Montessori Pedagogy

Absorbent Mind

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Absorbent mind

Children come equipped with characteristics that underline what we call the
Human Potential:

Absorbent Mind

Human Tendencies

Sensitive Periods

100 milliard neurons

The big 3+

The concept of Absorbent Mind is one of Maria Montessoris findings and

about this she has compiled lectures and courses in the book with the same
name. This book was the first book translated into English and was written
while she was still in India.
Quote:
This book is one of the links in the unfolding chain of our thought, and of
the movement to which we belong, for the defense of those great inner
powers which children possess. Absorbent Mind, Chapter 1, first sentence
Maria Montessori, talks about these great inner powers that are equal to
Human Potential.
Quote:
The greatness of the human personality begins at the hour of birth.
Maria Montessori: The Absorbent Mind, ch.1, pg. 4
(.) From this almost mystic affirmation there comes what may seem
a strange conclusion: that education must start from birth..
During this early period, education must be understood as a help to
the unfolding of the child's inborn psychic powers. This means that we
cannot use the orthodox methods of teaching, which depend on talk.
Maria Montessori: The Absorbent Mind, ch.1, pg. 4
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Stefania Voicu

Montessori Pedagogy

Absorbent Mind

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We understand from the quotes that the child is equipped to learn by himself
and that not the adult is the source of his knowledge.
People thought that children are empty vessels that wait to be filled and that
was named CAUSALITY. The teacher doesnt cause learning, it comes from
the inborn powers of the child, from the potential within him even before
birth.
Quote:
Today we are beginning to see the value of these ungather fruits, more
precious than gold, for they are man's own spirit. - Maria Montessori: The
Absorbent Mind, ch.1, pg. 5
The first two years of life open new horizons before us, for here we
may see the laws of psychic construction hitherto unknown.- Maria
Montessori: The Absorbent Mind, ch.1, pg. 5
If we study the child in the first 2 years of life we will discover the laws of
human development. Today, modern scientific studies is backing Maria
Montessoris findings and more an more scientists are starting to write about
the 3 years of life that she called THE PSYCHIC EMBRYO period.
Maria Montessori also says that until 2 years the EGO of the child is formed.
However, until 3 years the child still gathers knowledge until the passing to
the next stage, when he will become a CONSCIOUS WORKER.
If we study this period, the child will reveal a mind able to absorb
knowledge and a power to teach themselves. Its the way the mind
works in conjunction to the environment.
Quote:
And so we discovered that education is not something which the
teacher does, but that it is a natural process which develops spontaneously
in the human being. It is not acquired by listening to words, but in virtue of
experiences in which the child acts on his environment. The teacher's task is
not to talk, but to prepare and arrange a series of motives for cultural
activity in a special environment made for the child.- Maria Montessori: The
Absorbent Mind, ch.1, pg. 7

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Stefania Voicu

Montessori Pedagogy

Absorbent Mind

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In the natural process of development is done through experiences in the

environment, so, we must have a rich environment for the child, as they run
on a time schedule.

PARTS OF THE ABSORBENT MIND

1. THE INNER TEACHER
Quote:
There is, so to speak, in every child a painstaking teacher, so skillful
that he obtains identical results in all children in all parts of the world. The
only language men ever speak perfectly is the one they learn in babyhood,
when no one can teach them anything! Not only this, but if at a later age the
child has to learn another language, no expert help will enable him to speak
it with the same perfection as he does his first. - Maria Montessori: The
Absorbent Mind, ch.1, pg. 6
This inner teacher is like a time keeper, making sure that the child is on the
schedule of his humanization. All children start to say their first words around
the age of 1 year all over the world. All children, no matter where they are,
keep to the same schedule and order. What is important is the environment
that provides the experiences based on which the child incarnates
knowledge. By the age of three, children lay down the foundation of the
human being.
This characteristic of the human being was noticed also by Wilder Panfield, a
north American that mapped the brain to see which part of the brain controls
what part of the body. He found that the biggest part of the brain was used
by the lips and palms of hands and the smallest parts for the legs and body.
He said that no one can alter the biological clock and no one can intervene in
order to alter the schedule of the human brain, not even a psychiatrist or an
educator. This biological clock, if understood, can time the teachers
opportunities when the learning aptitudes are all turned on.
2. MNEME comes from Greek and mean to remember
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Stefania Voicu

Montessori Pedagogy

Absorbent Mind

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This is a special vital memory that absorbs the information from the
environment and keeps it forever, unaltered.
Quote:
The relationship of the child with the environment is a different one
than the one of the adult. While we admire the environment and remember
it, the child absorbs it. - Maria Montessori: The Absorbent Mind, ch.7
The child doesnt simply remember but incarnates every experience, positive
or negative.
The Amygdala is the place in the brain that sensorial memory is stored and
this happens even before birth.
3. NEBULAE this are the creative energies, it is potential to form, the
potential characteristics of the Human Being
The NEBULAE is anything and everything we can possibly learn: smels,
flavours, sounds, language, movement, textures etc.
For example, the Nebulae for language. Nebulae are so big that you can
do 2, 3 or 4 languages but it is not formed to do a special one. This
happens through the work of the inner teacher and MNEME and works
together with the Sensitive Periods.
Quote:
A Nebulae is nothing, yet, as capable of constructing something Maria
Montessori, London, 1946, ch. 7
4. HORME comes from Greek and means to stimulate.
This is the energy of life.
Maria Montessori said that Horme is guiding the mind to interact with the
environment
She said that Horme is the divine urge...the source of all evolution..
To us, the mental organism is a dynamic whole, which transforms its
structure by active experience obtained from its surroundings; it is guided
thereto by an energy (horme) of which the nebulae are differentiated and
specialized kinds or stages. - Maria Montessori: The Absorbent Mind, pg80
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Stefania Voicu

Montessori Pedagogy

Absorbent Mind

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It pushes to get things done at the right time, to get from the
environment what we need and then recording everything in the MNEME.

MNEME
HORME
Inner Teacher
Nebulae

Womb
House
City
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Stefania Voicu

Montessori Pedagogy

Absorbent Mind

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Country
World

.Universe.....
THE HORME is the vital force, the dynamic power pushing the INNER
TEACHER to keep the child acquire human characteristics which the child
does through the NEBULAE, working in the environment, and its all kept
forever in the special memory which is the MNEME.
She said that Horme is the divine urge...the source of all evolution..
Quote:
To us, the mental organism is a dynamic whole, which transforms its
structure by active experience obtained from its surroundings; it is guided
thereto by an energy (horme) of which the nebulae are differentiated and
specialized kinds or stages. - Maria Montessori: The Absorbent Mind, pg80
The fact that the child learns his time and place makes him an historical link
between two epics: the past and the future, always ready to take evolution to
its next level.
This is what we are trying to do, remove obstacles and get the
psychology: I can do it! to our children. All of this is working insight the
children to get body and mind independence.
Independence means that you are now free to contribute to the greater
good of your group. This is a great thing, you are independent to be
interdependent. This is what humanity is, not to stand alone, but to stand
together and work together.

Quote:
...the child must be considered as a point of union, a link joining the
different epochs of history, the different levels of civilization. Infancy is a
period of true importance because when we want to infuse new ideas to
modify or better the customs of the people we must use the environment as
our vehicle. - Maria Montessori: The Absorbent Mind, ch. 7, pg 60
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Stefania Voicu

Montessori Pedagogy

Absorbent Mind

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To influence society we must turn our attention to childhood. Out of

this truth comes the importance of nursery schools, for it is the little ones
who are building mankind, and they can work only on the materials we give
them. The immense influence that education can exert through children, has
the environment for the child absorbs his environment, takes everything
from it, and incarnates it in himself. With his unlimited possibilities, he can
well be the transformer of humanity, just as he is its creator.

The child

brings us a great hope and a new vision. There is much that we teachers
can do to bring humanity to a deeper understanding, to a higher well-being,
and to a greater spirituality. - Maria Montessori: The Absorbent Mind, ch.7,
pg. 61
The environment is the one that makes the difference as the child incarnates
it. And thats why we must live the values we want to pass on.
The Absorbent Mind uses the sensorial channels to take in the information
and keeps it alive through repetition.
The MNEME is not easily accessed and we know, now, that if anything should
be added to our knowledge this should be done through repetition (lots and
lots)
Any reform of education must be based on the knowledge of the
development of human personality. This means that we have to remove any
obstacles, prepare the environment, consider the appropriate age, respect
the child, understand how special his brain is. Human development starts
before birth and is more intense in the first three years of life, its what we
call the one thousand days that count, or in Japanese first 1000 days last
one hundred years.

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Stefania Voicu