Discoveries of Dr Montessori - I

              Further to our earlier post, that Dr Maria Montessori made keen observations and derived at some conclusions about the development in children,  let us now jot down and discus few of her discoveries she had made during her lifetime work :

1) CHILDREN LOVE TO WORK AND LEARN PURPOSEFULLY

     When a set of apparatus was given to the children to be used for a limited period of time, the children were keen to go on and on as long as they wanted. So, Maria discovered that the children had inner developmental need, which stimulated them to work with great interest again and again until their goal is acquired. We as adults need to provide necessary prepared environment for this development.

2) CHILDREN WORK WITH CONCENTRATION UNDER RIGHT CONDITIONS

    As explained in the previous point, the inner developmental need ignites an interest in the child. When the child works with an interest, the result is Spontaneous Repetition. Again, when this repetition is done with interest, the product is Concentration. Thus, any activity done with concentration enhances child development. When children are provided the right environment and apparatus, they work repeatedly until achieving a state of concentration for self-development. Maria has explained this in one of her books, where she was surprised to find a three-year old working with a cylinder and board apparatus, and repeated the exercise 42 times to fit the cylinder into the board. This observation made Maria believe that children had an inner urge for repetition of activity.

3) CHILDREN NEED ORDER FOR THEIR DEVELOPMENT

     Children require order not only with the environmental phase but also with values, functions and other human activities. 

      

       For example, the child gets confused when an adult does not practice human value like ‘say the truth’ in everyday life. Also, he is disturbed mentally when any object in the environment is used for a different purpose that it is meant for. For example, old unused toothbrush used for cleaning combs, the other end of a spoon used for tightening screws etc… Similarly, when we give contrary instructions on his behavior, it definitely creates a rift in him. That is, certain behavior, which we allow normally, is not allowed when a visitor is there. 

    We need to understand that a child undergoes everlasting personality development, which cannot be changed or altered once formed. The child looks for uniformity everywhere and he will recognize that things can also be unusual only as time passes by.

4) CHILDREN NEED FREEDOM TO CHOOSE THE ACTIVITY THEY NEED TO PERFORM

     Dr Montessori observed that when a number of learning apparatus is arranged in the shelves, a child has a tendency to choose the activity he finds challengeable, which he finds proportionate to his size and which is also according to his capacity. Maria learnt this principle of  ‘Freedom of Choice’ in her Casa Dei Bambini. One day when the teacher arrived late to school, she was surprised to see that the children had themselves opened the cupboard and selected the materials matching their inner need. She found them busily working with attentiveness, unaware of their surroundings or their teacher’s entry.

5) ACTIVITY IS ESSENTIAL FOR CORRECTING DEVELOPMENTAL ERRORS

     When all human powers work together, the child is termed ‘Normal Child’. But, there may be deviations from this normality in some of the children because of the lack of proper conditions for their development. If the defects caused during Infancy are not corrected, they remain forever and get worse, causing repercussions on mental life and intelligence. These defects vanish when the child gets absorbed in something, which interests him. We should provide a ‘Motive for Activity’ on which the child is so interested that he becomes absorbed in it. This concentration brings back the ‘Normalisation’.

6) DEVELOPMENTAL ACTIVITY BELONGS TO AREAS THAT THE CHILD NEEDS FOR BUILDING HIS PERSONALITY

          The activities like Sensorial, Language, Arithmetic, art and culture is required for the Child’s educational foundation but Maria discovered and introduced a new concept ‘Exercises of Practical Life’ (EPL) which helped in the formation of personality. Examples of EPL are participation of cooking, Gardening, Cleaning the House and other regular activities. Doing these EPL helps the child to increase his intelligence, Neuro-muscular co-ordination, psycho-motor unity, strengthen his will power and voluntary his movements. These developments together constitute the formation of an Integrated Personality.