Montessori Method and Child free essay sample

For us to denote the nature of intelligence, we should dwell upon what it means. The concept of intelligence has been explored by different disciplines and scientific movements since many years ago. Despite this, even today, that noble experimental research has been conducted and different theories have appeared around the meaning of intelligence, it is almost impossible for the majority of scientists to consent to a definition about such an abstract notion. Even a traditional determination of the intelligence as the capacity of mental development through experience is conditionally accepted. For me, intelligence is the ability to think, reason and understand instead of doing things automatically or by instinct. So, all theories agree that intelligence is the ability of the human mind. Moreover, intelligence is not fixed at birth as well as it does not deteriorate with age. It can, and should be developed throughout life from childhood to old age. We will write a custom essay sample on Montessori Method and Child or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Naturally, the question is how to develop these skills. Of course, increasing our knowledge in a particular area, we develop our intellectual abilities. Day after day, acquiring new information, we analyze it, make certain conclusions, thereby increasing our level of intelligence. Phoebe Child once said, â€Å"Thought is his human birthright, all education aims at helping the individual to think clearly about them instead of half-knowing things all in a muddle.† With this, whether we believe that intelligence is genetic or produced by environment, we have to further it by education. Intelligence is built upon by experiences and thought processes. Sensorial impressions of childs environment are not the same as sensorial education. Impressions are feelings and not an intellectual building block. The human mind needs information to discriminate and appreciate its culture, art, music, poetry, reading and all aspects of the environment. Maria Montessori believed in a necessary relationship between children and their environment and that the children must have a properly prepared environment if they are to fully-develop their unique human potentials. â€Å"The training of the senses must begin in the formative period of life if we wish to perfect them through education and make use of them in any particular human  skill.†(Maria Montessori, The Discovery of the Child, Pg. 147). In this, the Montessori materials are designed to help the childs mind develop the necessary skills for later intellectual learning. Sensorial materials provide a particular purpose and focus. It includes using the childs hands, senses, and spontaneous activity. When a young child sees something new and exciting, he or she will want to touch the object. Young children will grab a new kitten and hold it immediately. They want to feel the reality of the object. This education is not an exercise to sharpen the senses, but to allow a child to use his or her senses to understand what he or she sees. The first lessons present contrasted sensory materials and then graded materials. This teaches concepts of comparing and contrasting. For example, the first colors introduced are the primary colors, which are the most distinct on the color chart. Red, blue, and yellow are introduced then shades and combinations are later introduced to grade by shades. This is the beginning of the development of the child’s intellect and it is brought about by the intelligence working in a concentrated way on the impressions given by the senses. Education is used to tap the young childs mind of absorbed information from the first 3 years of life. The information at this point is a sea of impressions in the unconscious mind. As a child works further the young mind becomes aware of concepts of size, color, weight, quantity and so on. When the differences are clear, the names are introduced to describe these concepts. Montessori builds on concept upon concept. Nothing is left to chance learning. There is an order and sequence to the materials presented. Montessoris sensorial approach helps a child categorize and use his vast amount of subconscious knowledge in his or her surroundings. It is a key that unlocks the door of the mind. All children go through a period of time in which they centralize all their attention on one aspect of their environment and exclude everything else. It is a time of intense concentration and mental activity on developing a  particular skill at that particular time, age or phase in growth. It is driven unconsciously by an inner force which we can see when a child repeatedly does one activity with such conviction that it seems as if nothing can deter him until he accomplishes that task. â€Å"†¦Instances of a concentration reaching insensibility to the outer world were not usual, I noticed a peculiar behaviour that was common to all, and practically the rule in all they did- the special characteristic of child work, which I later called ‘repetition of the exercise’.† [1. Maria Montessori, The Secret of Childhood, Pg. 125] There is predetermined psychic pattern that molds the unique emotional and intellectual qualities of each child. These qualities develop through what Dr. Montessori referred to as the sensitive periods†. A sensitive period refers to â€Å"a special sensibility which a creature acquires in its infantile state (Montessori, 1966, p.38). Such sensitive periods were first discovered in insects by the Dutch scientist Hugo de Vries, but according to Montessori, can also be found in children and are very important to consider in teaching. Sensitive periods are characterized by observable behaviors such as an activity being irresistible for a child once he or she starts it. A passionate interest can develop and the same activity is often returned to time and again. I have noticed how three-year-olds for example love to wash their hands, whereas ten-year-olds do not. Montessori observed 6 sensitive periods in a childs life. These sensitive periods are not consecutive; some overlap and some are continuous. These periods are: sensitivity to order, learning through their five senses, sensitivity to small objects, sensitivity to coordination of movement, sensitivity to language and sensitivity to social aspect of life. Sensitivity to order is when the child needs a precise and determined environment which can be seen when the child shows satisfaction in seeing things in their proper places. The presence of this sensitive period however, is even more evident when the order is somehow interfered with. For aexample when a child worries upon seeing a pair of shoes placed unusually on a table. The child then only became calm after removing the objects. Other relevant cases especially in a Montessori school prove that when we put an object out of place, it can agitate a child’s pattern of memory as how the objects in the certain environment are arranged. Learning through five senses is when the child takes in information about the world through his senses. It is believed that in order to develop a child’s mind, he must have objects in his environment wherein he can see and manipulate through his hands and even hear what is supposed to be heard. Every child’s actions are from his own will for development and not just a random choice. Sensitivity to small objects is when a child takes an interest in manipulating very small objects. I remember one time when I was still working as a kindergarten teacher in China, we had a children’s day celebration in a park with all our students. During that time, I was with the young baby class aged 2 to 2  ½ yrs old, they suddenly noticed a small bird’s nest with three eggs on it which was then on the grasses behind a pine tree. All of them curiously looked closely to it. They didn’t even bother how the whole park looked beautifully during spring time. I believe that during this period, it is an important development to widen their observation and let them concentrate on a specific object or a situation. Sensitivity to coordination of movement is when the child is able to develop his fine and gross motor skills. The environment that we prepare for them provides opportunities in developing their fine and gross motor skills. The activities must also be repeated in order for them to have a refined skills and purposeful motor activity. I believe that when we let the child go for an outdoor activity, this will likely help this sensitive period a fruitful one. Sensitivity to language is when a child at this early age can pick up language of his environment. One good example is my friend’s two cousins. One of them grew up in the Philippines while the other one grew up in China. Circumstances are the siblings have to grow separately from each other since their parents got separated. Both children ended up adapting to their environment’s spoken language. Children at an early age can easily pick up language unlike us adults. Sensitivity to social aspect is when the child puts attention to other children of his own age. It is known that children are also good imitators that most of the times they tend to copy their peer’s actions or their teachers and parents actions. In this stage the child also learns to be affectionate and develop a sense of belongingness. In this, we must not deprive the child to be sociable or else they will become unfriendly or unsociable. Each sensitive period is a transient disposition and is limited to the acquisition of a particular trait (Montessori, 1966, p.38). Once the sensitive period is over, the sensibility disappears due to the fact that the development of the brain has progressed past the point at which specific information is absorbed. Although all children experience the same sensitive periods, the sequence and timing vary for each child. One role of the teacher is to use observation to detect times of sensitivity and provide the setting and materials for optimum fulfillment. Montessori believed that children learn best in a prepared environment, a place in which children can do things for themselves. Our classrooms are filled with child-sized shelves full of interesting learning materials that are available to children in an orderly and systematic format. Since children within the environment are free to explore materials of their own choosing, they absorb what they find there. We strive to create an environment for young children that enable them to be independent and active. Montessori understood that the intellectual activity was a manual, active approach. It came from observing her students and is contrary to adult methods of teaching and learning. The materials are three dimensional and real. Montessori at this stage did not use pictures for teaching sensorial concepts, she believed that children wanted to see and feel the real objects. Usually the pink tower is introduced at age 2  ½ onwards. After the child has successfully done the tower, he has learned several things: difference in sizes and weight, how to hold his or her fingers with the small cubes, how to grasp the largest cube, controlling arms and fingers so that tower doesnt fall, and has the good feeling of completing the task. Muscular skill, intellectual and character development combined as a whole for the child when using Montessori sensorial education. Other activities, such as the broad stairs and the long rods are introduced after the pink tower. A much more complicated exercise is that of the cylinders. The geometric shapes are introduced. All of these activities are with 3 dimensional objects that help with eye-hand coordination and provide a concept of size and shapes for later learning. Concentration is a by-product of a child learning with his or her hands. During the ages 3 to 6 the hands are the busiest of all. The equipment provides an intellectual education that will help a child eventually acquire his or her culture. What is interesting is that the child really learns about the environment through his senses, without them it would not be possible to learn from the materials of practical life, language or mathematics. Sensorial education provides an indirect foundation for other curriculum areas. For example, the Montessori bells are used for auditory discrimination, but also later can be used for musical interest. The red rods are used before the number rods as introduction to mathematics. The binomial and trinomial cubes are physical representations of algebraic equations. The color boxes provide a foundation for art. All of the activities introduce language to describe the world (e.g. thick/thin, names of colors, light/dark, rough/smooth, etc.) Sensorial education is very important because it helps to fine-tune the various senses to aid in future professions. Montessori talks about the importance of a cook being able to smell the difference between fresh and tainted food, or a doctor being able to hear the slightest irregularity in a heartbeat. Sensorial education helps refine the senses so that the child can better appreciate the world around him. He learns different colors, sounds, tastes, textures, etc. It increases his desire to explore his world and allows him to constructively categorize all that he encounters. In summary, the child should be given freedom of choice in doing the activities and be a master of his own environment whereas the teacher should crush his ego and play a passive role to become the bridge between the environment and the child. We must put into our minds that sensorial education is the foundation of the Montessori curriculum because it has an effect on the whole personality of a person. Bibliography MMI-Course Manual Maria Montessori-The Discovery of the Child Maria Montessori-The Secret of Childhood www.montessorimom.com/what-sensorial-education http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montessori_method Additional Notes The Sensorial materials are specially designed to train the senses separately and are divided into seven groups: Visual sense see Tactile sense touch Auditory sense hear Gustatory sense taste Olfactory sense smell Thermic sense heat Stereognostic sense solid feel The sensorial materials are sets of objects designed to educate the senses. In addition, and perhaps even more important, they also appear to assist the childs concentration, ability to make judgments, move with purpose. Maria Montessori was greatly influenced by the ideas of his two predecessors –  Jean Itard and Edouard Sequin. She took the idea of introducing didactic materials and the three period name lessons to the child in Sensorial curriculum from Seguin. In fact, it was Seguin who first followed the scientific method of teaching, which was later adopted by Dr. Montessori in a more concise and modified form. She also took the idea of isolating one sense. â€Å"The sensorial materials establish a solid basis for the language and mathematical materials to follow. Materials introducing literacy and numeracy (numerical understanding) to the children do not represent subject matter for the children to â€Å"learn† in the usual sense. When feasible the sensorial materials are composed of sets ten objects, giving the children an indirect exposure to the basis of the decimal system. They also represent basic measurement designations and geometrical shapes. Ten rods represent variations in length, ranging from decimeter to a meter. A hexagonal box shows that a hexagon can be made of equilateral triangles, trapezoids and rhombi.† Moreover, sensorial exercises help to bring order to the childs perceptions by isolating the various qualities. The child will, for example, gain an understanding of large small through work with the Pink Tower. The child learns, through physical manipulation of the materials, the concepts of large, small, heavy, light, thick, thin, loud, soft, shapes, smells, etc. The Sensorial exercises also offer training in muscular memory and help the child to develop co-ordination of precise movements. Understanding how to conduct a three period lesson is fundamental to Montessori teaching. Teachers begin using the Three Period lesson when introducing sensorial material. It is initially used to teach properties such as size but is also effective in using geometric names for shapes or so. It is a simple tool for the teacher to use and an effective learning procedure for the child. Allow the child to use the material for several times before introducing the name of the particular concept for him to build a rich and expensive vocabulary. The Sensorial Activities are the keys to form the basis for abstract thinking.