Maria Montessori’s Theory

Vs. Jean Piaget’s Theory

Maria Montessori and Jean Piaget are two educational philosophers whose theories are still being used and influence today’s educational system. Their theories and methods were revolutionary for their times, but they came to be greatly respected. Both of these theorist developed their own stages of child development and were able to base education on these stages. Although in many ways Piaget and Montessori were very similar in their thinking they were also very different in their teaching approaches. Piaget and Montessori are two main players in the early childhood education field and based most of their ideas on their observations of children. Maria Montessori was
Piaget study Maria Montessori’s theories and work with childhood education. Although Piaget later developed his own stages of children development he did so by building upon Maria Montessori’s idea that meaningful work is important to a child’s development. Piaget felt that the child’s curiosity is what drives learning. Children, according to Piaget, give meaning to places, people, and objects and this helps them explain themselves without adults dictating to them. Piaget’s stages of child development begin with the sensorimotor stage that is from birth to 18 months. At this stage in an infant’s life they rely on senses and physical activities to learn about the world around them. The children need to be able to explore objects in their environment by touching, pulling, pushing, and exploring with their mouths without being in danger of getting injured. The second stage is the pre-operational stage, which the child is completely egocentric. At this point an object’s relevance is based on its relationship to the child. The third stage is the concrete operational when the child can begin to reverse thoughts. The child acknowledges that objects exist whether they are there or not. The final stage is the formal operational stage this is when the child begins to think logically and use abstract reasoning. The objective of Piaget’s work is to explore ways in which children grow and learn about the world around them.