The level and type of intelligence are formed primarily during the first years of life. At age 5, the brain reaches 80% of its adult size. The plasticity of children’s education shows that the potential must be exploited starting early. Knowledge should not be introduced into the heads of children. By contrast, knowledge must be perceived by children as a result of their reasoning. The most important thing is to motivate children to learn comfortably and allow them to satisfy the curiosity and to experience the pleasure of discovering their own ideas instead of receiving knowledge from others.
Allow the child to find the solution of the problems. Unless it is very necessary, do not provide new knowledge from outside. It is better to allow children build it based on their specific experiences. With regard to competition, this behavior should be introduced only after the child had confidence in the use of basic knowledge. Maria Montessori says: “Never let the child to take the risk of failing until he has a reasonable chance to succeed.”
She thought it was not possible to create geniuses, instead of that, she believed in giving each person the opportunity to fulfill their potential to be an independent, safe and balanced human being. Another innovative concept of Montessori is that each child marks his own pace or speed to learn and that must be respected.