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EDUC 1002: Pioneers and Philosophies of Education

Week 3

The Learning Environment

Throughout history we have been searching for quality educational environments and

practices for young children. European thought and practice, adapted to the unique

circumstances and culture of American society, has greatly influenced today’s early

childhood programs. By learning about the theories and practices of some of the

great educational philosophers, we better prepare ourselves to contribute to and

advance early childhood education.

Objectives

By completing this week, you should be able to:

• Recognize how environment affects learning

• Identify the major contributions of the targeted philosophers

• Analyze the impact of the targeted philosophers on modern education

You will know you have successfully completed this week when:

• You can discuss how environment affects learning

• You can describe the major contributions of the targeted philosophers

• You can assess the impact of the targeted philosophers on modern

education

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The Underlying Issues

What is the impact of the educational environment on learning? What were the

major contributions of some important educational philosophers, and how have they

impacted modern education? This week we will explore possible answers to these

questions as we take a closer look at the educational philosophies of Johann

Pestalozzi (1747–1827), Friedrich Froebel (1782–1852), John Dewey (1859–1952),

and Maria Montessori (1870–1952).

As you read this week, keep the following issues in mind:

• Issue #1: How does the educational environment impact learning?

• Issue #2: What were the major contributions of Johann Pestalozzi,

Friedrich Froebel, John Dewey, and Maria Montessori to the philosophy of

and practice of early education?

• Issue #3: What impact has each of the aforementioned philosophers had

on modern education?

EDUC 1002: Pioneers and Philosophies of Education

Johann Pestalozzi (Nachforschungen, 1797)

Johann Pestalozzi: Educating the Mind, Body, and Soul “Education is not the work of a certain course of exercises . . . but of a continual and benevolent superintendence.” --Johann Pestalozzi 1747 - Born 1781 – Published best-selling educational novel, Leonard and Gertrude 1801 - Outlined educational philosophy in How Gertrude Teaches Her Children 1804 - Became director of Yverdon Institute for student and teacher training 1827 – Died Brief Bio

Johann Pestalozzi was born during the Age of Enlightenment into a middle-class

Swiss family in 1747. The death of his father in 1751 left the family in straightened

circumstances and contributed to Pestalozzi’s overprotected and sheltered

upbringing. During his college years, however, Pestalozzi broke out of his shell and

became a member of the Helvetic Society. This group sought to promote Swiss

identity, improve education, and reform the government.

In addition to the Helvetic Society, Pestalozzi was heavily influenced by the

philosophy of Jean Jacques Rousseau. Rousseau, who argued that children were

inherently good, advocated child-centered education conducted in a prepared natural

environment in his didactic novel, Emile. Pestalozzi followed Rousseau’s lead in the

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establish a self-supporting farm and handicraft school for poor children. The school

never turned a profit, however, and Pestalozzi was forced to close it down in 1779,

five years after he opened it. He then turned to writing to earn a living and to

disseminate his educational ideas. In 1781 he published Leonard and Gertrude. The

novel, which demonstrated the benefits of a natural education, became an instant

hit. During the next two decades, Pestalozzi continued to write, publishing another

educational tome, How Gertrude Teaches Her Children, as well as newspaper articles,

essays, and children’s books.

Thanks to his writing, Pestalozzi became a recognized educational authority and

was appointed head of an orphanage in Stans in 1799. During his short, six-month

tenure, Pestalozzi came to the important realization that cognitive development was

aided by an emotionally secure environment. From 1800 to 1804, Pestalozzi directed

a new educational institute at Burgdorf. There he based his teachings for both

students and teaching interns on the belief that children should begin learning by

exploring their immediate environment with familiar objects. From 1804 to 1825,

Pestalozzi continued his educational work at the Yverdon Institute, which was

attended and visited by educational scholars from around the world. Although

dissension and quarrels marked the later years at Yverdon, Pestalozzi stayed until

the school closed. He then returned to Neuhof, where he died two years later.

Major Contributions to Education

Learning from Pestalozzi via Gertrude

In his best-selling book, Leonard and Gertrude, Pestalozzi related the story of the

regeneration of an economically depressed village, thanks to the natural education

instituted by Gertrude. The novel was his first attempt at outlining his educational

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philosophy. In the book, Pestalozzi advocated educating the whole child

simultaneously (intellectual, moral, and physical) and uniting the home with the

school and the school with the community. By doing so, he contended that education

could lead to social reform and, thus, a better society. In his subsequent book, How

Gertrude Teaches Her Children, Pestalozzi provided an account of his educational

theories and methods, which demonstrate that children need an emotionally secure

environment to learn effectively, and that they learn how to think by proceeding

gradually from observation to comprehension to the formation of clear ideas.

Object Lessons: Form, Number, and Name

Pestalozzi´s educational ideas were manifested in object lessons, in which

teachers guided children in the observation, examination, and analysis of objects

found in their immediate environment. Thus, learning began by using the senses to

study the form, number, and names of familiar objects. For example, children would

learn about the form of a leaf by looking at it and touching it, and then tracing its

outline. They would then learn about numbers by collecting leaves and grouping and

counting them. Finally, they would learn how to talk about leaves by learning the

names for leaves and the qualities they possessed, such as color and texture, as well

as other objects associated with leaves. Pestalozzi believed that once children

mastered the object lessons, they were ready to proceed with more conventional

reading, writing, and arithmetic lessons.

The Spread of Pestalozzian Methods and Principles

At Burgdorf and Yverdon, Pestalozzi refined and disseminated his educational

theories and methods. Notable educational scholars from around the world, including

Friedrich Froebel and Horace Mann, visited and studied with him. In the early 1800s,

the spread of Pestalozzian principles and methods to the United States was fomented

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by William Maclure. A world traveler, pioneering geologist, and educational reformer,

Maclure recruited one of Pestalozzi´s assistants, Joseph Neef, to introduce

Pestalozzi’s methods, first in Pennsylvania, then in Indiana. In the middle of the

nineteenth century, Henry Barnard, the first U.S. commissioner of education and

editor of the American Journal of Education, became a vocal and influential advocate

for these methods. In 1865 the National Teachers´ Association gave a strong

endorsement to object teaching, which, about the same time, was being instituted as

the centerpiece of the teacher education program at the Oswego Normal School in

New York. In the twentieth century, Pestalozzian principles of child-centered

education focused on active learning in a secure, comfortable environment influenced

the reformist ideas of progressive educators such as John Dewey, ideas that are still

relevant today. Key lessons from Pestalozzi include the following:

• Introduce concrete objects before abstract concepts.

• Begin with objects found in the immediate environment rather than in

distant ones.

• Proceed gradually from simple exercises to more complex ones.

In His Own Words

In How Gertrude Teaches Her Children, Pestalozzi demonstrated how children

learn to think by proceeding gradually from observation to comprehension to the

formation of clear ideas. As you read this excerpt, think about what place sound,

form, and number have in early childhood education today.

Then I found, further, that all our knowledge flows from three elementary

powers:

1. From the power of making sounds, the origin of language

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2. From the indefinite, simple sensuous-power of forming images, out of which

arises the consciousness of all forms

3. From the definite, no longer merely sensuous-power of imagination, from

which must be derived consciousness of unity, and with it the power of

calculation and arithmetic

I thought, then, that the art of educating our race must be joined to the first and

simplest results of these three primary powers--sound, form, and number; and

that instruction in separate parts can never have a satisfactory effect upon our

nature as a whole, if these three simple results of our primary powers are not

recognized as the common starting-pointing of all instruction, determined by

Nature herself. In consequence of this recognition, they must be fitted into forms

which flow universally and harmoniously from the results of these three

elementary powers; and which tend essentially and surely to make all instruction

a steady, unbroken development of these three elementary powers, used

together and considered equally important. In this way only is it possible to lead

us in all three branches from vague to precise sense-impressions, from precise

sense-impressions to clear images, and from clear images to distinct ideas.1

1 Pestalozzi, J. H. (1931). How Gertrude teaches her children. In L. F. Anderson (Ed.), Pestalozzi (pp. 48−55, 58−61, 73). Retrieved from http://edweb.sdsu.edu/people/DKitchen/new_655/pestalozzi.htm#Nature

EDUC 1002: Pioneers and Philosophies of Education

Friedrich Froebel

Friedrich Froebel: Cultivating Young Learners “In play [the child] reveals his own original power.” --Friedrich Froebel

1782 – Born 1808 – Began two-year study with Pestalozzi at Yverdon 1826 - Published The Education of Man 1837 - Opened first kindergarten 1852 - Died

Brief Bio

Friedrich Froebel was born in Germany in 1782, the youngest of five boys. His

mother died when he was only nine months old, and the feeling that he was

mistreated and neglected by his stepmother stayed with him throughout his life.

Froebel first attended a girl’s school because his father felt his son was slow; it was

not until Froebel went to stay with a maternal uncle that he began to experience

educational and social success. Throughout his twenties, Froebel studied on and off.

In 1805 he wanted to study architecture but, instead, accepted a position as a

teacher in a Pestalozzian school. To prepare him for the position, Froebel’s employer

sent him to Yverdon to study with Pestalozzi for two weeks. Three years later,

Froebel left his teaching position and returned to Yverdon for two years.

After further study at universities in Göttingen and Berlin, active service in the

Napoleonic Wars, and a stint as an assistant to the director of a mineralogical

museum, Froebel established the Universal German Educational Institute in 1816.

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There he wrote about and put into practice his educational methods, methods

that encompassed both universal child development and the individual child’s

particular developmental needs. In 1826 he published a treatise on his methods

titled, The Education of Man.

In 1829 Froebel was forced to close his school due to low enrollments, but he had

earned a reputation as a superb educator. In 1831 he was invited to establish a

school in Switzerland, which he ran for four years. In 1835 he directed an orphanage

at Burgdorf, where Pestalozzi had once taught. There Froebel established a nursery

school for three- and four-year-olds and began experimenting with the objects,

materials, and activities that would become part of his kindergarten repertoire.

When Froebel’s wife became severely ill in 1836, the couple returned to

Germany. In 1837 Froebel opened an institute for early childhood education in the

spa town of Blankenburg in the state of Prussia. His wife died not long after, and in

1840 the institute was renamed the Universal German Kindergarten. At the

kindergarten, children became socialized and acculturated through songs, stories,

and games, and were encouraged to express themselves through play with selected

objects for discovery (which Froebel called the “gifts”) and materials or activities for

creativity (which Froebel called the “occupations”).

Froebel’s success spread rapidly. Within 10 years there were nearly 50

kindergartens operating in the German states, and Froebel began to train

kindergarten teachers. He also continued to write scholarly articles and published a

book of nursery songs. A year before his death in 1852, political leaders became

concerned about his philosophy, which deviated from maintaining strict control over

young children, and Froebel was accused of atheism. This led to the banning of

kindergartens in Prussia. However, Froebel’s contribution to modern education had

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already been secured; and by the end of the nineteenth century, his kindergartens

were being cultivated around the world.

Major Contributions to Education

The Kindergarten Philosophy

Similar to Plato, Froebel believed that children possess at birth all that they will

become as adults. Thus, the purpose of teaching is to bring out rather than put in.

Froebel likened the child to a plant who grows under the care and guidance of a

“gardener,” who is the teacher. This gardening analogy led him to coin the term

kindergarten, meaning “children’s garden.” In Froebel’s kindergarten philosophy, the

teacher cooperates with God and nature to cultivate child development by providing

a nurturing environment specially prepared and suited to children’s needs and

interests. The teacher’s role is not to mold and shape the child, but rather to guide

the child’s growth through play.

In Froebel’s kindergarten, children become socialized and acculturated through

songs, stories, and games, and are encouraged to play, particularly with selected

objects (the “gifts”) and materials (the “occupations”). Play encourages children to

express and act on their own thoughts, as well as to imitate life’s activities and

practice community interactions. While the children play, the teacher observes so

that she/he can identify and record patterns in behavior and stages of development

reached, which enables the teacher to create and refine activities based on the

children’s needs.

The Kindergarten Gifts and Occupations

Froebel’s kindergarten gifts likely stemmed, at least in part, from Pestalozzi’s

object lessons. The gifts were objects that represented fundamental forms but also

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had symbolic meanings. They possessed external characteristics (e.g., color or

shape) and internal characteristics (e.g., individuality or personality), and provided

essential lessons for the child (e.g., “study us”!). According to Froebel, the gifts “are

a coherent system, starting at each stage from the simplest activity and progressing

to the most diverse and complex manifestations of it. The purpose of each one of

them is to instruct human beings so that they may progress as individuals and

members of humanity in all its various relationships. Collectively they form a

complete whole, like a many branched tree, whose parts explain and advance each

other.”2. The gifts were to be used for arranging activities. Gifts

BODIES (SOLIDS)

1. Color: Six soft, colored balls

2. Shape: Wooden sphere, cube, and cylinder

3. Number: Eight small cubes

4. Extent: Eight rectangular blocks

5. Symmetry: 27 cubes, three divided diagonally and three divided into four

triangles

6. Proportion: 27 rectangular blocks, three divided vertically and three divided

horizontally

SURFACES

7. Square and triangular tiles

LINES

8. Sticks or splints and whole and half wire rings

2 Ansel, G. P. (2004). Kids/blocks/learning. New Haven, CT: Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute. Retrieved from http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1993/1/93.01.01.x.html

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POINTS

9. Beans, lentils, peas, or pebbles

FRAMEWORK

10. Means to connect surfaces and solids

While gifts were composed of materials that could return to their original form,

occupations were composed of materials that would be altered and could not return

to their original forms. The occupations were to be used for controlling, modifying,

transforming, and creating activities. Occupations

SOLIDS

• Molding

• Carving

• Constructing

SURFACES

• Painting

• Folding

• Cutting

LINES

• Drawing

• Weaving

• Braiding

POINTS

• Stringing

• Perforating

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The Cultivation of Kindergartens

After Froebel’s death in 1852, the kindergarten philosophy spread from Germany

throughout Europe and to Japan and the United States. In the United States,

kindergartens were first established in German schools. Soon, however, they were

supported by influential persons such as Henry Barnard, the first U.S. commissioner

of education, and Elizabeth Palmer Peabody, the sister of Horace Mann’s wife.

Peabody translated many of Froebel’s works, founded the American Froebel Union

kindergarten association, and established a kindergarten teacher training institute. In

1873, the St. Louis superintendent of schools, William Torrey Harris, incorporated

kindergartens into the local public school system. Later, as the U.S. commissioner of

education, he would incorporate kindergartens into the national public school

system.

In His Own Words

In The Education of Man, Froebel described a child’s building process and defined

the kindergarten gifts and occupations. As you read the following excerpt from

Froebel’s The Education of Man, think about the relevance of Froebel’s gifts and

occupations to early childhood education today.

The distinction between the “Gifts” and “Occupations” was that the gifts were

“intended to give the child from time to time new universal aspects of the

external world, suited to a child’s development. The occupations, on the other

hand, furnish material for practice in certain phases of the skill...nothing but the

First Gift can so effectively arouse in the child’s mind the feeling and

consciousness of a world of individual things; but there are numberless

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occupations that will enable the child to become skillful in the manipulation of

surfaces...The gift leads to discovery; the occupation to invention. The gift gives

insight; the occupation, power....The occupations are one-sided; the gifts, many-

sided, universal. The occupations touch only certain phases of being; the gifts

enlist the whole being of the child...each gift should ...aid the child to make the

external internal, the internal external, and to find the unity between the two.” 3

3 Froebel, F. (1887). The education of man (W. N. Hailman, Trans.). New York: D. Appleton & Co. Retrieved from http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1993/1/93.01.01.x.html#d

http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1993/1/93.01.01.x.html#d

EDUC 1002: Pioneers and Philosophies of Education

John Dewey

John Dewey: Integrating Life and School “The educator's part in the enterprise of education is to furnish the environment which stimulates responses and directs the learner's course.” --John Dewey 1859 - Born 1884 - Accepted first philosophy position at University of Michigan 1896 - Established experimental laboratory school at the University of Chicago 1905 - Began 25 years as philosophy professor at Columbia University 1952 - Died

Brief Bio

John Dewey, one of the most influential educational philosophers of the twentieth

century, was born in 1859 in Burlington, Vermont. Because his father owned a

grocery store, a local gathering place, and his mother’s family was involved in

national and state politics, Dewey grew up accustomed to community participation

and social service. A bright child, Dewey finished elementary school in five years and

high school in three. In 1875, around his sixteenth birthday, he began studies at the

University of Vermont. Especially drawn to philosophy, literature, and history, Dewey

graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1879 and began teaching high school. In

1882 he began advanced studies in philosophy at Johns Hopkins University, an

institution that emphasized original scholarly research. There he studied under G.

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Stanley Hall, a pioneer in child psychology, and Charles Sanders Peirce, the

originator of philosophical pragmatism, and alongside the future progressive

president Woodrow Wilson.

Dewey began his career in higher education in 1884 by accepting a position as

instructor of philosophy at the University of Michigan under his Hopkins mentor,

George Sylvester Morris. He left for the University of Minnesota in 1888 but returned

to Michigan as the chairman of the philosophy department after Morris’s sudden

death just one year later. In 1894 he accepted an appointment as chairman of the

newly created Department of Philosophy, Psychology, and Pedagogy at the University

of Chicago, which had been founded just a few years earlier.

In Chicago, Dewey connected with many leading educational thinkers, including

Jane Addams and Colonel Francis Parker, a champion of progressive education. In

order to test his ideas on learning, Dewey established the University of Chicago

Laboratory School in 1896. This experimental school, still in existence today,

emphasized the link between the school and the greater community, and focused on

collaborative, problem-solving activities. Disagreements over the school’s

administration, however, led to Dewey’s resignation in 1904. The next year he

accepted a philosophy professorship at Columbia University.

While at Columbia, Dewey solidified his reputation as a leading philosopher and

educational theorist, but he also became an important commentator on social and

political issues. He wrote for popular magazines such as The New Republic and

Nation, lectured in Japan and China, and consulted on national educational policy in

Turkey. He also participated in liberal and reformist political activities. He was a

founding member of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) and

the national Association of the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and was

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active in the New York City Teachers Union and the American Civil Liberties Union

(ACLU). For more than two decades after his retirement from Columbia in 1930,

Dewey continued to speak out for educational and social reform. He died in 1952 at

the age of 92.

Major Contributions to Education

Dewey’s Pragmatic Philosophy and Progressive Education

Dewey rejected the notion of latent, in-bred potential. His pragmatic view of

philosophy contended that individuals learned through experimentation. According to

Dewey, knowledge acquisition was a process of socialization in which individuals

learned how to best adapt their interactions to the environment at hand. Because

environmental conditions change, this process was fluid and ongoing.

Although American culture had a great propensity for change, public schools

tended to be culturally and pedagogically uniform. Progressive educators sought to

make education better represent the American democratic society and better

educate its citizens for participation in that society. In education, they advocated

respect for individuals and their diverse abilities, interests, ideas, and needs. They

also rejected traditional learning by memorization and drill, supporting, instead, the

development of critical thinking and socially engaged intelligence. They believed

these skills would better enable individuals to understand and participate effectively

in the greater community.

Dewey, in particular, viewed education as a social function; he proposed that

schools should help to counteract the decline of community life that was occurring

with the rise of industrialized society. He believed that schools could achieve this

goal by reinforcing connections to home and community life through collaborative

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activities that allowed children to share, communicate, and learn as a group as well

as individually. Today, scholars, educators, and activists are rediscovering Dewey's

work and exploring its relevance to a global society in the information age.

Experimenting with Education: The Laboratory School

To teach well, Dewey believed that the teacher must connect the subject matter

to the needs, desires, and interests, as well as the cognitive development of the

student, taking into account the physical, social, and political environment in which

they lived. Putting his ideas into practice, Dewey established the University of

Chicago Laboratory School in 1896, calling it a “free and informal community.”4

Unlike traditional curriculums, which focused on memorization of information and

the use of repetition to develop specific skill sets, the lab school focused on learning

that extended beyond the classroom using the scientific method and collaborative

learning, which allowed for learning by various means. Students worked on projects

and problem-solving activities that included making and doing, history and

geography, and science. The school achieved rapid success and was renown

throughout the country and, later, the world. Several of the key lessons learned from

Dewey’s school “experiment” include the following:

• Education should be valid outside the classroom as well as within,

teaching students how to be creative problem solvers and responsible

participants in their respective communities (school, city, nation).

• Learning at school should support, build on, and augment learning that

takes place elsewhere.

• Learning should be focused on the students rather than the subject.

4 Gutek, G. L. (2005). Historical and philosophical foundations fo education: A biographical introduction (p. 347). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.

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• Learning is a social process that is best achieved through small groups

that support and cultivate the abilities and needs of individual members.

• Learning should encompass creative as well as practical subjects.

• Learning should be accomplished by doing; for example, the study of

natural science should focus on exploring nature.

• Within a structured framework, teaching should be autonomous to best

suit individual students and the environment in which they are living and

learning.

• Teaching should be supported by continuing research and training.

Learning Through Inquiry: The Scientific Method

Dewey’s theory of inquiry for educators was a five-stage approach to problem

solving following the scientific method. He advocated using this process in a variety

of educational projects to stimulate learning.

1. Problem Identification: In this stage, experience with an unfamiliar

situation or a concept leads to the identification of a problem.

2. Problem Definition: In this stage, the problem and its root are defined,

which are important steps in the search for solutions.

3. Information Gathering and Hypotheses Identification: In this stage,

information is gathered in order to identify one or more hypotheses against which

solutions will be tested.

4. Hypotheses Exploration: In this stage, tentative hypotheses are examined

and explored through reflection and consideration of “if-this, then-that” scenarios.

5. Solutions Testing: In this stage, hypotheses are carried out and resulting

“solutions” reviewed to determine their functionality and validity.

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In His Own Words

In “Three Years of the University Elementary School,” Dewey looks at ways in

which teachers can connect school experiences with those from home and

community life. As you read the excerpt found in this week’s Learning Resources,

think about the ways early childhood professionals might strengthen the relationship

between school, home, and community.

EDUC 1002: Pioneers and Philosophies of Education

Maria Montessori

Maria Montessori: Fostering Healthy Learning Environments

“The environment itself will teach the child . . .” --Maria Montessori

1870 – Born 1896 - Became first woman in Italy to earn a medical degree 1907 - Opened first early childhood education center, Casa dei Bambini 1912 - Published The Montessori Method 1952 – Died

Brief Bio

Maria Montessori was born in Italy in 1870 to middle-class, well-educated

parents. When she was 13, Montessori broke with tradition and enrolled in a

technical secondary school mainly attended by boys. Continuing to flaunt educational

convention and social customs, she enrolled in engineering school in 1886. In 1890,

however, Montessori decided to change careers and applied to the School of Medicine

at the University of Rome. Although her application was rejected initially, Montessori

persevered and was accepted. She interned at a children’s pediatric hospital and, in

1896, became the first woman in Italy to earn a medical degree. A month after

graduating from medical school, Montessori was selected to participate in the

International Women’s Congress held in Berlin. Throughout much of her life she

would continue to play an active role in the European women’s movement, urging

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women to take a leading role in educational reform.

In 1900 Montessori opened a school for hearing-impaired and mentally deficient

children and pre-service teachers of handicapped children. At the school, she applied

two principles that integrated her own theories with those of two noted French

physicians—Jean-Marc Gaspard Itard and Edouard Seguin—and aspects of the

philosophies of Jean Jacques Rousseau, Johann Pestalozzi, and Friedrich Froebel:

that mental deficiency required special education as well as medical treatment, and

that specifically designed learning materials could facilitate this special education.

Montessori’s work there led to her appointment as a lecturer at the University of

Rome’s Pedagogical School in 1904.

Montessori opened another school, Casa dei Bambini, in 1907 to provide care for

poor, working-class, preschool-age children and to test her educational ideas. The

school operated on the premise that the most effective learning takes place in a

structured environment. The school was widely successful. By 1910, Montessori had

seen her school replicated around Italy, had established a training institute for

teachers, and had attracted the attention of educators around Europe and North

America. In 1912 she published The Montessori Method, and for much of the next

decade, sought to control the training of Montessori teachers and the distribution of

the Montessori method and materials, which were spreading rapidly around the

world.

From 1916 to 1927, Montessori based her operation in Spain. Then, during

1929−1930, she worked in Italy with the support of Mussolini’s fascist state.

Subsequent arguments, however, led to her exile from Italy in 1936. Montessori

relocated to the Netherlands, where the headquarters of the Association Montessori

Internationale (AMI) still resides. During World War II Montessori conducted a

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training school in India and then returned to the Netherlands in 1946. Beyond

education, she struggled tirelessly for world peace and was nominated for the Nobel

Peace Prize three times before her death in 1952.

Major Contributions to Education

Child Development and Sensitive Periods

Montessori believed that children progressed through a series of developmental

stages.

• Birth to 6 years: Children develop and perfect fine and large muscle

coordination and skills, improve communication skills, and become aware

of spatial and social relationships.

o Birth to 3 years: During this sub-stage, children’s minds function

mainly unconsciously as they begin to develop language and

acquire personality and intelligence through interaction with others

and their environments.

o Years 3 to 6: During this sub-stage, children consciously direct,

manipulate, and attempt to control their environmental and social

explorations.

• Years 6 to 12: Children exercise, refine, and expand on concepts and

skills developed during the first stage.

• Years 12 to 18: Children undergo momentous physical changes and work

to find and understand their unique places in society.

Montessori believed that children between zero and six years were particularly

sensitive to certain types of learning. Today, these “sensitive periods” are typically

categorized as follows:

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• Birth to 3 years: Children absorb information from all five senses—sight,

hearing, touch, smell, and taste—to understand the surrounding environment.

• 1½ to 3 years: Children undergo rapid linguistic development, laying the

foundation for communication skills.

• 1½ to 4 years: Children develop and perfect fine and large muscle

coordination and skills.

• 2 to 4 years: Children become increasingly adept at movement and

communication and become aware of spatial and social relationships. Ideal

activities include matching, sequencing, and ordering objects.

• 2½ to 6 years: Children work well incorporating all five senses to adapt to

their environments.

• 3 to 6 years: Children are especially interested in mimicking adult actions.

• 4 to 5 years: Children’s tactile senses are particularly acute. Ideal activities

include cutting, writing, and creating art.

• 4½ to 6 years: Children display particular readiness to develop reading and

math skills. The Environment and the Materials of Learning

Montessori believed that the learning environment was just as important as the

learning itself, and that a structured, well-prepared environment best promotes

effective learning. The teacher, whom Montessori renamed “directress,” was

responsible for structuring the environment and then guiding the child around it on

his/her path to self-development. The well-prepared environment included tables,

chairs, shelves, cabinets, and so on, fit to the size and needs of children.

Within the ordered Montessori environment, children were encouraged to work on

activities at their own pace. Not unlike Froebel’s gifts, Montessori created a set of

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materials that naturally invited activity to aid in sensory development.

• Set of wooden cylinders and blocks, the blocks having holes into which the

cylinders could be inserted

• Ten pink blocks of graduating size with which to build a tower

• Ten brown wooden prisms and ten red rods with which to build broad, long

stairs

• Boards and fabric of different weights, textures, colors, and size cut into

different geometric forms (sphere, cone, pyramid)

• Wooden puzzles featuring geometric forms of varying color and size

• Cards with various geometric forms pasted on them

• Musical tone bells, a wooden board with musical staff lines, and wooden discs

to represent notes

• Sensory boxes filled with a variety of spices with distinctive odors

The Montessori Method for Early Childhood Education

Montessori thought children should be free to explore and learn without

restriction or criticism, and believed that her carefully prepared environment and

self-correcting learning materials enabled a child to engage in his/her own learning

and develop at his/her own pace. According to Montessori, children who are given

the freedom to choose among a given set of learning activities demonstrate a strong

capacity for concentration and patience, repeating tasks without prodding until they

have mastered them.

In addition to preparing the environment, the role of the directress, or teacher,

was to guide a child in his/her self-discovery. The directress also observed the child,

making notes about his/her individual interests and needs, as well as his/her physical

and mental readiness for new learning experiences. The directress then used this

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ever-evolving educational profile, along with knowledge of the sensitive periods, to

best direct the child’s learning.

The Montessori method strove to educate the senses, the intellect, and the spirit.

The curriculum for early childhood education included the development of the

senses, practical life skills, language and mathematics, as well as cultural and moral

development. Children of different ages were “taught” together, “subjects” were

interwoven, and assessment came solely in the form of observations recorded by the

directress.

Sensory Development: By seeing, listening to, touching, smelling, and tasting

the Montessori materials, children learn how to order, classify, and compare sensory

impressions, which help them to form clear concepts and, thereby, lay the

foundation for intellectual development.

Practical Life Skills: Children learn to control and direct their physical

movements, to respect and care for their own persons and their environments, and

to recognize and develop proper habits and social relationships.

Language Development: Children develop vocabulary by learning the names of

objects in their immediate environments and then learn to classify and describe the

objects.

Mathematical Development: Children learn about abstract mathematical

concepts through the manipulation of concrete, geometric forms.

Cultural Development: Children are introduced to music tones and simple

melodies and are encouraged to participate in activities involving singing and playing

musical instruments. Activities involving art, geography and history, and foreign

language/culture are also encouraged.

Moral Development: Children are encouraged to nurture sensitivity for living

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things—plants, animals, and each other.

In Her Own Words

In The Montessori Method, Montessori clearly defined her philosophy and

methods for stimulating learning. As you read the “How Lessons Should Be Given”

excerpt found in this week’s Learning Resources, think about how teaching/learning

methods you are familiar with compare to Montessori’s.