| The
N-A-M-T-A
NAMTA
Journal
Science, Scientific Pedagogy, and the
Importance of Montessori Structure
Volume 36 Number 1… |
| WHAT Is NAMTA?
'1 he :--.:orth Aml·rican ~1onte,.,ori Teacher,· ,\-,,c'k:iation
provide, a medium of ,tudy. intc:… |
| THE NAMTA JOURNAL
VoL. 36, No. 1 • WINTER 2011
SCIENCE, SCIENTIFIC PEDAGOGY, AND THE
IMPORTANCE OF MONTESSORI STRUCTURE
In… |
| SCIENCE, SCIENTIFIC PEDAGOGY, AND THE
IMPORTANCE OF MONTESSORI STRUCTURE
ScrENCE, SclENTIFIC PEDAGOGY, AND
THE !MPORTANCE OF… |
| EVOLUTION OF A THREE-PERIOD LESSON APPROACH:
UNDERSTANDING THE LEARNING CYCLE AND
MOVING FORWARD WITH THE ADOLESCENT IN… |
| SCIENCE, SCIENTIFIC PEDAGOGY, AND THE
IMPORTANCE OF MONTESSORI STRUCTURE
by David Kahn
Montessori was a scientist, but first… |
| Lawrence Krauss, who spoke at the NAMTA Baltimore Confer-
ence, T!le Science of Evol11tio11: Studies across All Disciplines,… |
| A system is a set of interrelated elements that make a uni-
fied whole. Individual things-like plants, people, schools,… |
| to find relevance in every classroom, because every time a teacher
observes how a child is connecting to her open work, every… |
| SECTION I:
SCIENCE |
| 6
The NAMTA Journal • Vol. 36, No. I • Winter 201 I |
| How SCIENCE FITS INTO THE WHOLE
MONTESSORI CURRICULUM
by Gretchen Hall
Gretclten Hall presents a universal definition of bot… |
| created weapons capable of destroying the world. All of these sci-
entific achievements, for good or for bad, are the creative… |
| wonders. Scientific values become embodied and naturalized in
our concepts, techniques, research priorities, inventions,… |
| observe the effectiveness of our efforts. If we proceed in this way,
education will proceed as naturally as possible.
The… |
| understand
that physical objects
cohere and cannot pass through
each other, that some things are
animated and some things… |
| The child is ripe for re-discovery of his environment and
of his inner wealth of impressions of it. In order to realize
this… |
| include plants and animals and show children
how to care for and respect them. We guide the
observation of nature and… |
| intellectual precision and accuracy comes through
sensorial, language, and math activities.
• Confidence, willingness to take… |
| • Creativity
Creativity is fostered throughout the Children's
House, through art, language, movement, senso-
rial… |
| tion of life and an awareness
of the interdependence and
inter-relatedness of nature. Jn
addition, they serve to guide
the… |
| Primary children will discover many scientific concepts naturally
in daily life. In exploring the immediate environments of… |
| The second-plane child is endowed with the power of reason
and the capacity for rational thought. No longer satisfied to… |
| their role in humanity, and an appreciation for the work of people
who came before them.
One of the characteristics of the… |
| Education, in stressing the interrelatedness of everything, asserts
everything in the universe has a cosmic task. In To… |
| Another aspect of science is one of morality. The second-plane
child is in the process of creating his own moral code and is… |
| The cosmic plan and the adolescent's place in it is the
logical focus of study for the third plane, as the seeds of… |
| Montessori saw the third plane as a time of rebirth and referred
to adolescents as social llewborns. As such, they must learn… |
| The questions of the adolescent go beyond the "what" of the
primary and the "why" of the… |
| humans as children that lends a sense of the cosmic to
Montessori's thinking. This cosmic sense pervades all
of… |
| Montessori, Mari,,. T/11• Discoz,1•r_11 of 1111• C/11/d, lrans. M.
Johnstorw. Madr.1s: l-,.,1l.1kshl•tra Pubhc,ltions, 19-18… |
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28
The NAMTA Journal • Vol. 36, No. I• Winter 2011 |
| SOWING THE SEEDS OF THE SCIENCES:
OUR GIFT TO THE FUTURE
by Audrey Sillick
Audrey Sillick's Sowing the Seeds of tl,e… |
| When John Muir suggested that
each of us is connect to everything
else in the universe, his suggestion
was not simply… |
| limited by biological concepts. But we cannot ignore them either.
Nature is part of our h11111a11ity, and the fact of… |
| tion watching a tiny bug: the insect undisturbed, unchanged, and
unintruded upon by the child. Only such a self-effacing… |
| place and teacher, leaving impressions that incubate in the absorbent
mind. Those experiences remain even while the conscious… |
| to participate with the whole bodily self in the sights and sounds
of the external world of nature.
Contact with the world… |
| provide children with an alphabet for their exploration as well as the
means of concept formation. Language is the ultimate… |
| dren. We cannot share what we do not possess. Henry Bexton in
The Outermost House, wrote:
Nature is part of our humanity, and… |
| Sanford Jones
38
The NAMTA Journal • Vol. 36, No. I• Winter 201 I |
| CELEBRATING LIFE, NOT THEORIES
by Sanford Jones
Sa11ford Jones' article is a very perso11a/ essay (combined witlt a… |
| the Montessori teacher, "Give the children God and humankind." Or,
put into secular language, "Give… |
| and to develop, as American developmental psychologist, author,
and Harvard professor Howard Gardner would say, their &… |
| There were five of us, three of us fresh from Bergamo, Italy or,
should Isa y exhausted from Bergamo, and two others who had… |
| naturally to me, because 1 felt it was a sign of weakness: I asked for
help. 1 called the Montessori Institute. Miss… |
| The transformation of that class, from a collection of mostly
ragamuffin, untutored, good-hearted children was simple,… |
| cept our individual situation, taking the best and leaving the rest.
Most of us bemoan the fact that the classroom experience… |
| Each one of us comes into
the teaching profession with a
unique temperament, a unique
style, a personal history. It is… |
| spent more time outdoors, but with adulthood came days and nights
in hermetically sealed homes, cars, and places of employment… |
| also need to help the children experience the fulfillment of these
needs through subjective experiences-letting
them explore… |
| The second spoke of the centerpiece of basic human tendencies
is that of the mental faculties. The four faculties that Dr.… |
| room, where much of the
material was permanently
displayed (it is a dry climate)
and used by the children.
There was a… |
| tells the story of a nature walk with her children in the woods out-
side her school in Wisconsin. She was at the head of the… |
| usage at a spoken language level is direct preparation for their
recognition in written language.
Think of the vast… |
| and successful adaptation to the culture by the child's own activity
on the environment. The well-known phrase of the… |
| child and the natural world. Certain urban children without means
of transport have never seen a farm or farm animals. Maurice… |
| plant. We dug it up, brought it in, and r proceeded to give the lesson,
hopefully projecting the same sense of wonder and… |
| RcrERE ccs
Al Homt• 111 Nature: 810/o:,:y for the Montessori Classroom.
DVD. Availabll• at www.youthoperaintl.com.
Lou,,… |
| Annabeth Jensen
58
The NA MTA Journal • Vol. 36, No. I • Winter 20 I I |
| How SCIENCE AND HISTORY LEAD TO
COMMUNITY SERVICE
by Annabeth Jensen
A nabet/1 Jensen's presentation is the proceedings… |
| to meet the public school benchmarks, as those are met easily and
early on in the Montessori classroom. No, the reason we… |
| We teach ecology in order to bring the children to the inevitable
discovery of the delicate balance of nature. By giving them… |
| We Teach Science to Sow the Seeds of Culture
We talk a lot about sowing the seeds; planting seeds we may
never see germinate… |
| We need to 111ake it clear to tlte children that there is so 111uclt left to
discover. In this world of immediate information… |
| We Teach Science to Inspire the Children with the Idea That
They Have a Part to Play in the Health and Well-Being of the… |
| of nature with the same reverence and joy that he experiences when
he wakes in the morning to find his world blanketed with… |
| We Tell Stories to Inspire the Second-Plane Child's Tendency
towards Hero Worship
If you go to the biography section of… |
| How to Write the Stories
A good story can be written in 15-20 minutes. Remember that we
do not want to provide all of the… |
| Start with a hook. This is how we seduce them. A conspiratorial
tone as you lean in to tell them something really amazing… |
| our country? What happens when you put a bouquet of alstromeria
in a warm room?
The Chart of Interdependencies:
Another way… |
| depth considering the nature of the universe. l believe vehemently,
however, that these provide a Hat depiction of concepts… |
| vated and organized students can do it, sometimes a parent volunteer.
There are lots of ways to run a school garden for all… |
| sure how much they were getting out of the activity. Last year, I had
three students who once again proved to me that the… |
| and it is my job to give them all. However, over the years as I've
gone back to look more deeply at the plan of Cosmic… |
| our students to observe the differences between a scalene and
isosceles triangle, or to observe the similarities between an… |
| the response, "I think it will make a gooey mess and that's why my
morn would never let me do this at home.&… |
| Because classification appeals to the reasoning mind of the
second-plane child, it emerges in many areas of our classrooms,… |
| child around, then remove blindfold and have the
child try to find the tree again.
• Seton Walk: Spread students out along a… |