The composition of any learning environment is crucial for student success. An ideal learning environment, Montessori describes, should include materials that promote the correct kind of stimulation; materials in a Montessori classroom are designed to be easily accessible for all children, visually appealing and developmental stage appropriate while also including a control of error to ensure that the child can be independently successful after an initial introduction to the material from an adult.

The classroom itself is designed to be orderly, beautiful, and child-focused. Montessori designed her first Casa dei Bambini using furniture that was child- sized and easily moveable, she utilized a clean and simplistic organizational system that allowed for easy access to materials, all of this successfully creating a serene and efficient learning environment. It is this easily accessible and organized environment that allows the children the independence necessary to achieve sustained attention and allows the teacher to act as an observer; both of these aspects are major principles of the Montessori Method.

It is important to realize that environments, despite organization, can easily become inefficient for education because of over-stimulation and lack of independent access. An over-stimulating environment, unlike the simplified organization of a Montessori classroom, negatively affects the child’s ability to focus and sustain their attention; children easily become distracted and un-attentive which makes them more likely to display unproductive and inappropriate behaviour that consequently disrupts the teachers’ ability to function as an observer. The state of the classroom environment and the properties of the classroom materials are crucial to the Montessori Method as they are the tools which allow students to flourish independently in their education.

• environment
• Montessori Inspired
• observation
• organization
• stimulation