Sensorial Education Essay Example

Dr. Montessori referred to as "the sensitive periods”.

There are six such periods: sensitivity to order; sensitivity to small objects; learning through the five senses; sensitivity for walking; sensitivity for language; sensitivity for social interest. This young child (0–6 years) has an Absorbent Mind, which naturally incorporates experiences in the environment directly into his whole basic character and personality for life. This mental faculty is divided into two: the unconscious mind; and the conscious mind. From birth to 3 years the child has an unconscious mind, he absorbs impressions from his environment.

From 3 to 6 years the child continues to absorb knowledge, but now he takes it in consciously, putting it into an order and giving it a name. The child uses his impressions in his environment. It is important to note that the child's learning during these early stages is not complete; neither has it reached the internalized abstraction stage that will develop, as he grows older. It is, however, the foundation upon which later knowledge that follows will be built. Wherever this solid foundation is lacking, children will experience difficulty in learning and operating in the future. The development of the senses precedes that of the higher intellectual powers, and in the child between three and six years of age, it is in the formative period. We can then help the development of the senses during this very period, graduating and adapting the stimuli just as we ought, to aid the acquisition of speech, before it is completely developed. All the education of early childhood ought to be based on this principle – to aid the natural development of the child. ”

[2. Maria Montessori, The Discovery of the Child, Pg. 172]

Thus, it is during this period when teachers and educationists encourage children to work on sensorial activities as the material is prepared in a way that they refine the senses and build on the fascination that children have with the experiences of taste, sound, touch, weight, and smell. These activities result in children learning to observe and make increasingly refined sensorial discriminations. Sensorial materials aid in the natural or overall development of the child and give him a sense of self-identity and security within the learning environment.

They provide a basis for learning in an orderly manner that is needed for neurological and psychological development. These are transitory periods, but once sensibility has been acquired it will be long lasting. Therefore the sense impressions are of long duration. In a Montessori classroom frequency of an activity is encouraged as the isolation of one single quality helps refining and developing the senses. The material is based on a logical learning sequence. It goes form the concrete to the abstract. Working on sensorial activities indirectly prepares the child for an intellectual life.

It develops cognitive skills such as thinking, judging, associating, classifying, and comparing. They enhance the powers of observation, attention and concentration. These activities promote auto-education or self-learning as well as provide for aesthetic enjoyment. Sensorial materials are like the key to the nature of things. Education is used to train the young child's mind of absorbed information from the first 3 years of life. The information at this point is a sea of impressions in the unconscious mind.

As a child works further his mind

becomes aware of concepts of size, color, weight, quantity, etc. When the differences are clear, the names are introduced to describe these concepts. Montessori teachers then build on each concept. There is an order and sequence to the materials presented. Montessori's sensorial approach helps a child categorize and use his vast amount of subconscious knowledge in his or her surroundings. This is the beginning of sensorial education. It helps develop a child's intellect. Intelligence is built upon experiences and thought processes.

The materials are designed to help a child's mind develop the necessary skills for intellectual learning. However, sensorial impressions of child's environment are not the same as sensorial education. Impressions are feelings, not an intellectual building block. The mind needs information to discriminate and appreciate different aspects of the environment. Therefore, Dr. Montessori provided sensorial educational materials for this purpose. Sensorial apparatus provides a particular purpose and focus. It includes using the child's hands, senses, and encourages spontaneous activity.

The education given is not an exercise to sharpen the senses, but to allow a child to use his or her senses to understand what they really experience in the environment. When children are able to apply these sensory impressions to their environment, it is then seen as sensorial education. The first few activities show the contrast in the sensory materials, and then graded materials. This teaches concepts of comparing and contrasting. For example, the first colors introduced are the primary colors, which are the most distinct of the chart. Red, blue, and yellow are introduced, and then the different shades and the combinations are introduced.

Intellectual development is taking place here in a concentrated

way on the impressions given by the senses. Sensorial Exercises are designed by Maria Montessori to cover every quality that can be perceived by the senses such as size, shape, composition, texture, loudness or softness, matching, weight, temperature, etc. Because the exercises cover such a wide range of senses, Montessori categorized them into different groups: Visual, Tactile, Baric, Thermic, Auditory, Olfactory, Gustatory, and Stereognostic. The materials aid the mind in making the constructions and developments that are necessary.

Since the child takes in information and understands the world through his senses, sensorial development becomes the foundation for the development of the intellect. She understood that this intellectual activity had an active approach. The materials are three dimensional and real, as she believed that children wanted to see and feel the real objects. All sensorial activities include use of the senses. “The child’s intelligence can develop to a certain level without the help of his hand. But if it develops with his hand, then the level it reaches is higher, and the child’s character is stronger. ” [3.

Maria Montessori, The Absorbent Mind, Pg. 158] Children use their hands, which directly increase their concentration and stimulate intellectual growth. For example, the Pink Tower is introduced at age 3 and is aimed at developing the child’s intellect where by he will be able to differentiate in size and weight - how to hold the small cubes with his fingers, how to grasp the largest cube, controlling arms and fingers so that tower doesn't fall; development of muscular skills; increase concentration and control movements. Maria Montessori believed that a child, without his or her hands, cannot see properly.