE PROFESSOR: Okay, if you did your reading for today then you were introduced to a very influential alternative to traditional education. [00:18.60]This educational philosophy and methodology was pioneered in Italy in the early 1900s by Dr. Maria Montessori. [00:28.55]It's called the Montessori Method. [00:31.36]But what made the Montessori Method for young children so different? [00:36.17]What made it so different, so special?
[00:38.99]MALE STUDENT: It's based on very different ideas about how kids learn best, right?
[00:43.89]FEMALE PROFESSOR: Um, hmm. It was groundbreaking. [00:46.66]To begin with, unlike the traditional classrooms at the time, the Montessori classroom environment was more suited to the child—[00:54.52]the furniture was child-sized; [00:56.73]well, it's that way in almost all schools now, but that wasn't always the case.
[01:01.76]We can thank Montessori for this. [01:03.81]Uh, you won't see any long benches with children in rows or heavy desks that separate children. [01:09.83]Children are free to interact with each other. [01:12.91] An-and in Montessori classrooms the furniture is lightweight, so children can move it around easily. And having furniture and materials made to fit them makes kids feel more competent. [01:24.52] This fits in with Montessori’s notion of liberty and autonomy. [01:29.00]Children are free to move around the room, and they learn to do things for themselves.
[01:34.32]MALE STUDENT: I'm not sure I get that part. [01:36.13]It sounds like potential chaos.
[01:38.10]FEMALE PROFESSOR: Oh, no, no, no. [01:39.57]Let's not confuse this liberty of activity with lack of discipline. [01:43.50] In fact, teachers have to maintain this specific environment carefully through a number of rules, which are generally about respect and what’s right. [01:52.77]It-it’s just that the child needs freedom of choice to develop independence and self-direction.
[01:58.99]Also, unlike what happens in most conventional classrooms, children choose their own activities. [02:05.57]They may be guided by the teacher, but it’s ultimately up to each child to select tasks. Which brings us to the manipulative equipment you find in a Montessori classroom, ah, like little boards that have rough or smooth surfaces, or blocks that can be stacked into a tower. [02:25.79]Now, this equipment was designed by Montessori over time with much experimentation—designed, um, well, designed to help children teach themselves, through playing.
[02:39.30]FEMALE STUDENT: Well, what do the teachers do, [02:41.26]I mean, if the kids are teaching themselves?
[02:44.33]FEMALE PROFESSOR: Ah, well, that's a good question. [02:45.55]To start, uh, a child may not work with an activity until the teacher has demonstrated its proper use. [02:53.64]Then the Montessori teacher's job is to observe the child's play, because when the children “play” they're acquiring the basis for later concepts. [03:01.95]So the teacher helps motivate and focus each child and monitors the child's progress, but does not interfere with the child's observations and deductions. [03:11.73]That was—and still is—a novel idea, and—for many teachers—not the easiest thing to do. [03:18.55]In fact, for some it's very difficult. [03:21.54]Montessori herself called the teacher a “director.” [03:25.37]Remember, the independence of the learner lies at the heart of the Montessori methodology.
[03:30.90]FEMALE STUDENT: OK, yeah, it does seem like the teacher'd need a lot of training and patience.
[03:35.78]FEMALE PROFESSOR: True. [03:36.98]As I said, it's not easy for a lot of teachers to step back like that. But getting back to the equipment. [03:43.25]Basic Montessori equipment can be divided into a number of major subject areas, such as Practical Life, Mathematics, and what is called Sensorial.
[03:55.05]With the sensorial equipment the children can explore things like sounds and textures. [04:01.00]At the same time they develop motor skills. [04:04.43]But this apparent play is laying the groundwork for later math and language work.
[04:10.50] Now let's take a look at the materials called “brown stairs.”[04:15.55]For a young child playing with these graduated blocks, these uh, brown stairs, they are not just a sensorial lesson. [04:24.17]By manipulating them, the child develops fine motor skills and by sorting and classifying them by size, by weight, the child learns some basic mathematics.…[04:36.05]Similarly, with Practical Life equipment, the child can learn how to button a shirt, cut up an apple for a snack, and, uh, other real-world tasks.
[04:46.95]MALE STUDENT: With all this integration and real-world learning, is there any room for creativity?

[04:51.50]FEMALE PROFESSOR: Is creativity encouraged? [04:53.89]Well, Montessori teachers wouldn’t praise a child for using a violin as a baseball bat or for putting it on their head like a hat. [05:02.20]But, actually, creativity comes through learning to play the violin, using the object for the purpose it was intended, and Practical Life exercises stress that.