Parent Ed: Montessori is Brain-Based Education
The Montessori Teachers Association of Western Australia and Montessori Australia Foundation are pleased to present Dr Laura Flores Shaw at their Parent Talk (educators welcome).
Dr Laura Flores Shaw is an international speaker, an adjunct professor, specializing in mind, brain and teaching.
Montessori is Brain-Based Education
For the last two decades, cognitive science has been experiencing a “pragmatic turn” away from traditional “thinking” based frameworks of cognitive development towards an “enactive” framework, where cognition is grounded in sensorimotor skills. As neuroscientist Daniel Wolpert states, “We have a brain for one reason, and one reason only: to produce adaptable and complex movements.” This means we are not born to think—we are born to move. Conventional education, however, still operates from a “thinking” framework rather than one that is “enactive.” Yet, over 100 years ago, Maria Montessori designed enactive classroom environments that train children’s sensorimotor skills to purposely foster the development of their higher-level thinking. This talk shows how this 100-year-old pedagogy aligns with the most current research in cognitive science and neuroscience, making Montessori an education that is truly brain-based.
Note that this is not a Montessori Australia event.
Please use the form below to book directly with The Montessori Teachers Association of Western Australia via [email protected].
