Thoughts on Worksheets and Workbooks in the Montessori Environment

NAMC worksheets and workbooks in the montessori prepared environment girls writing

A NAMC student recently asked about the role of worksheets and workbooks in the Montessori environment. It seems that the parents at her school are demanding their students bring home more work. This need to show tangible evidence of learning is entrenched in modern society. But does it have a place in Montessori?

What makes Montessori different from conventional methods of education is the use of concrete materials that guide the child to inquire and construct their own knowledge. While conventional classrooms use manipulatives, in Montessori, the children use the materials to discover the laws of nature and learn on their own. Manipulatives used in a conventional setting are only used after the teacher has told the child the laws, and the manipulatives are used to practice, not discover.

Worksheets and Workbooks in the Montessori Environment: Not Always a Good Fit

“1. The principal quality of my material is to attract the attention of the child and to provoke a permanent reaction within the child.

2. (The next quality) of my material is that it is systematic. All the objects are connected in a series and together form a material of development.

3. (The third quality) of my material is that it contains (what I call) the control of error. As the child uses the material, the material shows the child his mistakes and, in this free path the child can correct these errors.

This also liberates him from unfavorable and discouraging criticism of others and develops in him the sense of (self-) criticism.”
– The California Lectures of Maria Montessori, 1915, p.11, 12

The Montessori materials bring abstract thought and concepts to life in front of the child. They understand what it means to cube a number because they have built it, touched it, held it, and seen it. They construct whole sentences and stories using the moveable alphabet before they are even able to read. These ‘materialized abstractions’ represent the child’s work. However, the parent is not there to see this work and must, therefore, rely on the teacher to tell them what was worked on.

There are several reasons worksheets/workbooks do not work in the Montessori environment:

No logical control of error makes them adult-centered
Child does not create the work
No room for creativity
Right answers receive praise or incentives; wrong answers require corrections (punishment)
The nature of a worksheet, matching/fill-in-the-blank/unscrambling does not lead to real thinking skills

NAMC worksheets and workbooks in the montessori prepared environment math materials

Perhaps the most logical argument against the use of worksheet/workbooks in the Montessori environment comes from Montessori veteran teacher, Kitty Bravo:

“. …the children who needed the extra support were the least likely to want to work in the workbook, and the ones that easily learned to read and write breezed through workbook after workbook. It seemed like for the language challenged children it was pure torture, and for the advanced student it quickly became meaningless busy work as well as a source of unhealthy competition (“I’m on work book 5, what are you on…”).”

Using workbooks in the first plane of development (ages 0-6) removes the very important element of self-discovery. Moving to paper and pencil immediately moves work from a concrete level to one of abstraction. Young children need movement and the ability to manipulate objects and experience and embrace learning with all their senses.

Parents want their children to succeed and they need evidence that their child is learning. In our next blog, you’ll learn about ways you can document the child’s progress without having to resort to conventional worksheets, as well as when using a worksheet/workbook may be appropriate in the Montessori setting.