Friday, January 2, 2009

How is the child’s exploration and orientation in his physical environment complimented by the Montessori materials and presentation?

Dr. Maria Montessori, the revolutionary explorer in early childhood education in the 20th century discovered a world within the child. Her observations of the child, at Casa dei Bambini - the first Montessori Classroom - led her to discover the secrets of childhood. And the framework of Montessori Philosophy is based on three important discoveries; Tendencies, Absorbent Mind and Sensitive Periods.


As Dr. Montessori said, the child has his own potential for life to develop. It is important for the adult to understand and allow the child build himself by his own experiences without the adult trying to fill their knowledge onto the child. Every child posses a pre-determined pattern of psychic unfold, which is not visible at birth but it is revealed when the child is exposed to the environment with freedom. When these two factors are provided, child’s psychic life will reach its potential and build his personality for his survival in the society.

From birth and throughout the childhood, a child’s Absorbent Mind allows him to absorb impressions from his surrounding environment and directly store it into his psychic life. As an infant these impressions are absorbed unconsciously but gradually when the child has a conscious mind, he absorb impressions consciously and make language connections.


There are blocks of time in early years of child’s life which he absorbs certain characteristics of his environment to the exclusion of all others. This is called Sensitive Periods. A child possess sensitive periods for order, to experience the world using his five senses, sensitivity for small minute objects, co-ordination of movements, for language and to be in groups. During these Sensitive Periods if the child was not exposed and not satisfied, the opportunity for a natural conquest is lost forever and the child will carry this lack with him throughout his entire life.


Based Dr. Maria Montessori’s observations, she was convinced that all humans possess certain tendencies or behaviour patterns, that are universal. These behaviour patterns are seen from birth to maturity. They are natural impulses that arise from the sub-conscious which direct humans without a reason or conscious thought to perform certain actions. The practical application of the Montessori Method is based on these human tendencies. They are to explore, move, share with others, to be independent and make decisions, create order, develop self-control, abstract ideas from experience, use the creative imagination, work hard, repeat, concentrate, and perfect one's efforts.


Humans love to be in groups which make them much comfortable and communication keeps them together. The best example to witness these human tendencies is the world consisting diverse cultures and communities. The human tendency for imagination and curiosity has brought the man into an advanced era. The “curiosity” builds the intellectual desire to experiment more and abstraction is the imagination which witnessed before reality. These imaginations to take the form of concrete the man require technology and manipulation of objects. It is the tendency for calculation and work. The work is made competent by the help of three more tendencies of man; repetition, concentration and self-control. For the continuity of man, perfection and creativity comes in place to make adjustments and modification to the environment we lives in accordance to our understanding. To make these modifications to the environment, man has to explore the environment. These successful cultural adaptations to survive in this world were called independence.


“Human tendency to explore puts him in contact with his environment”

- MMI, DMT 108: pg. 1


Child’s tendency to explore the environment is visible from the moment of his birth. Every human explores and experiences the world with their five senses. I’ve witness to the method of my 9 month old nephew experiencing the world. He mostly uses his tongue to taste objects and by that he absorbs its impression into his mind.

A child enters the Montessori Classroom when he is in the age of 2 ½ to 6. The human tendencies can be readily witnessed in a child at this age. Maria Montessori believes that when the child enters the Montessori classroom he should be given opportunities to act upon his tendencies. She identified that child’s needs for proper development of the psychic life, needs to be satisfied through purposeful work.


“…realising the peculiarly absorbent nature of the child’s mind, she has prepared for him a special environment; and then placing the child within it, has given him the freedom to live in it, absorbing what he finds there."

- Standing E.M – Maria Montessori- Her Life and Work: Chapter XVI, pg. 265


As a facilitator for early childhood education I agree with Dr. Montessori to consider the environment as secondary to life. It is the most important work of the facilitator to create the environment of the classroom with much thought. She should be creative, sensitive, organized and well knowledgeable. The prepared environment of the Montessori Classroom should be attractive to explore, child friendly, orderly and should provide purposeful work, which are self-correcting, so the children feel free to respond to their natural tendencies and construct their psychic and physical lives.


Practical Life exercises are the first activities the child is introduced to within the Montessori environment. These exercises are prepared based on activities children witnesses in their day to day life. Such as spooning, pouring, pegging, washing hands and greeting which allows children to immediately be comfortable and satisfy their inner needs and desires. By mastering these exercises independently the child is also able to orient himself not only within the classroom environment but also with the outside world.


Montessori sensorial materials and exercises are the most valuable for it aid the child in his natural and intellectual development. It is introduced at the peak of child’s sensitive period for using their senses and to refine their senses by materials. Activities such as working with colour tablets, would improve child’s ability to discriminate colours, and exercises with thermic tablets and thermic bottles would improve child’s sense for temperature. As a result, the child develops his intellectual order, and the quality of the child's orientation to his environment.

Language helps the child to unify with his community. When his ability for communication is improved he is capable of expressing his feelings, share his thoughts, ideas and desires. Montessori classroom apply simple methods to develop child’s language skills. Associating names to the objects that they come across in their day to day life is one important method which satisfies child’s tendency for exploration. I sometimes get the opportunity to bring my 4 ½ year old niece home after her pre-school. On our way she points to things and asks “What do you call this?” and she gives met he Sinhalese name and asks “What you call that in English?” Little children are more curious, it feels as if they want to explore the whole world in one day.


But child’s exploration for the environment within the world is greatly satisfied by materials presented in cultural subjects.


"Culture and education have no bounds or limits; now man is in a phase in which he must decide for himself how far he can proceed in the culture that belongs to the whole of humanity."

- Four Planes of Education: AMI, 1971 (Edinburgh and London lectures): p. 11


With all the experience the child has gained from activities in practical life, sensorial and language the child has already been prepared to absorb the enrichment provided in the Cultural Area. Practical Life activities have helped the child develop a respect for objects and have provided a foundation of experiences for future use in working with cultural materials. The Sensorial Area has helped him develop the awareness of shape, colour, texture and other property of the physical world and in developing his five senses and his mathematical mind. Language gives the child the means of expressing his emotions and knowledge. Math has begun a foundation of logic and reasoning. All these will help him to acquire the kind of behaviour that enables participation in social groups, understanding of diversity, respect the other life forms in the environment and to make connections with different cultures in the world.

Children are born with the psychology of the world conquest. Exercises in cultural subjects is the approach for cosmic education, and it is aimed to bring about in a Montessori classroom a variety of materials in zoology, botany, geography, history, art, music along with the respect for different cultures and peoples.


One of the early activities in cultural studies is the nature table. By observing and collecting materials from the garden will develop child’s interest and awareness of nature. Other nature studies such as discussing about animals, plants, vegetables and fruits using large picture cards, absorbing visual and muscular impressions of leaf shapes in the botany cabinet, growing a plant and observing its growth in stages, identifying living and non-living things, discussing about life stories of plants and animals will provide the opportunity for the child to observe and explore his environment using his five senses and to build a logical understanding of their environment. Also it would provide a concrete impression as to what other life forms are, to share and care for them.


The sensitive period for language occurs around the age of 2 ½ to 4. The child explores the whole world looking for words to increase their vocabulary. It is at this time the child is introduced to picture cards to identifying animals by its group, like mammals, birds, reptiles. Then gradually move on to showing parts of animals, parts of a flower and more.


In Zoology and Botany children are exposed to the study of plants and animals. They are taught to identify animals and classify them into clear and simple categories. For example animals can be categorised from their diet; whether it feeds on meat only (Carnivore) or feeds on plants, grass only (Herbivore) or feeds on both flesh and plant substances (Omnivore). Discussing about animals that are found domestic or in wild, which the child may have seen on television would make the child feel more comfortable also it would make the child be more observant on what they come across in the environment.


By learning about importance of the sun, and how it helps the man for his daily activities, and his survival, the child learns that he’s a part of the environment and he will be more aware of his responsibilities in order to protect and care for the environment.


In Geography children will be introduced to the globe, various continents, countries, and land and water forms. Child is taught, there are more to this world than the community he lives in.


“He has a type of mind that goes beyond the concrete. He has the great power of imagination………We do not see only with our eyes, and culture is not made up of what we see alone.”

The Absorbent Mind, chapter XVII, pg 176


We cannot see the globe from our naked eye. But in the Montessori classroom we provide a muscular impression of the globe using the sandpaper globe. With jigsaw map and isolation maps of the world we show the child, shapes and placements of continents and oceans. In later activities child is able to show us, “This is Asia” “Sri Lanka is in Asia”. This is an indication of child’s greater imagination power beyond his sensorial experience.


With picture cards of various continents, the child is explained about the differences and similarities in cultures of another country. In this activity child would gain only a visual impression. But having a ‘Cultural Day’ at the Montessori Classroom would provide the opportunity for the child to experience the essence of other human geography and cultures of the world. Associating model animals with continents will give an understanding of adaptation, in the animal kingdom to the world's physical environment. Whilst child’s interest grows about other parts the world would, he would explore and develop his own hobbies such as collecting souvenirs and learn about flags, languages of other countries.


“if education be conducted on scientific lines, we can effectively reduce the differences that divide men of diverse race and country…”

The Absorbent Mind, Chapter XVII, pg 180


Children use many puzzles for activities in botany, zoology and geography areas. Puzzles are a very important part of the Montessori Method of education, because children experience things that they can touch and manipulate with much greater interest than a picture on paper. By assembling these puzzle pieces; children can develop a real sense of discovery about the world, or parts of an animal and plants.


Through activities in the history area, such as timeline of a day, birthday walk, discussing about special moments in the past, the child is given an understanding of the difference between past and present and how past events have led to present situations. These activities lead the child to explore his past and be conscious of his present.

In the traditional Montessori birthday celebration, the child carries a globe around the sun. Each time the child takes ‘the earth’ around ‘the sun’ another year has gone by and the child is a year older. Other kids are shown photos of the birthday child’s special moments, as she gets older and the life story is told by the teacher. From this simple and fun activity the child gains a sense of both history and science.


"…today children learn, using language as their guide, a great deal of exact knowledge about biology, geography, and astronomy. And this knowledge is like seed sown in fertile soil. In the mind of the child the seed grows naturally thanks to the promptings of nature which invite a child to acquire knowledge of the world,"

- The Discovery of the Child: Chapter XVII, pg 262


In all cultural activities children are encouraged for communication. They are asked open ended questions so they are able to express concepts and use appropriate words describing events or pictures. Also all the materials are designed to be self correcting so that the children can learn from them directly and each material eventually leads the child to abstraction.


In conclusion it can be stated that the children in the Montessori prepared environment have opportunities to become insightful, observant, sensitive and most important thoughtful. The experience in the cultural activities are logical, real clear, simple and part of the real world These characteristics are cultivated to prepare the child for study of the cosmic world.


Children begin by exploring similarities between their cultures, objects, life forms in the environment, and then they cultivate appreciation and respect for differences. They learn how all beings are fundamentally related to each other to maintain the ecological balance of the world and discover ways to feel that they are an important part in this world.


The sequence of materials; from concrete to abstract representations, such as from models to photographs and drawings, develops child’s intellect. The child will continue with these activities as learning components and functions, classifying and definitions.


The ultimate goal of the ‘prepared environment’ is to stimulate child’s interest and give him the possibility to explore and experience the environment and help him in his mental classification in order to develop his own personality. We can e witness to the endless inner happiness of the child if he is given the opportunity to explore the world endlessly.

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