Montessori revolution in Science

(Part 3 of a series on Montessori Revolution in Education)

Dottoressa Maria Montessori referred to the sciences of Geography, History, Botany and Zoology as the “keys to the universe”. These are not taught in pre-school by the traditional education system which tends to focus on memorizing and writing alphabets and counting 1 to 100. Instead, these subjects are only attended to much later in Grades IV-VI or the intermediate grade school level. Without early lessons to familiarize the pre-school to primary school children, the intermediate textbooks tend to confuse the older children.

Dr. Montessori however felt that all subjects can best be introduced to pre-schoolers from three to five years old on a sensorial level, then from six to 12 years old on an intellectual level.

This means making use of hands-on apparata. Both Part I Math and Geometry and Part II Language Arts of this series on the Montessori Revolution in Education illustrated these “sensorial” materials. This time I am explaining Dr. Montessori’s integrated science program, which is gradated in difficulties from pre-school to grade school.

The cosmic science

Dr. Montessori brought the whole world into the pre-school level making use of the two globes: the sanded globe which helped the child feel “land and water” and the colored globe showing the eight continents. Holding this the trained teacher says, “If you cut this into two you’ll have the two hemispheres of the world, voila! The Puzzle Map of the World shows these two spheres.” In Grade I, the Earth and its four “blankets” or spheres show the litho (land) sphere, hydro (water) sphere, athmo (air) sphere, and the bio (life) sphere – life which lives on land, air and water.

Montessori History lessons in pre-school refer to “time and the changes which take place within it.” Example is the Child’s Family Time Line, whereby the child cuts and pastes up centimeter strips of paper representing years. “I am Jojo, 5 years old. My sister Ana is 8 years old. Mama is 28 while Papa is 32 and Lolo is 52.” Parallel to this is the history of food, clothing, shelter – the basic needs of man given to Grades I-III using picture cards of primitive men, the ancient civilizations of Egypt, Greece, China to village life, the Medieval Ages, Colonization period and Modern Time. These are laid out on the eight-meter long Time Line scroll indicating 20 centuries before Christ (BC) and 20 centuries after Christ (AC).

Bringing the forest into the classroom

The Montessori continuum per subject facilitates the multi-grade classroom system, a strategy several small Montessori schools in the world have to use. Without the early acquaintance with science in pre-school, elementary school children frequently develop mental barriers. Aristotle, the Greek philosopher himself stated, “Nothing goes to the intelligence unless it passes first through the senses.”

Montessori pre-school Botany classified cards teach parts of a plant, of a leaf, of a flower while the Zoology classified cards teach parts of a mammal, of a fish, of a reptile, of an amphibian and of a bird. This includes caring for actual pet birds, fish or reptile, or seasonal tadpoles or caterpillars. Pre-schoolers are excited by the phenomenon of change like the sprouting of mongo beans, papaya seeds or onion bulbs.

Why Lea Salonga fell in love with Biology

The illustrations above include the sample Montessori Geography, History, Zoology and Botany materials from pre-school to grade school. These are all integrated into the Time Line of Life scroll given to Grades III-IV. The best Natural History Museums of London, New York, Berlin and Paris exhibit this in huge halls. Deprived of this, at least the Filipino Montessori grader knows the evolution of animal and plant life in the Paleozoic Era (the coming of life in the water, 300 million long years), Mesozoic Era (Age of Reptiles, 140 million long years), Cenozoic Era (the coming of mammals and flowering plants, 59 million long years), and Neozoic Era (age of man, one million long years).

Lea Salonga started at the OB Montessori pre-school in Angeles, Pampanga. When she transferred to the Montessori grade school in Greenhills, she worked with the Cosmic Curriculum. This involved advanced studies in Zoology (note illustration). The Zoology classified cards are done together with the picture taxonomy of Vertebrate Animal Chart and the Invertebrate Animal Chart between Grade III to Grade V.

The study includes the classification of animals by “division, classes, order, family and genus” requiring me to purchase 37 pictures for the Vertebrate Chart and 20 pictures for the Invertebrate Chart which are only available through my Montessori colleagues in France and Italy who I remain in touch with. Lea like other OBMC grade school graduates can rattle this off even today. To study the internal parts of vertebrate animals they had to do actual anatomy of a fish, chicken and frog.

Montessori education cannot be computerized

Most of the so-called Montessori schools have no Montessori apparata. Instead they make use of workbooks, books and computers.

MONTESSORI EDUCATION CANNOT BE COMPUTERIZED. The enormous reasoning power of elementary school children will be under utilized and wasted since the computer merely extends book learning. The culture-loaded Cosmic Curriculum involves tangible materials and projects to satisfy the enormous reasoning power.

How is learning worked out with a computer? If a student wants to research about animals in Africa, all she has to do is to “Google”. If she has to locate a place in South America, the use of the “mouse” will locate the place or type in the name of the town or city and voila out pops Tierra del Fuego at the tip of Argentina. The child, therefore, becomes attached to the computer and will never know how to use the magnifying glass, the maps and the books, depriving the child of actual research in the library.

O Montessori, Montessori, what crimes have been  committed in thy name?

Without any training, least of all even without familiarity with existing professional Montessori schools, most of the “Montessori” schools in the country start with pre-school and boldly claims it uses the system up to the elementary and even high school level, but actually operates it like any traditional school.

This is a very dangerous illusion. A Montessori pre-school is different and distinct from the Montessori elementary school. There are two types of Montessori teacher training and two kinds of curricula for each age group. Both curricula are two years in advance of the traditional curriculum of even a prestigious private grade school.

Madame Marie Jeanne Roland exclaimed during the French Revolution terror as she watched the victims of the guillotine wheeled to what we know now at the Place de la Concorde in the center of Paris, “O liberty, liberty, what crimes have been committed in thy name?”

In the same way, parents can exclaim the numerous betrayals of the Montessori system all over the world, “O Montessori, Montessori, what crimes have been committed in thy name?”

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