MONTESSORI METHOD 



3919 



MONTESSORI METHOD 



The child can seat himself comfortably with 

 one of these before him at a table, and practice 

 the given operation at leisure. Each of the 

 processes, sucfras buttoning, lacing, tying bows, 

 etc., represents problems to the child at first; 

 problems, not 'only to his mind, but also to his 

 fingers, which have not yet learned to make the 

 necessary movements. Practicing them sepa- 

 rately, therefore, isolated from the other diffi- 

 culties with which they are combined in dress- 

 ing, enables him to acquire skill in these move- 

 ments much more quickly than if he only en- 

 counters the exercise in practical life. 



Dr. Montessori lays stress upon the exercises 

 of practical life from still another point of view, 

 namely, that they lead the child to become in- 

 dependent of the help of others. This is an 

 addition to his liberty. "In reality, he who is 

 served is limited in his independence." This 

 concept will be the foundation of the dignity of 

 the man of the future "I do not wish to be 

 served because I am not an impotent." And 

 this idea must be gained before men can feel 

 themselves really free. 



The Education of the Senses. In Dr. Mon- 

 tessori's method considerable importance is at- 

 tached to the education of the senses. During 

 the period of growth in which they are in proc- 

 ess of development, exercises which contribute 

 to the education of the senses are spontaneously 

 attractive to the children, and they repeat them 

 with evident interest and pleasure for long in- 

 tervals of time. This is also the period in \vhich 

 a systematic training of the senses is most effec- 

 tive. 



The apparatus used in the education of the 

 senses is too extensive to be here described in 

 detail, but' the following examples will illustrate 

 its nature and principles: 



(a) The Cylinders. These, which may be 

 given to the youngest children, consist of a 

 series of ten wooden, cylinders which fit pre- 



FOR EXERCISES WITH WEIGHTS OR 

 CYLINDERS 



cisely into a row of holes in a block of wood 

 They vary gradually in dimension, from the 

 largest at one end to the smallest at the other. 

 The child plays with these, taking them out of 

 their holes, mixing them upon the table, and 



then striving to replace them. The exercise is 

 one in visual perception, requiring the child to 

 perceive similarities and differences of form. 

 For children of two and a half to three years 

 of age this game has great fascination, and they 

 repeat the exercise, taking out the cylinders 

 and replacing them an indefinite number of 

 times. 



There are three blocks of cylinders; in one of 

 these the cylinders vary in diameter only, in 

 another in height only, and in the third, in 

 both dimensions. 



(b) The "Long Stair," the "Broad Stair" and 

 the "Tower." These consist (1) of a series of 

 ten rods, differing from one another in length 



THE "LONG STAIR" 



by ten centimeters at a time, and forming a 

 gradation from a rod of ten centimeters to a 

 rod one meter in length; (2) of a series of ten 

 square prisms, differing in the side of their 

 cross section by one centimeter at a time, from 

 a prism measuring one square centimeter in 

 cross section, to one having a cross section ten 

 centimeters square; the game with these con- 

 sists in arranging the rods or prisms upon the 

 floor or table, in order of gradation; (3) a se- 

 ries of ten cubes varying in size from a cube 

 having an edge of one centimeter to one with 

 an edge of ten centimeters. These are built 

 one upon another in order of size, commencing 

 with the largest at the bottom. 



(c) The geometric insets. To train the eye 

 in the perception of form, an apparatus is used 

 consisting of flat geometric figures, cut out of 

 wood, and fitting into corresponding holes in 

 flat wooden squares, or "frames." A selection 

 from a large number of these, comprising cir- 

 cles of different sizes, squares, rectangles, tri- 

 angle's and polygons, may be presented to the 

 child, who has to take out the figures, mix them 

 and replace them in their corresponding aper- 

 tures. To this exercise, which is one of vision, 

 may be added an exercise of the muscular sense, 

 the child passing the tips of his first two fingers 

 around the contours of the figures and of the 

 frames. It is often seen that a child who finds 

 difficulty in replacing the figures by means of 

 his sight alone, does so easily, having "touched" 

 them. (See illustration, page 3921, and panel 

 at head of this article.) 



