Post-irishmomusa

A lot of people ask me what exactly is Montessori, is it a type of dinosaur?

Well in a nutshell; Maria Montessori was a wonderful woman born in Italy in 1870. She was way ahead of her time and became, against her father's will, the first ever female medical doctor in Italy! Later she went into the area of child development and designed an amazing curriculum for children that is still being used to this day across the world. She opened her first school in San Lorenzo, outside of Rome in 1907 and went on to be nominated several times for a Nobel Peace Prize. Unfortunately Maria never patented her educational philosophy or curriculum and so now everyone and anyone can call their day care/creche/kindergarten a Montessori even if it does not adhere to her principles and requirements.

Anyway, back to the philosophy; after observing children, Maria Montessori noticed that children from birth until six years of age (in the first plane of development) learnt effortlessly in such an intense way that left them feeling refreshed. She called this phenomenon the “Absorbent Mind”.

This ability of the young child to absorb (combine into itself) information is in direct contrast to that of an older child or adult, who needs to use a great deal of effort to learn new things. This unconscious will to learn is driven and guided by the home, which is present in the child’s psyche at birth and drives the child to become independent. It is the absorbent mind that transfers the helpless infant into a young child with the necessary physical and mental abilities required for human existence.

It is in the First Plane of Development (0-3 years) that Maria Montessori noticed the unconscious learning that was taking place. During this period all details and impressions become engraved into the child’s very being, through repetition and thereby creating his personality. The child makes use of all his senses to observe emotions, behaviours and the culture in his environment forming the mneme or unconscious memory. As the ability to absorb these details is naturally active in each child, they cannot be taught by an adult. Maria Montessori called this quiet absorption “the Secret of Childhood”.

It is through various sensitive periods that the mystery of the absorbent mind is revealed. This is when the child unconsciously desires to learn a new skill. The sensitive periods could be described as internal aids that help in the development of a child’s personality. It is during a sensitive period that a child learns a new skill effortlessly through the process of absorption.

“Impressions do not merely enter his mind, they form it, they incarnate themselves in him” [1]

However if the child’s needs are not met during a sensitive period, the child may become difficult and badly behaved. It is vital that the child is in the care of an adult who has knowledge and can recognize these sensitive periods to avoid this from happening. Once a sensitive period has passed, the child will need to exert great effort to learn the new skill.

In the first plane of development there are three sensitive periods that peak between the ages of one and three years of age, namely those of movement, language and order.

Of all the sensitive periods, that of movement is the most noticeable during the infants first year of life. As the newborn matures, he discovers his hands and feet. This discovery allows him to explore his immediate environment because he is now able to grasp objects and place them in his mouth. This is how he begins to use his senses to explore the nature of these objects. Later on the infant will learn to roll, sit, crawl and finally take his first steps. It is usually during a child’s first year and a half that these changes happen that transform a helpless infant into a mobile toddler. It is only once the toddler has started walking that the hands are free to work, therefore becoming “instruments of the mind” [2].

“His hand guided by his intelligence begins to do jobs of definitely human type” [3]

At the same time the sensitive period for language is also developing. From six months old, the infant is already attempting to imitate the sounds he hears in the human voice. Around the time that he turns two, an explosion of language occurs. During this time the toddler starts to spontaneously speak the language he has heard from his parents.

The toddler’s sensitive period of order is when the child strives to maintain order in his environment so that he can make sense his world and build his inner personality. It is vital to the toddler that his environment remains orderly and unchanging. He also needs to have a predictable routine, because external order in the environment leads to internal order in the toddler.

“absorption is now helped and enriched by active experience ” [4]

He begins to build on what he has learnt in the first three years by refining and perfecting his movements through repetition. With each repeated action the child builds on his existing knowledge and experiences something new with each repetition due to the different stimuli found in the prepared environment. It is the extraordinary nature of the child’s absorbent mind that prevents him from getting bored or tired during this stage of development. It is also vital that the child be exposed to many varied learning opportunities at this stage as his learning requires little effort. In this period the child becomes influenced by the adults in his environment. He starts asking numerous questions and makes use of his will, as his memories are being formed.

In this period of development, the sensitive periods for language and movement are still present. The child’s vocabulary is expanding rapidly at this stage as he learns to express himself and get his needs met. The child is very active and is busy using movement to learn new skills. It is through this active learning and intense mental activity that the child will mature.

It is during the years between one and six years of age that Maria Montessori believed a child needed a prepared environment in which to learn. This environment would be sensorially rich and full of meaningful activities. The environment would also need to be structured in such a way as to encourage independence and therefore stimulate the absorbent mind. In this prepared environment the child could learn new skills whilst feeling secure as this environment would remain consistent and orderly.

Another vital component to the prepared environment is a suitable adult or directress. She holds a passive but vital role in the stimulation of the absorbent mind because a good directress will be able to ascertain when each individual child in is a particular sensitive period and make sure that she provides learning opportunities that satisfy their needs during particular sensitive periods. It is therefore important that a directress spends time observing the children in her class.

In conclusion, I feel that in knowing how the absorbent mind processes and stores information to form the personality and memory of the young child, adults should spend more time observing young children to make sure that they are providing work that addresses a need that the child has. Then we would be able to observe the phenomenon of the absorbent mind in action.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. The Secret of Childhood. Maria Montessori
2. Montessori A Modern Approach. Paula Polk Lillard
3. The Absorbent Mind. Maria Montessori
4. Course Notes