Sensorial
Maria Montessori described the sensorial materials as the "key to the universe" Discuss this statement and give examples to support your discussion.
"The senses, being explorers of the world, open the way to knowledge. Our apparatus for educating the senses offers the child a key to guide his explorations of the world, they cast a light upon it which makes visible to him more things in greater detail than he could see in the dark, or uneducated state."(1. Montessori Maria, the Absorbent page 190, chapter 17).
Montessori believed that sensorial experiences began from birth to six. At this stage, children learn and develop by using their five senses which help in making mental order in their environment.
These five senses are visual sense the child learns how to visually discriminate differences between similar objects and differing objects.
Second is tactile sense, the child learns through his sense of touch. “Although the sense of touch is spread throughout the surface of the body, the Exercises given to the children are limited to the tips of the fingers, and particularly, to those of the right hand.” (Montessori, Maria (1997) The Discovery of the Child) This allows the child to really focus on what he is feeling, through a concentration of a small part of his body. In the Stereognostic Sense Exercises, the child learns to feel objects and make recognitions based on what he feels. “When the hand and arm are moved about an object, an impression of movement is added to that touch. Such an impression is attributed to a special, sixth sense, which is called a muscular sense, and which permits many impressions to be stored in a “muscular memory”, which recalls movements that have been made."(Montessori, Maria (1997) the Discovery of the Child, Oxford, England: Clio Press) .In the Baric sense, the child learns to feel the difference of pressure or weight of different objects, this sense is heightened through the use of a blindfold or of closing your
"The senses, being explorers of the world, open the way to knowledge. Our apparatus for educating the senses offers the child a key to guide his explorations of the world, they cast a light upon it which makes visible to him more things in greater detail than he could see in the dark, or uneducated state."(1. Montessori Maria, the Absorbent page 190, chapter 17).
Montessori believed that sensorial experiences began from birth to six. At this stage, children learn and develop by using their five senses which help in making mental order in their environment.
These five senses are visual sense the child learns how to visually discriminate differences between similar objects and differing objects.
Second is tactile sense, the child learns through his sense of touch. “Although the sense of touch is spread throughout the surface of the body, the Exercises given to the children are limited to the tips of the fingers, and particularly, to those of the right hand.” (Montessori, Maria (1997) The Discovery of the Child) This allows the child to really focus on what he is feeling, through a concentration of a small part of his body. In the Stereognostic Sense Exercises, the child learns to feel objects and make recognitions based on what he feels. “When the hand and arm are moved about an object, an impression of movement is added to that touch. Such an impression is attributed to a special, sixth sense, which is called a muscular sense, and which permits many impressions to be stored in a “muscular memory”, which recalls movements that have been made."(Montessori, Maria (1997) the Discovery of the Child, Oxford, England: Clio Press) .In the Baric sense, the child learns to feel the difference of pressure or weight of different objects, this sense is heightened through the use of a blindfold or of closing your