The absorbing mind of the child according to Maria Montessori

Maria Montessori created a theory on how education should be adapted to the phases of childhood.

The absorbing mind of the child is one of the key concepts in the pedagogical method developed by the Italian pedagogue and physician Maria Montessori.

It arises from research where Montessori observed that, between 0 and 6 years of age, children learn instantaneously, as if their mind were a sponge that unconsciously absorbs information from external stimuli in response to the needs of each stage of development.

For his contributions to psychology and pedagogy, the absorbing mind of the child is a concept that has been constantly studied..

The mind of children according to Montessori

Young children tend to show fascination with almost everything around them. It seems that almost any stimulus can get their attention and that, no matter how many times it is presented to them, that stimulus can still be as appealing as the first time. Moreover, they never seem to tire of it and are constantly attracted to novelty and adventure.

According to Montessori, this is so because the main characteristic of children is that, unlike adults, they can naturally, involuntarily and progressively absorb the information around them.

Therefore, for Maria Montessori, what is fundamental in learning during childhood is to to allow children to live experiences according to their own rhythms and needs, since it is these experiences that are the most important for them.It is these experiences that will later become organized perceptions of the world, and are also the basis for the child's psychic maturation.

Technically, the absorbing mind is a state of mind that allows the child to assimilate experiences and then analyze and integrate them, which is done unconsciously during the first 3 years, and becomes conscious progressively towards the next 3 years.

From this point on, Montessori proposes that the child's absorbing mind is also the moment in which the child lays the foundations for the development of an identity that is not only psychic which is not only psychic, but also social, because it allows him to organize his experiences according to what the environment offers and demands.

For example, without the need to go through formal learning, the child absorbs a language, customs, practices and norms of those around him, which creates a first sense of belonging and therefore security.

For Maria Montessori, childhood is the crucial stage in the development of human beings.It is the task of education to encourage and provide the appropriate means for children to build an autonomous identity and also respectful of those around them.

How does the absorbent mind develop? The sensitive periods

What Maria Montessori also observed is that the mind does not absorb the same thing at all ages, but there is a series of predispositions.There are a series of predispositions that make the child focus his attention on some stimulus based on what is necessary for his growth. That is, according to their needs, children concentrate on some things and not on others. In a natural way they show interest and approach them, which allows them to acquire the necessary knowledge with pleasure and almost effortlessly.

This interest varies according to the stage of development, so they are transient and successive moments that Montessori called "sensitive periods". Although she divided them by age, she clarified that they sometimes overlap, and that the length of time each period lasts can vary, as well as its intensity. The main periods she described are as follows.

1. Sensitive period of order (0 to 6 years)

Especially during the first two years of life, there is a disposition and an important interest to classify and categorize everything that is classify and categorize everything around them, which is favored throughwhich is favored through order.

2. Sensitive period of movement (0- 5/6 years)

They show a special interest in moving from one place to another, especially if they have already learned to move.especially if they have already learned to walk.

3. Sensitive period of language (0 to 7 years)

Practically without the need for direct instruction usually acquire a large vocabulary.

4. Sensitive period of sensations (0-6 years)

It involves the development of the senses. Although both hearing and sight are active from birth, as their development progresses they acquire a special sensitivity and facility for learning through touch, taste and smell.

5. Sensitive period of small objects (1 to 6-7 years)

There is special interest in small objects which are related to the need to pay special attention to detail.

6. Sensitive period of social life (from intrauterine life to age 6)

This refers to the need to relate to peers and to the process of acquiring certain of acquiring certain norms important for coexistence.

Impact on education

Although it is easier to learn certain things according to the moment of development, it can also happen that a sensitive period ends before the learning that corresponds to it has been achieved, which can make it very difficult to teach it in the following stages.

To prevent this, educational methods should offer not only the development of intellectual skills, but also the right elements to favor learning according to each sensitive period.but of the appropriate elements to favor learning according to each sensitive period.

From there, Montessori also developed an explanation of "tantrums" or "tantrums" of children, which sometimes seem inexplicable, but could actually mean a major intellectual frustration for not being able to respond to stimuli that interest him.

For example, when children have spent a long time doing the same activity and adults tell them that it is time to move on to another, because it seems unimportant to us, or because it takes too long, or because we tend to prioritize quantity over quality, even though the child's need is still to pay attention to that particular stimulus.

The pedagogy of Maria Montessori even has been described as a pedagogy of attention and concentrationprecisely because it encourages children's need to maintain their attention on certain stimuli in accordance with their developmental stages, respecting their own interests and avoiding adult interference.

What has neuroscience said?

In the field of neuroscience, Maria Montessori's proposals have been studied and several empirical foundations have been found. For example, that the development of neural connections and networks in the human brain reaches its peak between 0 and 3 years of life (synaptogenesis), which suggests that indeed, during its early stages of development, the human brain is at its peak (synaptogenesis), during its early stages of development, the brain functions like a sponge, absorbing almost automatically that absorbs almost automatically everything that surrounds it.

As this development progresses, some neuronal connections are prioritized according to the information that is most necessary to acquire and organize. That is why, by puberty, the child has already consolidated a more concrete learning process: he has discriminated between what is useful to know, attend to and experience and what is not, according to what the environment itself has offered or denied him.