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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Elementary school teacher Scott Lough's classroom is filled with clay dinosaurs, volcanoes and dioramas built by the students in his Montessori class at N.J. Macpherson school.

It was his students' idea to work with clay and Lough is more than happy to follow their cues.

Counting the segments on coloured rods, four-year-old Riordan Speed receives guidance from her teacher, Narine Margaryan, at the Montessori school. - Ben Morgan / NNSL photo

That's the way it works at a Montessori school - students and teachers determine the focus of classroom activities together.

Lough said a Montessori environment is different than traditional public school classrooms.

"We are walking with the child on the path of their education but we're walking beside them and we're holding their hand and showing them the way," said Lough.

Teachers don't push or pull students towards particular lessons, they provide the structure for education - and that's because of the philosophy of founder Maria Montessori.

Lough said Montessori was a pioneer in child education.

"She was an amazing observer," he said. "She understood that human beings learn at different planes of development."

Born in 1870, Maria Montessori became Italy's first female physician. She believed children possess a sensibility and intellectual ability often misunderstood by more traditional school systems. She founded her own school in 1906 using a "prepared environment" to assist the learning process of children based on her philosophy and understanding of childhood behaviour.

Today, Montessori schools can be found across the world. In Yellowknife, the Montessori society has run a school since 1975. In the fall of 2004 a Montessori program began at Yellowknife Education District No. 1 - the only public school Montessori program in the NWT.

There are around 100 students enrolled in Montessori programs in Yellowknife between the Montessori school and the Yk1 program.

Lough said the process is a holistic approach to education.

"In the Montessori learning environment, obstacles to learning are removed," he said. "A child learns his or her lessons when they're ready to learn. It's largely up to them."

Lessons are crafted around the understanding that children learn from mistakes. Positive reinforcement also plays a large role.

"Montessori teachers need to be trained a certain way because materials need to be presented to the child in a proper way so that we can observe how that child is learning," said Narine Margaryan, a teacher at the Montessori school in Yellowknife.

She said there are five foundations of learning, including math and language lessons. Cultural lessons introduce the student to the world around them - focusing on science, history geography, art and music. Practical life lessons help children develop fundamental skills and co-ordination, such as tying their shoes and taking care of plants and pets. Sensory lessons allow a child to use their abilities to explore and analyze the tactile environment by smelling and tasting and communicating what they discover.

Montessori classrooms are comprised of mixed age groups and run from preschool ages to Grade 6.

"The older students take on a leadership role with the younger students and younger students look to the older students as examples of inspiration but there is a still room for group learning," said Margaryan.

Lough said a Montessori education helps children to develop intellectually, psychological, emotionally and socially.

"But as Montessori teachers we will never be the sage on the stage, we will be the guide on the side."