| Montessori |
Traditional |
| 1. Child-centered class |
1. Teacher-centered class |
| 2. Small teacher-pupil ratio |
2. Large teacher-pupil ratio |
| 3. Teacher is a "facilitator |
3. Teacher is center of class as "controller" |
| 4. Environment and method encourage self-discipline |
4. Teacher acts as primary enforcer of discipline |
| 5. Mainly individual instruction |
5. Mainly group instruction |
| 6. Mixed-age grouping |
6. Same-age grouping |
| 7. Grouping encourages children to teach and help each
other |
7. Most teaching done by teacher |
| 8. Child chooses own work with teacher guidance within
prepared environment |
8. Curriculum structured for child |
| 9. Child discovers own concepts and is gently guided
by teacher |
9. Teacher is source of concept discovery |
| 10. Child works as long as he/she chooses on a specific
project |
10. Child generally allotted certain time for work |
| 11. Child sets own learning pace and develops the abilitiy
to budget own time |
11. Instruction pace usually set by group norm |
| 12. Child spots own error from feedback of material |
12. If work is corrected, errors usually pointed out by teacher |
| 13. Child reinforces own learning by repetition of work
and internal feelings of success |
13. Learning is reinforced externally by repetition |
| 14. Multi-sensory materials for physical exploration |
14. Fewer materials for sensory exploration; more emphasis on worksheets |
| 15. Organized program for learning care of self and
environment |
15. No organized program for self-care instruction (left primarily
to parents) |
| 16. Group work can be voluntary |
16. Child usually assigned own chair and must participate, sit still
& listen to group lesson |
