Montessori education approach is characterized by an emphasis on independence, freedom within limits, and respect for a child’s natural psychological, physical, and social development. Mixed age classrooms, with classrooms for children ages 2½ or 3 to 6 years old are by far the most common.

Student choice of activity from within a prescribed range of options. Uninterrupted blocks of work time. 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. Freedom of movement within the classroom.

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. 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.

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.

Abstraction

Activity

Communication

Exactness

Exploration

Manipulation (of the environment)

Order

Orientation

Repetition

Self-Perfection

Work (also described as "purposeful activity")

Montessori's education method called for free activity within a "prepared environment", meaning an educational environment tailored to basic human characteristics, to the specific characteristics of children at different ages, and to the individual personalities of each child. The function of the environment is to help and allow the child to develop independence in all areas according to his or her inner psychological directives. In addition to offering access to the Montessori materials appropriate to the age of the children, the environment should exhibit the following characteristics:

An arrangement that facilitates movement and activity

Beauty and harmony, cleanliness of environment

Construction in proportion to the child and her/his needs

Limitation of materials, so that only material that supports the child's development is included

Order

Nature in the classroom and outside of the classroom