From Montessori to STEAM , the making of a Blended Curriculum.

From Montessori to STEAM, 

the making of a Blended Curriculum.

Herein, you will be finding out Some basics about Blending Curriculum. How the transition happens in education for Blend curriculum. Why Blended curricula is an important new step in education.

We have been witnessing over the years in the past decade a change in the way we handle education. The change has started with play-based learning, project-based learning, and many other key buzzwords. More and more educators are changing the idea that test is the most important thing in gauging whether a student is good or not.

So you may be asking, what is the most important thing education?

How about the learning process?

The learning process used to be very important. Think about long ago, when there weren’t that many books around. People learn by doing.  People learn by experiencing. People learn from other people and their experiences. You were given information and you were able to find more answers be more creative, think critically, find a path. 

Learning was about doing.

In truly Blended curriculum takes to heart this philosophy.

The learning process become is the most important part of education. The Outcomes can vary. The results may be different depending on the path the teacher and the students take. But in the process of learning, the students were able to ask questions and to find answers and there’s always more than one answer.  That’s true education.

Now you may be asking yourself. But what about test? What about facts? What about information?

Quite frankly in today society with the Internet at hand on any mobile phone. Computers everywhere. And the Internet has to become a daily life tool. Facts are easy to find. And I do believe they are still important. And we should learn them and try to get as much knowledge as possible. But facts do not make you a good leader. Facts do not make you creative.  facts do not solve your problem in the workplace or even a personal problem.  Facts can be looked up easily.  however again I stress that have a good knowledge base especially when it’s based around your work, it is very important. You will be able to do more with that. But If you have critical thinking, are able to be creative, to take those facts and turn them into more. 

Blended curriculums take a step toward properly mixing curriculum.  Keeping in mind the natural learning path of any child and human being. And blending them with the ability to be inquisitive. To build inquiries. To learn to ask for good questions. And to make a learning path fun, interesting and get real results.

Example Blending education  and it's rooted in Montessori and STEAM 

Montessori 

The Montessori method of education, developed by Marie Montessori, is a child-centered educational approach based on scientific observation of children from birth to adulthood. Montessori is methods have been used for over 100 years in many parts of the world.

Although a range of practices exists under the name Montessori, the association Montessori international and the American Montessori society site these elements as essentials.

-  Mixed age classrooms; classrooms for children ages 2½ or 3 to 

6 years old is by far the most common, but 0–3, 3-6, 6–9, 9–12, 12–15, 

and 15–18-year-old classrooms exist as well.

• Student choice of activity from within a prescribed range of options.
• Uninterrupted blocks of work time, ideally three hours.
• A constructivist or "discovery" model, where students learn concepts from working with materials, rather than by direct instruction.
• Specialized educational materials developed by Montessori and her collaborators often made out of natural, aesthetic materials such as wood, rather than plastic.
• A thoughtfully prepared environment where materials are organized by subject area, within reach of the child, and are appropriate in size.
• Freedom of movement within the classroom.
• A trained Montessori teacher who follows the child and is highly experienced in observing the individual child's characteristics, tendencies, innate talents, and abilities.

Montessori education is fundamentally a model of human development, and an educational approach based on that model. The model has two basic principles. First, children and developing adults engage in psychological self-construction by means of interaction with their 

environments. Second, children, especially under the age of six, have an innate path of psychological development. Based on her observations, Montessori believed that children who are at liberty to choose and act freely within an environment prepared according to her model would act spontaneously for optimal development.

Montessori saw universal, innate characteristics in human psychology which her son and collaborator Mario Montessori identified as "human tendencies" in 1957. There is some debate about the exact list, but the following are clearly identified:

• Abstraction
• Activity
• Communication
• Exactness
• Exploration
• Manipulation (of the environment)
• Order
• Orientation
• Repetition
• Self-Perfection
• Work (also described as "purposeful activity")

In the Montessori approach, these human tendencies are seen as driving behavior in every stage of development, and education should respond to and facilitate their expression.

STEAM

 Steam is an educational approach to learning that uses science technology engineering the arts and mathematics to access points for guiding students inquiry, dialogue, and critical thinking.

Steam represents a paradigm shift from traditional education philosophy is, based on standardized test and scores to a modern idea that focuses on valuing the learning process as much as the result. In essence, we dare her students to be wrong, we try multiple ideas, listen to alternate options and create a knowledge base that is applicable to real life situations, jobs. In real life situations. It is not just based on exams.

It’s this Authors personal believes the education has gone away from actually learning of things to just memorizing and repeating. And test to become too important to gauge how well students doing. I personally have taken a course in University at John Hopkins. These courses I took her out of order. I seem to manage to pass every single test. I got 40% on three different courses. However, I could not pass the course because I did not understand the materials. This is proof the testing doesn’t mean you know what you’re doing. Or understand the material or have understood the materials at all.

A blended curriculum is taking education to a new level.

Based in Montessori and adding in elements from international education. But mainly using steam as part of the Montessori process in the morning hours. During the actual Montessori time. Bringing Montessori into the 21st-century.  

Then in the afternoon focuses on a properly structured international project-based curriculum with the main focus on STEAM.

Following in the human element and natural development of children from the Montessori methods. And blending them with proper international education. Focusing more on the learning process.  Creating wonderful varied results that can happen from inquiry-based learning. Don’t focus on testing. Focus on the process!

Now you have A better understanding of how Blended curriculum is different, unique and also a part of a bright future for any young child.

The world is evolving and so should education!