The most important period of life is not the age of university studies, but the first one, the period from birth to the age of six. For that is the time when man's intelligence itself, his greatest implement, is being formed. But not only his intelligence; the full totality of his psychic powers (Montessori, 1949/ 1980, p. 22).
Montessori described this period as the time of the 'absorbent mind'. "It is a form of mind that is quite different from that of the adult" (Standing, 1962, p. 108). Montessori used the term to highlight that a child has a heightened sensitivity to learning. "By merely 'living' and without any conscious effort the
individual absorbs from the environment even a complex cultural achievement like language" (Montessori, 1949/ 1974, p. 89).
Some of Montessori's critics were confused about this term when it was first introduced and felt that she was implying passivity on the part of the child. Montessori, however, never believed children were passive. In her writings Montessori frequently compared the young mind to a sponge, which literally absorbs information from the environment (Montessori, 1949/1974; 1949/1980). This absorption always involves interest and activity. It was through observing this exceptional receptivity of the young child that Montessori coined the term 'the absorbent mind'. Montessori believed that this receptivity was exhibited not only by the ease in which a young child learnt vast amounts of information but also by the eagerness and enthusiasm when doing so.
The baby starts from nothing; it is an active being going forward by its own powers. Let us go straight to the point. The axis around which in the internal working revolves is reason . Such
reason must be looked upon as a natural creative function that little by little buds and develops and assumes concrete form from the images it absorbs from the environment. Here is the irresistible force, the primordial energy. Images fall at once into pattern at the service of reason. It is in the service of reason that the child first absorbs such images. . . (Montessori cited in Standing, 1962, p. 206) [italics in original] .
Another observation noted by Montessori was that there were specific 'sensitive periods' to aid children in their task of development as individuals in the first plane. Children appear to go "through periods of concentrating on specific capacities" (Lillard, 1996, p. 25). These are periods of intense fascination for learning a particular subject or skill such as going up and down stairs, putting things in order, counting or reading. It is easier for children to learn a particular skill during the corresponding sensitive period than at any other time in their life.
Montessori divided the stages of the child's mental absorption of the environment into two levels. She called the first, from birth to age three, the
'unconscious Absorbent Mind'. According to Montessori young children are driven by impulses coming directly from their unconscious mind. Sensorial impressions that are merely registered within the child's mind are:
• unconscious growth and transition
• enthusiastic and effortless discoveries of the environment • cannot be directly taught but can learn through self-activity • period of creation from nothing
• ego develops as the young child becomes conscious
• learns in accordance with natural drives and responses, intelligence is
formed via movement
(Ball, 1983; Chattin-McNichols, 1992a; Lillard, 1996; Montessori, 1949/1980; Standing, 1962.)
In relation to the last point Montessori firmly believed that children construct themselves through movement.
It is in fact the basis for the development of personality. The child, who is constructing himself, must always be moving. Not only in those large movements which have an external aim, such as sweeping a room or laying a table or any other of the Exercises of Practical Life, but also when the child merely sees, or thinks, or reasons; or when he understands something in relation to these thoughts and sensations - always he must be moving (Montessori cited in Standing, 1962, p. 230).
During the next stage, from three to six years, Montessori believed that children use these impressions again but in a conscious manner. She wrote:
. . . these multitudinous impressions, thus unconsciously absorbed, are used again by being known again in a different way as the basis on which conscious life is built up. These primordial unconscious impressions are then the stuff out of which is woven consciousness itself, with all that it implies of reason, memory, will and self knowledge (Montessori cited in Standing, 1962, p. 208).
In this period:
• it is a more conscious stage of child's development
• the child needs active exploration and discovery
• the child is anxious to learn
• rapid language development occurs
• from the environment the child is discovering via hands and other
movements; learning qualities of things; moving to abstract conceptualisations to where touch is not needed to know the quality of things
• obedience is still out of reach . . . children have no comprehension of right and
wrong; children obeys to please or out of fear of punishment but they are not in complete control of their own will
(Ball, 1983; Faust, 1984; Standing, 1962; Montessori, 1949/ 1980)
In Montessori's later years, after she had spent much more time observing children from birth through infancy, she sub-divided this first plane of development into three different levels; birth to two years, three to five years and six to seven years (Faust, 1984). Furthermore, in regards to the movement from the unconscious development to conscious development Montessori stated that educators could not reach children to teach them directly during this stage. Standing interpreted Montessori as stating:
We cannot intervene in this mysterious process of passing from the unconscious to the conscious, i.e., of constructing the human faculties. It is a process which goes on independently of us, and we can only help by providing the best conditions (Standing, 1962, p. 111).
In this first stage Montessori believed that children absorb the world through their unconscious intelligence, through movement. During the second stage children take in consciously through using their hands. The hand has now become the conscious instrument of the brain and cognitive growth. "It is through the activity of his hand that he enriches his experience, and develops himself at the same time" (Standing, 1962, p. 1 12).
The second plane of development, from ages seven through to twelve years, emphasis the child's need:
� To highlight his field of action [whereas] the closed environment is suited to the small child. [During the first plane] social relations are established with others. [Throughout the second plane] the child needs wider boundaries for his social experiences. Development cannot result by leaving him in his former environment (Montessori, 1973, p. 9). I !
According to Montessori children are ready to move out from a limiting environment that was both psychically and physically limiting into the wider community.
The Montessori Programme
Through her work in the Children's Houses, Montessori believed that she had created a "scientific and rational" method for facilitating children's " inner work of psychical adaptation" (Montessori, 1914, p. 8/ 1965b, p. 36). Teachers and children were not to modify any aspects of her method, as any modification would render its scientific results void. The method and its specialised materials were to be used in the precise manner outlined by Montessori.
t, In order for children to realise their fullest potential in a socialised context, Montessori stated that they needed a suitable learning environment, a teacher, who is a link between the children and the environment, and material objects adapted to their needs (Montessori, 1937/1966):' 'Montessori stated that there were three parts to her method for children aged 3 to 7 -year-olds: motor education, sensory education, and language education. Montessori teacher education programmes now divide the curriculum into five basic areas, including math and cultural subjects (Ball, 1983; Turner, 1992)
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For Montessori (1914/ 1965b) children's care and management of the prepared learning environment provides the primary means of motor education, while
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The Prepared Environment
With Montessori's realisation that children absorb unconsciously from their environment, she designed an educational learning environment to meet their needs, interests, abilities, and development. The first Montessori school was a tenement room in the Quarter of San Lorenzo, but she soon expanded this to a "set of rooms with a garden of which the children are the masters" (Montessori, 1914, p. 9/ 1965b, p. 37-38) . The main room of the building provided space for the "intellectual work", with the didactic materials. This area needed to be larger than customary classrooms for the child-sized tables and chairs, the small rugs children spread on the floor to work on, and freedom of movement around the furniture (Montessori, 1914/1965b; 1917/ 1965a). Other proposed rooms in the learning environment included a sitting room, bathroom, a gymnasium, and a dining room. Outside, Montessori's suggestion of an ample playground with room for a garden was not a novel idea but her use of this space was. She thought that it should adjoin the "schoolroom, so that the children may be free to go and come as they like, throughout the entire day" (Montessori, 1912/ 1964, p. 81).
Inside the furniture consisted of child-sized table, chairs, and sofas, which were light in weight so the children could move them, and light in colour so they could easily be washed. For Montessori there were two pieces of furniture that were indispensable. One was a long, low cupboard with large doors to store the didactic materials, which could be reached by a small child, thereby fostering independence. The other piece of furniture was a chest of drawers containing several columns of little drawers, with a bright handle for each one, and a small card with a child's name. All the children each had their own drawer for personal belongings. liThe walls were hung with low blackboards and above them were pictures of "simple scenes in which children would
II •
naturally be interested" (Montessori, 1912/1964, p. 82). Montessori felt that "beauty both promotes concentration of thought and offers refreshment to the tired spirit" (Montessori, 1917/1965a, p. 146). Such concepts are familiar to us
today but a specialist learning environment for children was a revolutionary perspective in the early 1900s.
Motor Education
Care and management of oneself and the environment were the principle means of muscular education, better known today as the practical life area, which also included rhythmic movements with locomotor patterns, gymnastics on innovative outdoor equipment, gardening, and working with clay. These activities not only aided in the development of what we would call self-help skills today, but also care for the Children's House.
Montessori created a collection of wooden frames to teach children self-help skills. I f She carefully described how to present the materials to the children, to encourage the orderly development of children's movement. The assortment of activities in this area depends upon the physical and cultural environment of the centre, and the special needs of the children who attend. / 1
Sensory Education
Montessori's method emphasises the methodical education of the child's senses based on her belief that education of the senses is the basis of intellectual development. According to Montessori (1912/1964, p. 173) "the education of the senses has, as its aim, the refinement of the differential perception of stimuli by means of repeated exercises" . The Montessori didactic materials were developed in order that children could exercise their senses (see Appendix J for a list of didactic materials). Today the best known characteristic of the Montessori method would probably be the didactic materials. I conclude with Turner (1992) that "perhaps more than any other component, the materials make Montessori's system replicable" (p. 37) [italics in original] .
Schedule). Turner (1992) questions whether Montessori early childhood programmes today over emphasise intellectual activities. For example the case study centre had the children working with the didactic materials for an average of two hours per day, within a three-hour programme. Montessori (1912/1964, p. 121) herself emphasised that the "Children's House" is a garden of child culture, and we most certainly do not keep the children for so many hours in school with the ideas of making students of them!"
The didactic materials were designed to demonstrate a separate quality and so to build clear concepts of size, shape, colour, form, sound, temperature, surface weight, texture and so forth. All the materials are graded in difficulty so that as a child works from one material to another, the distinctions in size, texture and so on become fine and finer. Montessori explained that:
The didactic material, in fact, does not offer to the child the "content" of the mind, but the order for that " content" . It causes him to distinguish identities from differences, extreme differences from fine gradations, and to classify, under conceptions of quality and of quality, the most varying sensations appertaining to surfaces, colours, dimensions, forms and sounds. The mind has formed itself by a special exercise of attention, observing, comparing, and classifying (1914, p. 93) [italics in original] . /1
Montessori believed that children are capable of educating themselves and she referred to this as auto-education. The didactic materials are structured to allow for only one correct response. This makes them self-correcting, thus allowing a child to proceed at his or her own pace, independent of the teacher
once, the material has been presented.
Language Education
Montessori's (1914, p. 95/ 1965b, p. 139) original intend for language went no further than "preparing the hand for writing" . This component was divided into two parts, the association of language with sensory perceptions, and reading and writing. For Montessori, language happened at the same time as sensory education.
Montessori presented the process of learning to write and read as an extension of sensory education. She used sandpaper letters, which the children traced with their fingers, while giving them the sound of the letter. Once the children were shown how to trace the sandpaper letters they took:
Great pleasure in repeating it with closed eyes, letting the sandpaper lead them in following the form they do not see. Thus the perception will be established by the direct muscular-tactile sensation of the letter. In other words, it is no longer the visual image of the letter, but the tactile sensation, which guides the hand of the child in these movements, which thus become fixed in the muscular memory (Montessori, 1912/ 1 964, p. 276) [italics in original].
The children were also given the sounds of each letter. When they could recognise some of the letters Montessori provided them with the opportunity to write, making words using cardboard letters. By the age of five, Montessori found that most children learned to write and read.
Interpretation Montessori?
of Montessori's Method:
Wh
at isMontessori's ideas about education have been interpreted in many different ways. Montessori's method is regarded by some as too structured and rigid while others have argued that the curriculum is loosely organised and undisciplined. Why have there been such diverse opinions and attitudes concerning the Montessori method in practice? First, the name 'Montessori' is not a reliable guide for parents seeking a Montessori education for their child. Legally there is no way to prevent an early childhood programme being labeled as 'Montessori'. One way to address this problem is promote Montessori in the wider community, providing prospective parents with information in order to make an informed choice for their child.
environment that is responsive to the individual needs of the young child. Lillard (1996, p. 22) states:
Because they are beautifully executed and highly visible many people make the mistake of equating the whole of Montessori education with these specially designed materials. In fact, the materials are secondary. It is the totality of the prepared environment to be explored and acted upon by the children that is primary: the other children, the teacher, the nonmanufactured Montessori materials, and the careful arrangement of the classroom. It is possible to have an environment that meets the essentials of Montessori education when no manufactured Montessori materials are available. Conversely, not every classroom with a full complement of manufactured materials meets all the criteria of a quality Montessori programme.
How children learn is another important part Montessori's theory and philosophy. Her writings included the importance of manipulative materials, the isolation of difficulties for each activity, the importance of concentration, her ideas on reinforcement, and so forth. "In the area of reinforcement, for example, her ideas anticipated the concept of "competence motivation," the notion that children can be motivated to work through a desire to become better at a skill, without external rewards such as praise from adults" (Chattin McNichols, 1992a, p. 4).
As Faust (1984, p. 10) puts it, the key to the differences and the key to the interpretation of Montessori is dependent upon the "individual teacher and the individual classroom as well as the significantly different needs of populations of children in different cultures throughout the world" . An individual teacher's interpretation of Montessori is dependent upon one's personal needs and capacities, which can enhance and limit a teacher's abilities. People are drawn to Montessori for different reasons. For· instance, teachers and parents who seek order and structure within the learning environment can be quite different from those who pursue a controlled environment. Furthermore, Faust (1984) points out that order and structure as opposed to control represent two very different qualities, reflecting different needs. The result is two very
different interpretations of Montessori's ideas within the learning environment. Interestingly the two opposing learning environments may appear to be similar to someone observing who has limited knowledge of Montessori. Both may seem ordered and quiet, with the children engaged in constructive, productive learning.
But the differences may be as significant as contrasting an internal skeleton, which provides internal support and much room for free movement, with an exo-skeleton, one which creates external control and is in fact, quite limiting, though very neat and orderly (Faust, 1984, p. 10).
Another factor contributing to variations in interpretations is due to the fact that Montessori's writings do not always agree with the now expected traditions found within the learning environment. For example most teacher training programmes now divide the curriculum into five basic areas, including separate math and cultural subjects, such as fine arts, science, and social studies. Materials that were not discussed in Montessori's books are now part
of a Montessori learning environment. Teacher training courses have
expanded the curriculum through additions and extensions (Turner, 1992; Ball, 1983).
The Rapid Spread of Montessori's Educational Ideas
Italian press reports of the "new children" in the slums of Rome began to spread