Motivation in Traditional and Montessori School Environments: a Comparison of the Effects of Traditional and Montessori K-8 School Environments on Student Motivation

Motivation is integral to success throughout our lifetime in our personal, professional, and educational environments. Some aspects of educational structures and environments can be manipulated to create a most supportive and motivating environment. Comparisons between traditional and Montessori environments show the differences in the way we view education and students' capabilities and responsibilities. Investigating the differences in student motivation between traditional and Montessori schools reveals many interesting findings. Quite noticeable, it is the difference in classroom environments and the ways in which the classrooms are structured that are mentioned to be a factor in influencing intrinsic motivation across grade levels, k-8. The difficulty in many schools is the lack of motivation that students' have within the classroom. With limited motivations, academic achievement suffers.