Montessori Teaching: Children's Imitation of Precise Actions

• In Event: Montessori Education SIG: Child Development Research

Abstract

Children learn in part through imitation. Under what conditions do they imitate most? When giving lessons, Montessori teachers emphasize the importance of each movement, and speak little. Three-year-olds (N = 50) who never attended Montessori received either a Montessori-like or an ordinary lesson on how to wash a table. We investigated whether they imitated more and were more precise in their actions following a Montessori lesson as opposed to a naturalistic lesson. On four out of five measures of imitation, children in the Montessori condition were more likely to imitate, but there were no differences in terms of the child’s level of precision. This suggests children learn more from Montessori-like lessons, where presenters highlight movements with precision, and minimize speech.

Authors

• Dermina Vasc, University of Virginia

• Allyson Snyder, University of Virginia

• Rana Rahman, University of Virginia

• Angeline S Lillard, University of Virginia