Showing posts with label Maria Montessori. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Maria Montessori. Show all posts
Brain Development during 0-6 years
Brain Development during 0-6 years
No one can emphasize enough the importance of brain development in early childhood education. Today's developing technology and research have allowed us to learn more about the brain, how it works and the critical periods for its development. We now know that through research conducted with rats' brains that an enriched environment actually increases brain size (Diamond and Hopson, 1998). There is a new growing interest in developmental neuropsychology, or research in brain development.
It has been discovered that the first six years of one's life is significant for the brain to develop fully. Most importantly Montessori's vision applies to brain development. There is new research that coincides with the discovery that the foundation of neural structures in the frontal lobes of the human brain isn't fully developed until approximately the age of twenty-four. This states that the brain continually develops and that adults and parents who provide the immediate environment of the child can do something to make this experience positive. In order to achieve this full potential a human being needs interaction with the immediate environment and sensorial awareness. This is evident with the child's growing independence, coordinated movements, language and developed will (Lillard and Jessen, 2003).
So now the question therefore is “how do we best help children achieve the full potential of development of the brain?” There are several ways to achieve this according to Diamond and Hopson. They define an enriched environment as one that includes a steady source of environmental support, nutritious diet, stimulates all senses, atmosphere free from stress and enjoyable, challenging, allows social interaction, promotes development, and gives the child a chance to assess the results of their actions, all in all allows the child to be an active participant rather than a passive observer (Diamond and Hopson, 1998).
This idea is reflected in what Montessori perceives to be a prepared environment. The prepared environment allows the link for a child to reach into his world. Montessori defines a prepared environment to consider the specific needs of the child with concerns to their age of development, it is provides the child what they need in order to live such as physical and emotional security, it should be aesthetically pleasing and inviting this includes hygiene and appropriate furniture, and it has to have order and should reflect the interest adult has with the child. These are her main ideas but she also mentions that the environment has to allow freedom of choice, allows the child to act independently, and allows the child to learn to take responsibility for his actions. What Diamond and Hopson defines as an enriched environment to stimulate brain development is similar to the prepared environment by Montessori.
To become an active participant what better way to involve children than movement. Movement is now realized to be helpful and even essential for increasing learning, develop creative thought and a high level of reasoning (Hannaford). Movement has been said to improve the brain functions by improving the interconnections between the two brain hemispheres. We know that the left side of the brain controls the right side of your body, so when you move the opposite are and leg you are stimulating your brain to develop more neural pathways that ultimately help the brain function better.
We discovered that education is not something which the teacher does, but that it is a natural process which develops spontaneously in the human being.
- Maria Montessori
The guiding principles of Montessori education
The guiding principles of Montessori education
Prepared environment
Children’s needs change as they move through stages of
development. At each level of Montessori education, this difference is honored
through the preparation of the classroom environment.
The environment is
prepared in every way for optimal development: physically, cognitively,
socially and emotionally. By aligning the activities in the environment with
what each child needs at any moment, Montessori prepared environments liberate
children’s energy for growth and learning.
HANDS-ON LEARNING
Montessori classrooms are interactive environments in which
hands-on exploration is not only encouraged, it is necessary. By using the mind, the body, and the senses, learning becomes an activity that engages the whole self. Any parent will agree that children do; Montessori environments follow this natural inclination of children towards activity by offering an appropriate variety of objects and activities for meaningful engagement.
RESPECT
Maria Montessori profoundly respected children and the developmental powers that drive them to seek certain experiences. Montessori education reframes the adult/child relationship to place the child at the center of his own learning. In Montessori classrooms, teachers respect children as separate and unique individuals. They guide children to respect the people and objects in their environment, and as the child grows older, to respect and understand the connectedness between all living and non-living things, leading to the adolescent’s profound awareness of the complex web of human existence.
A MONTESSORI-TRAINED ADULT
The trained Montessori teacher links the child to activities and experiences in the prepared environment. Specialized training results in a deep knowledge of child development, the purposes and use of each activity, and an understanding of how to foster and maintain social harmony in the classroom.
DISCOVERY
One of the most profound differences between Montessori education and conventional education is that, in Montessori, children are given the experience of discovering the answer for themselves. This leads to a much deeper learning experience, and creates a lifelong love of learning as a self-directed process of problem-solving and discovery.
INDEPENDENCE
From the moment of birth onwards, humans strive towards
IMAGINATION
Montessori classrooms support the development of imagination and
FREEDOM OF CHOICE
Maria Montessori recognized that when allowed freedom of choice within clear, firm and reasonable boundaries, children act in positive ways that further their development. Freedom is frequently misunderstood, and many people take it to mean that children can do whatever they want. Montessori believed that freedom without boundaries was abandonment. In Montessori classrooms, expectations are clear, and children experience the natural and logical consequences of their choices. This freedom within limits allows for the natural development of self-regulation within the society of the classroom, as well as mirroring behaviors expected by society in general.
Top Montessori Quotes On Sensorial Education
Top Montessori Quotes On Sensorial Education
You do not exist, you cannot hope to grow. That is the tremendous step the child takes, the step that goes from nothing to something.”
― Maria Montessori, The Absorbent Mind
“Children must grow not only in the body but in the spirit, and the mother longs to follow the mysterious spiritual journey of the beloved one who to-morrow will be the intelligent, divine creation, man.”
― Maria Montessori, Dr. Montessori's Own Handbook
“The environment acts more strongly upon the individual life the less fixed and strong this
individual life may be.”
― Maria Montessori
“We shall walk together on this path of life, for all things are part of the universe and are connected with each other to form one whole unity.”
― Maria Montessori
“The essence of independence is to be able to do something for one’s self.”
― Maria Montessori\
“Great tact and delicacy is necessary for the care of the mind of a child from three to six years, and an adult can have very little of it.”
― Maria Montessori, The Absorbent Mind
“If salvation and help are to come, it is through the child ; for the child is the constructor of man.”
― Maria Montessori, The Absorbent Mind
“Such prizes and punishments are, if I may be allowed the expression, the bench of the soul, the instrument of slavery for the spirit.”
― Maria Montessori, The Montessori Method Scientific Pedagogy as Applied to Child Education in 'The Children's Houses' with Additions and Revisions by the Author
“The environment must be rich in motives which lend interest to activity and invite the child to conduct his own experiences.”
― Maria Montessori
“The task of the educator lies in seeing that the child does not confound good with immobility and evil with activity.”
― Maria Montessori
“The things he sees are not just remembered; they form a part of his soul.”
― Maria Montessori
“If education is always to be conceived along the same antiquated lines of a mere transmission of knowledge, there is little to be hoped from it in the bettering of man's future.”
― Maria Montessori
“Respect all the reasonable forms of activity in which the child engages and try to understand them.”
― Maria Montessori
Montessori All Day Quotes to Guide Our Reflection part 1
Labels:
Maria Montessori,
Montessori quotes
·
Montessori All Day Quotes to Guide Our Reflection part 1
Our
observation of children has made us realize that work is man's fundamental
instinct and that the child can work from morning till night without ever
feeling tired, as if his labor were part of the order of nature.
The
child likes neither to play idly, nor to waste time doing useless
I was more than an elementary teacher, for I was present, or directly taught
the children, from eight in the morning to seven in the evening without
interruption.
We
Italians have elevated our word ‘casa’ to the almost sacred significance of the
English word ‘home,’ the enclosed temple of domestic affection, accessible only
to dear ones.
In short, where the manufacture of toys has been brought to such a point of
complication and perfection that children have at their disposal entire dolls’
houses, complete wardrobes for the dressing and undressing of dolls, kitchens
where they can pretend to cook, toy animals as nearly lifelike as possible,
this method seeks to give all this to the child in reality – making him an
actor in a living scene.
What is Montessori All About?
Labels:
Maria Montessori,
Montessori method,
Montessori schools
·
What is Montessori All About?
•
Developmental
planes
– each stage needing to fulfill specific goals and objectives (4 in childhood)
•
Global
or “cosmic” view of humanity – emphasizing the
interdependence of people and the environment
•
The child is a highly respected and valued member of the world society
•
Individualized
– meeting the needs of each child
•
Multi-age
groupings – promoting peer teaching and learning
•
Emphasis on group cohesion and cooperation
•
Materials
– scientifically based, self-correcting, and sequential matched with the child
•
Scientific observation in a Prepared Environment
How Does This Happen?
•
self-directed
learning.
•
teacher
to be an "observer" of the child instead of
a lecturer.
•
"sensitive
periods" of development are understood and
utilized in facilitation
•
Children are masters of their school room environment,
which has been specifically prepared
for them to be academic, comfortable, and to encourage independence by giving
them the tools and responsibility to manage its upkeep.
•
Children learn through discovery, so didactic materials with a control for
error are used. Through the use of these materials, which are
specific to Montessori schools (i.e., checker boards, and science experiments)
children learn to correct their own mistakes instead of always relying on a
teacher to give them the correct answer.
•
This also happens because it
is understood that the hand is
intimately connected to the developing brain in children.
Where Did Montessori Method Come From?
Labels:
Maria Montessori,
Montessori method,
Montessori schools
·
Where Did Montessori Method Come From?
•
Her method came from studying physicians Jean Itard
and Edouard Seguin. She developed an
environment for the scientific study of children with physical and mental
disabilities. After successes in treating these children, she began to study
the application of her techniques to the education of children without
intellectual or developmental disabilities.
•
By 1906, Montessori was well known enough that
she was
•
Her initial work focused on children of
preschool age. After observing developmental changes in children just
commencing elementary school, and recognizing that young children's thought or
cognitive processes are inherently different from those of adults, Montessori
and her son, Mario, began a new course of research to adapt her approach to
elementary-school children.
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