In trying to more systematically explain the phenomenon of the Children's House, she refined her theory of child psychology, borrowing heavily from the sciences of biology and psychology. She saw dramatic parallels between the normal physical and intellectual development of the child and that of many other organisms. This led Montessori to describe childhood as a process in which a hidden but definite plan of nature unfolds, as the child works to create the adult personality.
She argued that the child's mind was not, as many believed, like an empty pitcher waiting to be filled in school. Rather, the child's mind was as different from that of an adult as a tadpole is different from the adult frog. Both belong to the same species, but one is at an earlier stage of development.
Montessori spent countless hours observing and interacting with children, gradually forming the concept of several developmental stages that children pass through in the process of growing up. Each is characterized by specific inclinations, interests, and ways of thinking. Children have their own logic at each stage of development, along with certain natural tendencies in behaviour and activities that they normally enjoy.
Montessori noticed that, as children pass from one stage to another, they tend to become fascinated with certain kinds of experiences. If allowed to engage in the activities that fascinate them, their vigorous interaction with the environment leads to their full development, resulting in children with a much lower thresh-hold of frustration, boredom, and a tendency to behave far more calmly than is normally associated with childhood.
On the other hand, Montessori found that if children are denied the opportunity to pursue their spontaneous interests during the period of that sensitivity, they would never be able to develop those skills or concepts as fully and easily in later life. Montessori was convinced that she had accidentally stumbled across the hidden ·Secret of Childhood· and the key to effective education. If we allow the needs of the child to be more fully
Borrowing a term from biology, she called these sensitive periods, after similar developmental stages in animals. The idea seemed revolutionary at the time, and took many years, following Piaget's extensions of Montessori's initial explanation, to become generally accepted in child psychology. Today, whether we use Montessori's terminology or not, the description of child development she first presented at the turn of the century rings true.
Montessori's studies suggested that childhood can be divided into four stages: Birth to age two; ages two to six; the years of age six and seven; and age seven to twelve. Adolescence can in turn be thought of as two levels: Age twelve to fifteen and age sixteen through eighteen. Keep in mind that the age ranges suggested are only approximate, and refer to stages of cognitive and emotional development common to most children.
Montessori refined her concepts of child psychology over a period of time, describing in great detail the distinct characteristics and sensitive periods of each stage of childhood and adolescent development. Her work was further refined and extended by her follower, Jean Piaget. It is fair to say that Montessori noticed the cognitive life of the child, and set out to establish a specific educational formula to meet it, while Piaget, the biologist-turned-psychologist, set out to explore and describe the mind of the child in much greater detail, without concern for practical applications in the classroom.
Piaget cannot be thought of as simply a follower of Montessori, because his own contributions went far beyond her in the field of cognitive psychology. He saw no need to advocate the Montessori Method in his texts on child psychology. However, they maintained a life-long association, and Piaget directed the Montessori School at the Institute Jean-Jacques Rousseau in Geneva and served as President of the Swiss Montessori Society for forty-five years.
It is important for all teachers to recognize and make good use of the natural sensitive periods of childhood. They are transitory phenomena, lasting for periods from a few months to a few years at most. They are
To the child it is not work, but play. Once his need has been satiated, the sensitivity seems to die away, usually to be followed by a new one. It is almost like an invisible computer program within the child that focuses his interest and attention on given aspects of his environment, each in turn following a pre-assigned schedule for normal development. Once the period has passed, that which has not been learned must be done the hard way, without joy and without the unconscious effort found during periods of sensitivity.
Perhaps the most classic example of a sensitive period is that for language. Children are normally born with a natural fascination with the human voice. Studies have shown that infants are attuned to speech, and respond to it even against a background of competing sounds. By the second year of life, the child has created the miracle of speech, recreating the native language spoken around her. This is the longest lasting sensitive period, extending at least until age six. Using this natural sensitivity, the child can easily develop an enriched vocabulary without effort in the early childhood Montessori class.
This list is by no means complete, nor does it extend upward to the older child and adolescent. However, it does suggest to the early childhood educator some of the things that absorb young children if they are given exposure and opportunity.
Keep in mind that the learning that the child absorbs during the sensitive periods is not complete, nor has it reached the level of internalized abstraction that will develop as he grows older. It is, however, the foundation upon which much that follows will be built. Wherever this solid foundation is lacking, the child will experience difficulty in learning and operating later on.
© 1996 The Montessori Foundation