Alternate Education Methods

                                

       Montessori and Dewey are both individuals who created alternative methods to education. Both of them believe that each individual has specific needs which should direct their education. Also the teacher must guide the students through their educational journey.

            Montessori had a basic scientific pedagogy for her method of education, freedom was essential. Students needed to be free to explore, by exploring different objects and problems students would learn how to figure things out on their own. She didn’t believe that schooling needed to be like slavery, children should be comfortable in school and able to move furniture to suit their needs. Stationary furniture can limit freedom while movable furniture encourages engagement with the rest of the people in the classroom. Pupils must be free, without freedom in the class room children will be discouraged to learn and experiment. By allowing students to have more choices they will be able to learn in ways that they want and be able to encounter multiple problems they must solve.

            Dewey had an even more freedom based method, he believed children should be able to do what they want with what they had. He often used the phrase “thinking in education,” which is a process where children participate in a series of activities which provides them with skills to solve problems. The conditions required in a Dewey based classroom are as follows, there needs to be several objects that the kids can experiment with and the teacher needs to allow for multiple hands on experiences. Dewey believes the best process of education is experience, knowledge and then putting these two together to solve a problem. 

Montessori Video

Dewey Video