In a Montessori Elementary classroom, children receive stimulating and inspiring small group lessons that briefly introduce a concept or material. Then, filled with ideas and excited to elaborate, the children initiate work to follow up on that lesson.
These lessons are “keys;” their purpose is to unlock the door to a particular concept, but they do not describe everything in the room. Exploration and greater understanding of what that “room” contains happens in the follow-up stage, where the child takes ownership of the concept and auto-educates, as we call it. This follow-up work can come in a variety of forms but, very frequently, the children decide to embark on some sort of group project.
After a lesson introducing the Pythagorean theorem two weeks ago, a few older children in the Sunflower elementary community, were inspired to use their geometry knowledge to build “Geometry City” (or at least that’s how it started). There was an idea to make “Square Town,” at first, and maybe some sort of circle village. This seed of an idea has grown since then and it is nothing short of incredible.
If you entered our classroom these days, you’d immediately see the ongoing construction of “Geometropia.” Within the realm, you’ll find Circle City, Quadrilateral Quarter, Triangle Town, and Polygonia. In Circle City, you’ll find Radius Radio, complete with a circular antenna dish. In Triangle Town, you can head to the Hypotenuse Hotel–a right-angled building with three square-shaped offshoots on the legs and hypotenuse–nestled in the center of Pythagoras Square. Other hotels are under construction as one of the builders is currently researching great thinkers in geometry for some name inspiration.
Within Polygonia rests Polygon Palace, adjacent to Hexagon Harbor and Parallel Park but running a little too close for comfort to Irregular Alley (signs warn you not to enter, as nothing there perfectly matches or is symmetrical). Polygonia is also home to the Happy Shapes Cafe where apple pi costs only $3.14.
Plastered on the buildings of Square Corner (the bustling center of Quadrilateral Quarter), billboards read “Circles Fight Back!”, referencing the latest feud between circles and squares. Circles “want rights,” (they don’t have right angles) but squares say “We never cut corners!”
These children will never forget the geometric nomenclature, concepts, and history they are discovering. It’s a part of them now because they were driven intrinsically to unlock those doors. Research in motivation and learning clearly shows it time and again—students who are intrinsically motivated to learn a concept demonstrate significantly better recall and retention when compared to those who were motivated by extrinsic rewards or punishments (grades, gold stars, etc).
Aside from just recall and retention, though, intrinsically motivated students are proven to actually enjoy academic work and learning. They maintain high levels of curiosity, demonstrate deep conceptual understanding, and overall, show greater achievement in school settings when compared to their extrinsically motivated counterparts.
You’ve given your children an incredible gift by nurturing this crucial form of motivation!
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