Shazia Saleem Roll No.

D - 13003 Module -1

Discoveries of Maria Montessori by Observing

Children
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Maria was a keen observer of children. She used her observational and experimental
proclivities from her medical background to develop, what we might today call, a
constructive understanding of the “Process of Learning”. She studied the conditions in
which the children would perform those actions. She thought education always involved 3
elements: The learner, the prepared environment and the guide. With her scientific
approach she tested whether every child in similar opportunities would manifest same type
of behavior. She tested these again and again and after 22 years of such experimentation
Dr. Maria could say that she had found a method to help children in their education pursuit.

1. Inner drive leads to concentration

Montessori discovered the inner need for eye-hand manipulation exercises, freedom,
independence and purposefulness, which is sufficient to reach their goals. This strong urge
is universally similar.

With the provision of necessary environment. When an inner need with the inner urge
spontaneous interest is generated. When this interest finds suitable working conditions it
leads to spontaneous repetition. The result of this spontaneous repetition is concentration.
And concentration is not the end product it’s just beginning. To achieve this end product
no hurdle should be there in the child’s way.

2. Two streams of energy - Normalization

Montessori found two streams of energy within the young child. First is the physical energy
of the body expended in voluntary movements. Second is mental energy; the energy of
intellect and will. She felt that these two streams of energy are often separated by the forces
of modern life. Children who are helped to unite them tend to move aimlessly, clumsily
and have unfocused thought patterns. A unification of these two energies come about when
Shazia Saleem Roll No. D - 13003 Module -1

a child becomes absorbed in work. Montessori called this Normalization, and concentration
she said was the key. That’s why she decided to follow the child. Dr. Maria says during the
early childhood it is possible to rectify any developmental error and bring the child back to
normality.

3. Need of order
Very young children need order for their development. This order need not be only with
things in the environment but also with values, functions and other human activities. The
child needs to see human values like ‘Say the truth’ being practiced. But the adults do not
practice in everyday life. The child gets confused and this creates a warp in his
development. Similarly any object being used for a purpose other than it is meant for,
creates disturbance. Contrary behaviors muddle his decisions. He needs consistency in
everything in his environment. It takes a while for him to understand that things can also
be different.

4. Ability to select activities

Adult should follow the child rather them to motivate him to do work. Child needs those
activities which help him to develop sensorial concepts, language, arithmetic, art and
culture. She observed that child could learn almost everything in early childhood, as it was
previously thought, that many things are too complex for children. Encouraging free and
natural experimentation means urging children to move around and communicate with their
environment. In short encouraging children to do something helps them to learn more
quickly than mere observation. Unlike her mentally challenged children who had to be
pushed to use her apparatus, the normal children were naturally attracted to work.

True education is never a pouring in, but rather it is a release from within.

(Dr. Elizabeth Caspari)

Shazia Saleem Roll No. D - 13003 Module -1

5. Sensitive Period ( 0 to 11 years)

Her inspiration by work of Jean-Itard and Edouard Seguin led her to believe in existence
of developmental periods in normal human growth. If appropriate experiences are not
available at specific times during development in early years, it may get hindered or does
not take place at all. In these evolutionary moments lies great neuro-emotional potential
and as such education is essential. Her children proved that they have more interest in
academic manipulatives rather than toys.

Neuroscience has identified these stages in which brain needs certain

stimulation in order to develop.

6. Liking calm atmosphere and respect for other’s

work
Maria recognized the frustration a little child experiences in an adult sized world. The
creation of Montessori cosmos, micro world, child-sized furniture and tools encouraged
exploration and cognitive flexibility. It also made child experience their built-in
responsibility towards environment. The children learned to control their movements,
disliking the way the calm atmosphere was disturbed when they knocked into the furniture.
The children loved to sit on the floor so she bought small rugs to define their work areas
and they quickly learned to walk around work that other children had laid out on their rugs.

7. Freedom & Discipline are 2 faces of same coin

Emotional blackmail is, unfortunately a strategy every adult uses to get their children to do
what they want. They use guilt, threats, fears, intimidation and often also patience and
affection, unaware of the consequences that this can leave on the child. Often adults resort
to blackmailing because it gives us control. Control is not synonymous with education and
discipline. Montessori observed independence, control of errors, love for silence and
indifference with regard to reward or punishments. This made her believe that discipline
Shazia Saleem Roll No. D - 13003 Module -1

did not have to be enforced, but real discipline comes through freedom. Freedom and
discipline are two faces of the same coin.

8. Moral responsibility towards this section of

humanity
Maria felt a moral responsibility towards children, so she decided to follow the child.
Materials were altered, modified, some rejected and some newly introduced to suit the
requirements of the children that they showed her. Children love to work purposefully
without incentives. Then who is better human being? We, having adult size but little values
of humanity or the child, having little size but bigger human values.
Shazia Saleem Roll No. D - 13003 Module -1

References
https://www.bartleby.com/essay/Discoveries-of-Maria-Montessori-P3JSL29K6ZYS

https://prismmmm.blogspot.com/2014/05/normal-0-false-false-false-en-us-x-none.html

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/...discovery...maria-montessori/97803453365...

http://www.ageofmontessori.org/montessoris-discoveries/

https://www.scribd.com/document/287239933/Q3-M1-Main-Discoveries-Dr-Mari