Montessori Philosophy: the Planes of Development

As children get older egocentric thinking will begin to dominate in a non-logical and non-reversible way, and this will give a more developed imagination and will improve memory. The child grows into adolescents and the operational stage of cognitive development with the use of symbols and abstract concepts grows and shows more

Children develop cognition through two main stages that Jean Piaget theorized. The stages run from birth and infancy to school age children. Sensorimotor is the first stage and goes from birth to about the age of two. This stage implies that the children learn about the environment they live in and they learn this through the reflexes and movements they produce. They also learn that they are separate people from their parents and they can say goodbye to them and know they will come back. The second stage is called the preoperational stage. During this stage of development, children will learn how to incorporate symbols to represent objects. This is also the beginning of learning the alphabet and speech. The child is still very much egocentric at this point in time, but with the help of understanding educators, the child will grow appropriately onto the next stages of development. Finally, the children need to develop emotionally/socially.

Our textbook further describes that between the stages of infancy to adulthood there are three things that

To progress from one stage to the next, an individual must successfully experience each stage. As children explore their environments they are actively developing higher levels of thinking.

Perhaps it was an unintentional cruelty on the part of my parents to enroll me first in the progressive Montessori school system that encouraged critical thinking and creativity, followed by an evening catholic school program that required unquestioning obedience to a monolithic religious dogma. When I began the sixth grade the window of an English professor and a family friend gave me access to his extensive library and personal text notes because of my growing interest in literature. In the first few months of my library visits, the Catholic program phoned my mother to discourage my further attendance in both the church and the educational program. I had begun incessantly probing my young Catechism instructor about the faith, and his unsatisfactory response had prompted my protests and refusal to participate in any religious ceremonies or sacraments. I had discovered both the Antichrist and Civil Disobedience during my forays into the library, and though I was unable to grasp the intricacies of these texts, the basic messages resonated with my experiences of perceived oppression and religious conditioning.

Maria Montessori founded an education system which is called Montessori and still bares her name, her system is based on belief in the child’s creative potential, (Douglas, n.d.). Her first Casa Dei Bambini (Children’s house), where Maria was using her approach of teaching was opened in 1907 in Rome. She was great educator who believed that children are learning through their personal experience at their right time and their own pace. (Ridgway, 2007). Children rather than learning largely from what the teachers and the textbooks say, learn from “doing”,(Douglas, n.d.). To provide for children an effective, independent learning process, and that they become a competent and confident learner, Teacher had to provide for children a healthy, clean, well-prepared and well organised environment in which children could develop. Maria Montessori came up with idea that if children have to work and play independently, they have to be comfortable and need appropriately sized tools and items that fit their small hands (Mooney, 2000). Montessori believed that children learn through sensory experiences. Teacher has a responsibility to provide wonderful sights, textures, sounds, and smells for children. Sensory

Between this image and the three reading I found that imagination is a big point and it is a way of play and thinking process that the child goes through. I am surprised that there is more research happening in early childhood and there has been in the past and that is something that I saw in all three readings

ages 7 to 11. This stage the child learns logical thought but still struggle with abstract

Lastly, the principle and philosophy of Maria Montessori in early childhood education is absorbent mind. From the age 0-6 years old is what Montessori called the all-around formative period of the absorbent mind. At 0-3 years old, children are unconsciously absorbing what is around him and is more reactive than purposeful in his actions. Meanwhile at 3-6 years old, children begin to explore the outer environment through more purposeful movement and exercise.

The Montessori method began in the early 1900's by the first female doctor in Italy, Dr. Mary Montessori, as a way of educating mentally disabled children. Her ideas were so successful with these children that she began to apply her understanding of learning to study the potential of normally functioning children (Oalf, 2001). Dr. Montessori's approach to education stresses the importance of learning styles, independence and responsibility.

Watching a small child discover how to operate his or her favorite plaything is awe inspiring. The look of wonder at the item as it's carefully chosen from amongst their belongings and studied ever so carefully for each and every nuance. How that little face lights up with each new discovery no matter how large or small. The sounds of delight an even dismay at an unwanted result are beautiful. Consider an educational system that would continue to utilize a child’s natural curiosity, unyielding ingenuity and thirst for knowledge. Montessori education creates that environment for children by allowing them the freedom to not only gain knowledge in a natural progression, but also provide a basis on which to continue to grow no matter where

The education system back in her era focused on teaching the children to memorise word to word from books and posters and Children sat in rows at desks at the classroom learning from a blackboard and slates. This method of education wasn’t stimulating and exciting for children. Nevertheless through her experience Montessori discovered children want to learn, and they will do it in their own time frame and they shouldn’t be forced.

Maria Montessori, an Italian physician, was born on August 31, 1870, in Chiaravalle, Italy, and died on 6 May 1952, in Noordwijk aan Zee, Netherlands. She was one of the pioneers of theories in early childhood education and her theories are still applied in Montessori schools all over the world. At that time, when Montessori was growing up, Italy had conservative values about women’s role but she consistently broke out of those prescribed gender limitations as she grew younger. When her family moved to Rome, she attended boys’ technical institutions where she developed her mathematics and scientific interests. Despite her father’s resistance but with the support of her mother, Montessori went on to graduate with high honor from the medical

Dr. Maria Montessori was a keen observer of children. She used her observational and experimental proclivities from her medical background to develop, what we might today call, a Constructivist understanding of the process of learning. She studied them scientifically. If she saw some unusual behavior in a child, she would say,”I won’t believe it now, I shall if it happens again”. She studied the conditions in which the children would perform those actions.

Maria Montessori was the originator and founder of the Montessori Method. She was the first female to graduate as a doctor from her university in Italy. After graduation, Montessori's work with so called “idiot children” led to an interest in child development. (M. Beaver et al, 2001, p.379) After researching Montessori was convinced there was a need for special schools catering to children who presented learning disabilities.