Montessori Pedagogy - STEAM - Waldorf
Comparing Montessori, STEM/STEAM and Waldorf for Early Years
This article provides a comprehensive comparison between Montessori, STEM/STEAM, and Waldorf educational methods. It examines the philosophies, approaches to learning, and their implications for child development.
Montessori, Waldorf, and STEM/STEAM are some of the most popular educational methods for raising children today. We’ve explored the philosophies of each, their approaches to learning, and their implications for child development. If you’re short on time to read them all, here’s a quick overview of their similarities and differences:
Comparison table of different educational trends - Crèche Les Mousquetaires in Leudelange
Montessori Philosophy
Montessori Goal: To create balanced, self-motivated, independent individuals eager to learn.
For Montessori, the first six years are the most important in a child's life, laying the foundation for the rest of their life. Maria Montessori coined the term "Absorbent Mind" because it is during these years that the child absorbs information from their environment effortlessly. This period is marked by the "sensitive periods":
Sensitivity to order
Movement
Details and language
Refinement of the senses
Sensitivity to social aspects
Sensitive periods overlap as a child grows. Missing opportunities to support these periods will make learning the same skills more difficult in the future, meaning their optimal development could be compromised.
The Montessori philosophy emphasizes freedom with responsibility, respecting the child a lot. The child has the freedom to move around and choose what he wants to work on, while the teacher or parent prepares the environment to support the child's learning and development.
Montessori Approach to Learning
Montessori believes that the learning environment should be organized, accessible, predictable, and consistent to help the child learn best. Children learn at their own pace, with student-selected work over long periods of time and without grading or testing. Instruction is given individually or in small groups.
Classes are multi-age, allowing younger children to learn and be inspired by their elders, while providing leadership opportunities for older children. Technology use is minimized so as not to interfere with the child's brain development and creativity. Learning is accomplished through practical life activities, such as cooking, watering plants, and cleaning windows. Imagination is encouraged through practical life, rather than fantasies, until the child understands life in a concrete way.
The role of the teacher is to guide rather than to teach directly. Teachers see themselves as gardeners and children as seeds, providing the right conditions for children to grow independently.
Philosophie Waldorf
Waldorf Goal: To create a child who is a self-motivated and independent learner, with empathy, self-esteem, creative thinking, flexible and focused thought processes, and endurance and perseverance.
The Waldorf system emphasizes a play-based approach, especially for the first seven years. It seeks to nurture the whole child by engaging the five senses through experiential, hands-on, and artistic learning. Emphasis is placed on the individual development of the child with a strong emphasis on the environment and outdoor play.
Waldorf believes that each person is composed of a mind, soul, and body, and follows a natural pattern of development: infancy (0-7 years), middle childhood (7-14 years), and adolescence (14-21 years). For each developmental category, certain processes and conditions must be in place to allow each child to flourish.
Waldorf maintains that every child is born with qualities such as empathy, creative thinking, and effective thought processes, but that these qualities can only emerge through play. Once activated, their ability to achieve academically will also be much higher.
Waldorf Approach to Learning
For the first seven years, the emphasis is on the child's social, physical and emotional development, all through play, both structured and unstructured. Formal academic subjects are not introduced during these years. The emphasis is on creativity through activities such as fantasy, dance, singing and art. Lots of free play with natural materials such as wood, shells and scarves is encouraged. Group play is valued and storytelling is an integral part of the curriculum.
Students follow a routine where certain days of the week are dedicated to certain activities like cooking, gardening, music, and household chores. There is no media, no homework, no tests, and no papers to hand in.
As in Montessori, classes are multi-age, but in the Waldorf system, the same teacher stays with students for seven years. Waldorf recognizes that each child has strengths, but encourages all types of learning so that a child's strength does not become a weakness due to one-sided development.
Self-discipline is taught by example and consistent routines, so that the child does not feel fearful or embarrassed. The child is never directly confronted in Waldorf. For example, if a child is aggressive, the teacher demonstrates how to physically comfort and console the injured child and encourages the aggressive child to do the same.
Philosophy STEM/STEAM
STEM/STEAM Goal: To create scientifically literate critical thinkers, producing the next generation of innovators.
STEM/STEAM is much newer than Montessori and Waldorf, having been founded in 2006 to strengthen children's technological capabilities and help them cope with 21st century changes.
STEAM aims to create functionally literate individuals who can think across a spectrum of different subjects and make connections between them. Emphasis is placed on critical thinking, innovation, creativity, problem solving, data analysis, and collaborative and constructive learning.
STEM/STEAM Approach to Learning
STEM/STEAM promotes inquiry-based thinking and discovery rather than giving facts and answers. For young children, this means being taught through “inquiry-based instruction.” It encourages hands-on experiences to help develop comprehension, vocabulary, critical thinking, problem solving, communication, and reflection.
STEM/STEAM is based on the premise that young children have a natural sense of working with materials, trying things out, and solving problems. This makes it an ideal age to build a foundation of scientific literacy. Children are encouraged to build on everyday moments and expand their natural interests.
For example, if a child wants to dig a hole, they will soon explore how deep and wide they can dig. Different digging tools (technology) can be used to measure depth (mathematics). They can draw pictures of the hole or the different insects they find in it. Children's questions are encouraged, even if they seem silly.
The teacher's role is to encourage critical thinking in children through questions about what they are doing, naturally transforming play into learning. The focus is on both content (what to learn) and processes (how to learn). Parents and teachers using this method are encouraged to ask high-quality, open-ended questions, providing children with the opportunity to approach problems in new and original ways.
His approach focuses heavily on "doing" and solving real-world problems through building and creating, teaching children how to think critically. The child's early years are used to build a scientific culture, opening up time-specific opportunities later in life.
Conclusion
Each method aims to optimize the child's early years to help them reach their potential. However, each achieves this in very different ways. Montessori and Waldorf focus on creating a well-rounded child, while STEM/STEAM places much more emphasis on the scientific component. Waldorf is the only system based solely on play for the first seven years, while Montessori and STEM/STEAM encourage academic learning through play. At Crèche Les Mousquetaires in Leudelange, we integrate the best parts of these methods and combine them for the best outcome in early childhood learning. To learn more about our pedagogy, visit our dedicated page .