MONTESSORI METHOD 



3920 



MONTESSORI METHOD 



(d) The Colors. These consist of flat wooden 

 spools, upon which are wound colored silks. 

 There are sixty-four colors in all, composed of 

 eight series, or gradations. Each gradation con- 



THE "BROAD STAIR" 



tains eight spools of the same color, but varying 

 in intensity from light to dark. A double set 

 of these colors is provided. 



In the simplest exercise with these, the child 

 is presented with two or more pairs of similar 

 colors; for instance, two blues of the same 

 shade, two reds, two yellows, etc. The game 

 consists in mixing these upon the table, then 

 finding the corresponding pairs- and arranging 

 them in couples. A more difficult exercise is 

 that of arranging a series in order of gradation. 

 To this may then be added a second series, 

 then a third, and so on, till the child is able to 

 sort a confused heap of the whole sixty-four 

 colors into a beautiful shaded "mat" upon his 

 table. 



Other sense exercises include 

 those for touch rough and 

 smooth surfaces, stuffs, etc.; 

 little wooden tablets for the 

 baric sense, or perception of 

 weight; sound boxes and bells; 

 beans, counters, Froebel cubes, 

 or other objects for educating 

 the stereognostic sense, or the 

 muscular and tactile sense com- 

 bined, by which we perceive the 

 nature and form of bodies by 

 handling them. During many 

 of these exercises the children's 

 eyes are blindfolded. This adds 

 to their interest, and also fulfils 

 a technical condition in sense 

 training, namely, that the sense 

 to be educated shall be isolated. 

 Unless this is done, the child is 

 likely to depend too much upon 

 one sense most frequently the 

 sense of sight and to sacrifice 

 the fine development of the 

 sense of touch. The "silence" 

 game described below illustrates 

 the same point. 



Sense Education 



The importance to the individual of sense 

 education is too large a subject to be here 

 dealt with, but its value may be readily appre- 

 ciated if it be considered that in the generally- 

 accepted view of modern science, the whole of 

 man's conscious life is built upon the impres- 

 sions which he receives from the external world 

 by means of the senses. Some other aspects 

 of the question, however, may be profitably 

 touched upon. The fact, for instance, of the 

 child's spontaneous use of this material is a 

 deeply interesting one. It is evidently some- 

 thing more to him than a game, since it would 

 also be this to a much older child; while it 

 is only children of a certain age who inter- 

 est themselves in the exercises for any length 

 of time. Such children, however, are seen to 

 repeat the same exercises an indefinite number 

 of times, taking out and replacing the cylin- 

 ders, for instance, ten, twenty, or thirty times 

 in succession, and this on many consecutive 

 days, sometimes for several weeks. 



Similarly, the exercises with the colors, the 

 cubes, and so on, are continual sources of inter- 

 est, and children repeat them spontaneously for 

 long intervals of time, returning to the game 



repeatedly during many weeks and months. 

 These exercises, in fact, appeal to the child dur- 

 ing that period of his development in which the 

 senses themselves are in process of formation. 

 It is because they correspond to and help this 

 physiological process, that the child delights in 

 them, and finds in them a deep attraction, 

 which is truly a vital manifestation of his life. 

 Perhaps Henri Bergson expresses a great truth, 

 of which we here find an example. In an essay 

 entitled Life and Consciousness, he says, "Phi- 

 losophers have not sufficiently remarked that 

 Nature has taken pains to give us notice every 

 time her destiny is accomplished; . . . she 

 has set up a sign which apprizes us every time 

 our activity is in full expansion: this sign is 

 joy ... we find that wherever joy is, crea- 

 tion has been, and that the richer the creation 

 the deeper the joy." 



The work of the children in the "Children's 

 House," in fact, may almost be said to be 

 characterized by expressions of joy. The chil- 

 dren work happily and contentedly, an occa- 

 sional cry of delight bursting from one of them 

 who has succeeded in some new accomplish- 

 ment, to attract the attention of the teacher, 



