| Volume 26 Number 1
Winter 2001
N·A·M·T·A
J 0
u
Montessori's
Great Work:
Our Gift
for the Future
Celebrating… |
| WHAT Is NAMTA?
The North American Montessori Teachers' Association
provides a medium of study, interpretation, and im-… |
| THENAMTAJOURNAL
VoL. 26, No. 1 • WINTER 2001
MoNTEssoR1's GREAT WoRK:
OUR GIFT FOR THE FUTURE
In affiliation with the… |
| MONTESSORI'S GREAT WORK:
OUR GIFT FOR THE FUTURE
CELEBRATING MoNTESsoRr's
GREAT WORK: OuR GrFT FOR THE FUTURE… |
| AMTA News ................................................................................. 195
CLASSIFTEDS… |
| CELEBRATING MONTESSORI' S
GREATWORI<:
OUR GIFT FOR THE FUTURE
by Annette M. Haines
Mario Montessori used to say… |
| If we could prepare environments that met
the needs of the growing individual,
environments that supported the evolution
of… |
| For optimal development, each successive stage would find its
match in an educational environment that meets the needs of the… |
| unearthed what Montessori saw as optimal developmental outcomes
along social, moral, cognitive, and emotional dimensions. 1… |
| nature of the human being
comes to the forefront. The con-
cept of justice is born and thus
the intimate connection of… |
| Finally, these youngsters would emerge with a sense of mission.
They would understand the connection between personal vocation… |
| this celebration in Cleveland recognizing the thirtieth anniversary of
the founding of NAMT A, I would ask that we again… |
| Thanks to Charlene Trochta, Charlotte Kovach Shea, Carol Alver,
Sanford Jones; thanks to David Kahn and everyone else who… |
| Montessori, Maria. To Educate tile Humnn Potential. 1948.
Adyar, Madras, India: Kalakshetra, 1986.
Montessori, Maria.… |
| Kevin Rathunde
I O
The NAMTA Journal • Vol. 26, No. 1 • Winter 2001 |
| MONTESSORI EDUCATION
AND OPTIMAL EXPERIENCE:
A FRAMEWORK FOR NEW RESEARCH
by Kevin Rathunde
Dr. Rathunde' s… |
| interests (Gardner), focusing on motivation and preparation for life-
long learning (Eccles et al.), and many other ideas that… |
| escence provides a good
context for new research
because much of the
work that has been done
on optimal experience
and… |
| miliar with the Montessori method will begin to see the connections
immediately. After the summary, key points of intersection… |
| sights and discoveries that include and expand upon the original
material. Such a developmental process has held a prominent… |
| ments (see Csikszentmihalyi, Creativity; Csikszentmihalyi & Rathunde,
"Development"; and Rathunde,… |
| ment from birth to old age.
The practical consequence
of an extended childhood
is that traits associated with
childhood are… |
| The extended childhood de-emphasized
instinctual, pre-wired adaptations to the
environment, and in their place-under the… |
| social contexts (e.g., schools) can and should be designed in ways that
promote children's concentration, interest, and… |
| this idea on its head, she once commented at a gathering to honor her,
"The highest honor and the deepest gratitude… |
| Note the similarity to the following quote from Montessori: "But
the child who achieves this change [becomes… |
| ply the "normal condition" of childhood, the result of the second
embryonic period that takes place outside… |
| misunderstood terminology can be partially explained by the fact that
Montessori started creating her method during her… |
| from flow feeling refreshed and at peace-were clearly manifested by
the young girl with the wooden cylinders.
Witnessing this… |
| is one who has the self-
regulativecapacity to
move toward optimal
experiences by nego-
tiating a better fit or
synchrony… |
| Montessori also referred to the mind-body balance in terms of
thinking and acting: "It is essential for the child, in… |
| effort rediscovered the instinct of the species. (cited in
Standing 147)
Elsewhere she elaborated on the link between genius… |
| the socialization of psychological complexity) (see Csikszentmihalyi
& Rathunde, "Development";… |
| How is a context for optimal experience prepared? The teacher
must construct the environment so well, so in tune with a child… |
| environment is perceived as the medium through which the teacher helps the
child to engage attention and concentrate. Just as… |
| dose" such that the child is motivated to work in order to "obtain merit
from [the teacher)" (cited… |
| areas (see also Rathunde, "The Context of Optimal Experience";
Rathunde, "Family Context and the… |
| mobility does not come under increased control with maturity, it
results inan unproductive pattern of mind-wandering in… |
| and structure at home, set rules and maintain discipline, and chal-
lenge children with progressive expectations of maturity,… |
| words, they evolve in order to provide an appropriate scaffold for
children's deep concentration. One would not expect an… |
| individuals who have overcome adversity and contributed something
remarkable to culture.
If phase 1 of development involves… |
| narrow focus of attention was radical, but it was consistent with her
educational philosophy. She suggested the creation of a… |
| field of human development. More specifically, new applications and
extensions of optimal experience theory (Csikszentmihalyi… |
| way to envision the related processes of education and human devel-
opment. The synthesis of these perspectives also provides… |
| Csikszentmihalyi, M., & B.Schneider. Becoming Adult: How
Teenagers Prepare for the World of Work. New York: Basic… |
| Koch, S., & D. Leary, eds. A Century of Psychology as Scie11ce.
New York: McGraw-Hill, 1985.
Lerner, R. 011 the… |
| Montessori, Maria. What You Should Know about Your Child.
1948. Adyar, Madras, India: Kalakshetra, 1966.
Montessori, Mario.… |
| Standing, E.M. Maria Montessori: Her Life and Work. 1957.
Rev. ed. New York: New American Library, 1984.
Sternberg, R. &… |
| 44
The NAMTA Journal • Vol. 26, No. 1 • Winter 200/ |
| A NEW LIFE, A NEW BRAIN
by Lise Eliot
Lise Eliot connects brain development with human educational needs from
the… |
| result has no line at all." They hold the strip up to the sample once
more, to be sure, and the meaning of it all… |
| fallopian tube (a good choice!), where it met the egg, monstrous by
comparison but still a mere one tenth of a millimeter in… |
| outer layer of cells that are now specialized for implanting in the wall
of Jessica's uterus (see Figure 1).
The… |
| give rise to most of the internal organs: the gut, lungs, liver, and
various glands. Ectoderm will become the outer skin,… |
| Cross Scct<on
16dsys
18dsys
Neural eroo...-c:
2&days
Figure 2. Formation and closure of the neural tube.… |
| "Our baby will be born in May," Jessica figures. "What a beautiful
month!" And they begin… |
| 25 d.lys
35 d.ays
40 d.ays
50 days
100 d;iys
~~~~~
~
~
5months
...
~
~
~
6months
8months
Figure 3. Prenatal… |
| Seven weeks after fertilization, Jessica and Dave go in for her first
obstetrician's appointment and learn that she is… |
| Brain development, especially
of the cerebral cortex, is by no
means complete after nine
months in the womb. A great
deal… |
| cies, who already know what they feel like). Jessica recognizes them
now, and it will not be long before she starts thinking… |
| I Newborn I
I Adult I
cone
Dendrites
with spines
PresY,nartic
termina
Figure 4. Structure of cerebral neurons in a… |
| an extensive system of roots, called the dendrites, that receive input
from other neurons, and a trunk, or axon, that can be… |
| gestation. Since the vast majority of neurons are produced by the
midpoint of gestation, the actual rate is over half a… |
| modate this massive synapse formation, neurons must vastly expand
their dendritic surfaces.
As much as eighty-three percent… |
| USE IT OR LOSE IT: THE NATURAL SELECTION OF BRAIN WIRING
With billions of neurons and a quadrillion or so synapses to
produce… |
| a lot of overlap that
makes information
transfer both impre-
cise and inefficient.
It's as if all those bil-
lions of… |
| "Exuberant" period (1~8 years)
Pruning of electrically-
inactive synapses
(17egins at 1-2 years)
Adult… |
| Less active synapses, by contrast, do not evoke enough electrical
activity to stabilize themselves and so eventually regress (… |
| It is no great stretch to see the implication of these experiments for
human development: A young child's environment… |
| An even more important function of myelination is to speed the
transmission of electrical signals. Neurons transmit electrical… |
| Once a given brain region has passed the
refinement stage, its critical period has
ended, and the opportunity to rewire it is… |
| relatively quickly, followed by motor areas, but large areas of the
parietal, temporal, and frontal lobes, which are known as… |
| of cortical synapses during development. Developing brains thus
appear to use the most energy during the pruning period, when… |
| once those excess synapses are gone, the critical period is over and it
must make do with its existing circuitry; there's… |
| Greenough, W.T., J.E. Black, & C.S. Wallace. "Experience
and Brain Development.'' Child Development… |
| OPTIMAL DEVELOPMENTAL OUTCOMES
FOR THE CHILD AGED Six TO TWELVE:
SOCIAL, MORAL, COGNITIVE, AND
EMOTIONAL DIMENSIONS
by Kay… |
| behavior must be described before optimal development can be de-
scribed, much less realized. Yet a description of the ideal… |
| means of survival and then to perfect these means. Thus the nature of
the uncontaminated environment was revealed: an… |
| the acquisition of those aspects that allow the individual to enter into
society and take on a career, mission, or life's… |
| and will, which shapes its own existence face to face with its environ-
ment" (Montessori, The Secret of Childhood… |
| outside its cultural environment. The child has no choice but to live in
a social context with others in the world. If the… |
| What does a Montessori environment prepared for the child of the
second plane contribute to the child's social… |
| d ures such as di vision, m ul tip lica tion, square root, and cube root. The
child learns to use sensorial objects either… |
| people in time and space. To Montessori, social harmony is built on a
love of humanity, itself built on what others have done… |
| world. The child must explore the social conditions of man
and the different aspects of society and also of nature.
(… |
| • The child becomes a moral person and "does not wish to have
any trace of disorder on his person, nor does he wish… |
| From a purely intellectual standpoint, a problem of
good and evil is an interesting question. Second-
plane children have… |
| outside the limited environment into which the child was born. What
better to study than the universe in which human beings… |
| a parallelogram and vice versa is permanently present in the imagina-
tion and provides the means for the child to recall and… |
| transmit their thoughts over a great distance and to fix
their remembrance. After many tries, the alphabet gradu-
ally… |
| ment. Knowledge is what the human mind strives to acquire
and what gives the child a rewarding life.
MORAL DEVELOPMENT IN THE… |
| There is no doubt that the first plane and the second plane are
connected in the moral realm. "The period from 3 to 6… |
| of the child's questions can be answered in the classroom. There comes
a time, however, when the classroom does not hold… |
| child from six to twelve, who questions everything at this time, re-
sponds by asking "what if" questions.… |
| connection of knowledge to justice is an outcome of the second
plane. It is only when one understands the connections be-… |