Chapter 7
The Data Product Ecosystem

The teacher’s first duty is to watch over the environment, and this takes precedence over all the rest. Its influence is indirect, but unless it be well done there will be no effective and permanent results of any kind, physical, intellectual or spiritual.

—Maria Montessori

Our children attended Montessori schools for the first years of their education and we loved it for the unique educational approach. Maria Montessori believed the right conditions encourage the right behaviors.

Among the core principles she espoused was a “prepared environment,” or a learning environment that is carefully conceived to support student success. The classrooms are often quite beautiful. The space is clean, open, and well organized. Big learning concepts are broken into small building blocks for “work.” The work materials are of high quality and easy for children to manipulate. Students know where to find different types...