Paper By Patricia Hilson

Laying the Foundations for Cosmic Education in the Child 3-6 Years

A paper by Patricia Hilson

Patricia Hilson held AMI diplomas at primary and elementary levels. In 1988 she obtained a M. Ed. in Early Childhood Education and in 1990 she became the first Australian AMI Director of Training and conducted primary courses in Sydney and Melbourne. The paper which we publish here was one which Patricia had prepared for the Montessori Australian Association national conference scheduled for August 24 - 25, 1996. Her untimely death on July 25, one month earlier, robbed her of the opportunity to address her fellow Montessorians. However, on the occasion of that national conference, her words were given voice by her husband, Barry Hilson, with whose kind permission we reproduce them in this issue of Communications.? 

"Cosmic Education is that form of relating the child to the universe and to humanity that will enable him to realise in himself all the developmental potential that is his own particular birthright."

 Most of us when we think of Cosmic Education, think of the child of primary age, 6-12 years'. But the key point I want to get across to you today is that Cosmic Education should have its antecedents in life and its experiences prior to this age. I say this for two main reasons.

Firstly, Cosmic Education at its essence is about life; it is about the interdependence of all living things and in a very practical way is experienced by children at any age. The way in which it is experienced by the child 3-6 is different from the way in which the 6-12 year-old will come to it. But none of you as parents or Directresses, I'm sure, would question the vitality of life in a 3-6 year-old and its interaction with the environment.

Secondly, and related to this, the guiding ideal in Montessori education is Indirect preparation. This means that anything presented to a child at any time in a Montessori programme should be prepared for in a prior period. I strongly believe therefore, that we must lay the foundations for Cosmic Education in the Children's House.

Cosmic Education as Related to Life

As I have said, the principles underpinning Cosmic Education apply to life. They are not restricted to the implementation of a so-called curriculum. Cosmic Education is not simply a Montessori way of presenting a history, geography or biology syllabus.

On one level it probably looks that way. Indeed there are elements of structure and content which would be recognisable to a mainstream teacher. Subject strands can be followed through and a traditional educator might marvel at the interrelationships achieved in the organisation of the content. 

The notion of Cosmic Education, however, goes beyond mere content. It is intended to engage the total personality of the child in an exploration of the story of life. This exploration, which begins with experiences of the physical nature of things in the universe, will lead the child to discover the interrelationships upon which the order of things relies. This appreciation will lead the child to question his/her own role within that structure - the Cosmic Plan.

Children of 6-12 years are fascinated by this idea because it involves them personally and engages them in questioning what Montessori calls their Cosmic Task.

It is linked with the development of the 6-12 year-old child in a quite specific way. It brings the child in contact with the moral question of existence. In this way it relates to the child's development. In the way in which Cosmic Education is presented during the 6-12 period, it provides experiential learning opportunities during the sensitive period for moral development. In this way it relates to human development.

But the moral question is too weighty to give to very young children if it is to be fully understood. It needs a questioning, reasoning mind. Few young children are capable of questioning right and wrong. They are still finding out the 'What' of things. However, as I hope to show you, it is vital that we give experiences to the young child as preparation for this stage of questioning and reasoning. That is, we should not be looking to start the child along this path of understanding at age 6. Appropriate experiences need to be given to prepare the child to be open and amenable to these ideas. But I would like to impress upon you that whatever we give the child needs to be related to life - it needs to involve experiential learning.

Indirect Preparation

A central principle of the Montessori approach is the idea of indirect preparation. This ensures that anything presented is more easily learned if it is prepared for in a prior period. Looked at in another way, it conceives of structure in learning - each stage building upon the previous one.

Mario Montessori, in his book Education for Human Development, says about the introduction of Cosmic Education to the 6 year-old:

The stage has been set for this activation through indirect preparation in an earlier phase. All the experiences that are offered to the child previously in the Prepared Environment were basic experiences needed either for the formation of later functions, or as 'keys' to help it explore and orient itself in its world. When it reaches this second stage of maturity it should be given a broader view of that world, that is, a vision of the whole universe.

What is it that we need to provide by way of indirect preparation? Mario Montessori says we need to do two things: 

• to give basic experiences for the formation of later functions;
• to give 'keys'.

Cosmic Education: the basic experiences

We need to identify what these basic experiences are as foundations for Cosmic Education. What constitutes this indirect preparation for Cosmic Education? In many respects it is easier to identify what it is not!

For instance would you think it is content we are looking for? Say, a simpler version of the primary school syllabus? Perhaps some concrete construction of the universe so that the little ones can touch and move around and thereby through these sensory experiences absorb an impression of our galaxy with the planets in relation to the earth and the sun? Or maybe they can see a replication of night and day by elaborate constructions of spheres and light sources? Or maybe they should have the story of human endeavour read to them in a simplified version? It is none of these things. It is something much simpler and yet, from the perspective of the Directress, probably more difficult. I would characterise it as: Basic Experiences for the Formation of Later Functions.?

Consider the role of experiences which help to form capacities for:

• co-ordinated movement;
• concentration;
• choice;
• will;
• order;
• intrinsic motivation.

Consider experiences which build learning skills such as:

• language (oral, writing, reading);
• numeracy.

Consider experiences which generate in the child:

• interest;
• sentiment or emotion.

These are all the sorts of aspects of development that are central to our work with the little ones in the pre-school. The development of these functions should be our prime focus. Now you might well say that "This is what we do anyway, so why all the fuss?" - and you would be right up to a point. But do you always approach these aspects with a sensitivity for the foundation you are building for the child to orient itself in the world? And just how sensitive are you to the less tangible task which Dr. Montessori alludes to in her book To Educate the Human Potential? She says 

The child has taught us that only in this early stage is he specifically endowed with a more acute sensibility and interest than he will show later, when he will be able to study scientifically and precisely only if already equipped with an emotion and sentiment for those subjects. He will then no longer possess mere curiosity, but an intense interest, an enthusiasm based on emotion.

What Dr. Montessori is saying here is - ignore this acute sensibility and interest of the child at your peril: it is perishable! But she is also saying that you can build upon it in such a way that a new power can take over -interest and enthusiasm, based on emotion.

At this point I would like to reflect for a few moments on the whole purpose of what we in Montessori pre-school education are trying to achieve. In doing this I would like to make the connection between the early experiences of the young child and the sorts of learning experiences we might offer the child at school, remembering there should be a continuity between what has happened in the child's life at home and what happens at school. Mario Montessori sums up the situation well when he says:

The real aim of education is not the imparting of knowledge for the sake of learning itself. Rather, it encourages learning because learning is a feature of human development; a need that cannot be met without education. 

Every small action and interaction is a learning experience for the young child. I refer you to the delightful section headed "The Philosopher in the Pram" in E.M. Standing's Montessori, Her Life and Work. This gives a glimpse into that characteristic of the curious, interested young explorer and suggests how these learning experiences build up impressions in the child. These impressions form the child. They will form the way in which the child in later years will relate to the environment; whether he/she will care for it or be indifferent towards it. It is in the way each child comes to these experiences, including, most importantly, the adult responses to simple life experiences that involve children, whether in the home or the school, that will form the child's impressions.

If we are too busy to share the child's wonder at a treasure, too preoccupied to show repugnance at a large cockroach or too tired to show irritation at soiled hands or dirty clothes after a gardening activity, we are missing the opportunity to share with the child our expressions and attitudes which can influence the formation of sentiment in the child. But let me introduce a note of caution here! Over-theatrical and extravagant adult reactions, as a rule, will not help the child in that they are false and they show a lack of respect for this important phase of development in the child where the child is drawing so much from the modelling of the adult. 

Equally, by omission, by what we leave out of our classrooms, we can also influence the formation of attitudes and sentiment developing in the young child. This is probably the most difficult aspect of our work. You should recognise a real responsibility to prepare a rich and changing environment to provide the child with experiences and interest. It is not static. It is not "set and forget" something you put in place on the pupil-free day before each term starts. Your environments should be vital, interesting and dynamic. Observe the children and their interaction with the environment. You will soon work out what needs to be changed and how often! 

At the risk of stating the obvious, I am only re-emphasising here that we have available to us in the young children in our care an enormously powerful capacity: we are working with the Absorbent Mind of the child. As you are well aware, this imposes upon those who would care for children a powerful responsibility. And it is not just the world of "Animal, Vegetable and Mineral" that we are talking about! Also during these early years, the Absorbent Mind of the child is able to take in the behaviours of the group and, hopefully, make a positive adaptation to that group. That is, you cannot afford to ignore the human side of your classroom, of which you are a very important part.

The child will absorb all the values, standards, likes and dislikes of those around him/her. At this age the child will absorb all the prejudices as well. Frequently, these can be limiters to development. They can act as obstacles. In these early years the child will incarnate those sentiments, they will become part of him/her. 

It was not by accident that Dr. Montessori chose as the title of one of her most inspiring books To Educate the Human Potential. We need to remember that if we are committed to the development of the child's potentialities we, at the pre-school level, have a pre-eminent and pivotal role to play in this process. Dr. Montessori reminded us that this is where we must start: with the trust, the honesty, the interest and the enthusiasm of the young child if we wish to engender in children a new orientation toward peace in the world. She saw world peace as a most worthy aim. She saw this stage with the young child as the greatest opportunity available to us to contribute to some fundamental progress for humankind. This is where the first foundations are laid down, for good or for ill, where the attitudes, values, standards, likes, dislikes and prejudices are laid down. It is especially possible to have this influence in a positive way through what we do in laying the foundations for Cosmic Education in the preschool. It is a task one should approach with great humility and respect. 

Let us pause for a while and reflect on your experiences as a mother or a Directress: focussing on some instances you can recall of factors which have been instrumental in the formation of attitudes, values, standards, prejudices etcetera in a pre-school child.

It is clear therefore that our interaction with the child should be under constant review because the child is absorbing, unconsciously, everything that we are and all that we do. It is, substantially, from our actions that the child will form its impressions. Further, it is important to remember that the child is seldom a passive participant in the process. In so many ways the child is constructing its personality from the myriad of impressions, interactions, experiences and actions with which it is engaged, at school, at home, at the supermarket, in its waking and even its sleeping hours. In the interests of focus, however, let us look at how, as Directresses, we can help the child to benefit from its experiences and actions in the pre-school. In particular, how do we lay the foundations for the growing richness of Cosmic Education that should be available to the child, if we are to be successful in fulfilling Dr. Montessori's challenge To Educate the Human Potential?

Cosmic Education: indirect preparation: the concept 

To begin with, in the way we interact with the children in our care, we can help them to feel and experience their own role in the classroom. Through the extensive activities of Practical Life, the young child is becoming a functioning member, not only of the Montessori environment but of his/her culture

In this first experience outside the home, the child is learning what it means to be a contributing member of a group. He/she, through experiences which encourage independent action within the structured Montessori environment, is learning what it means to take responsibility, to help and to accept help. In other words, the child is developing a sense of interdependence while developing independence. And while doing this, the child is developing a sense of identity within the Montessori group. 

The notion of interdependence, of the interconnectedness of things, is central to Cosmic Education. On one level it is a highly abstract idea and one that is explored over several years by the primary-aged child. On another level, however, it can be brought to the pre-school child through lived experiences offered in the Montessori environment.

During the period of the Absorbent Mind the child will take in on a profound level just what interdependence is all about. If children at the primary level need to understand the concept of the interconnectedness of things, it seems to me the best way to help them learn this is to place them in a real life situation at an earlier time, to allow them to experience this. Having lived the concept at an unconscious level they will come to know it more profoundly at a rational level. They will understand that interdependence relies on co-operation, not on competition. It gives as well as receives; it can lead as well as follow, it questions and is open to question.

In all Cosmic Education understanding and knowledge for appreciation for humanity is emphasised regardless of race, creed or colour. We want the little ones to experience the oneness of humanity, that people are more the same than different. We want them to feel gratitude for people's accomplishments, especially where these have benefited humankind.

Children in our care will develop these sentiments if they are given experiences: sharing and co-operating, helping and being helped and learning to appreciate the capacities and the differences among the children around them.

We cannot give lectures to the children on how they should or should not be interacting with each other. Even talking about 'rules' in the pre-school can be a distraction and become an impediment to harmonious relations. The most effective way to go with young children is to provide the opportunity for them to engage in purposeful activities which will lead to the development of those functions referred to by Mario Montessori. At the same time, the children will be enjoying a lived experience of the concept central to Cosmic Education.

Cosmic Education: indirect preparation: the Keys

At this point some of you may be thinking that I am advocating a rather loose organisation of content for the pre-school programme for I have given little thought to what it is we are to teach!

It is important to stress that I place great emphasis on the structure and organisation of the content of what we present in the Montessori pre-school. Structure is essential if we are to spark interest in the child. By the way we present information and by the way we organise the environment, we should give the child an expectation of structure. However, this does not mean that we should fill the child's head with a lot of facts. We give the child 'keys'. This means we give sufficient information to open doors to learning.

With this in mind our task, as I see it, is twofold. On the one hand we need to respond to the powerful urge of the Absorbent Mind which operates at an unconscious level, absorbing attitudes, behaviours and values and on another level we need to provide a certain amount of information which will provide the framework into which future knowledge and understanding of the world will be built. 

To achieve this we need to think, not of giving a 'curriculum' or course of study to the child, but rather, to give 'keys'. At the pre-school level these 'keys' are really simple principles or concepts which will give the child, in this case, entry to one or other aspect of the world of Cosmic Education. The child can use these general principles or embryonic frame of reference, then, to explore further. 

These 'keys' are distinctively different from a curriculum or body of information in that they simply open the door to that body of knowledge leaving the child to follow his or her interest and be the active agent in the learning process.

In all the work we do with the child we give simple tasks in relation to simple things the child already knows. And we give them in a simple way. The guiding principles for what to give are based on the way the young child learns, - sensori-motor and individual work. Group work, where all the children are working toward the same end is less useful in the pre-school than in the primary school. Likewise, pencil and paper work needs to be given only when the child is proficient in that skill. This means that, as a rule, pencil and paper activities will be given to children over five years of age. 

We need then to give a certain amount of information which will provide the framework upon which future knowledge and understanding of the world will be based. This knowledge we give should be select, specific and ordered. Mario Montessori reminds us that when we give knowledge to children it should be given in a way that leads the child to look for a structure in things. He points out that: "the inner order of the personality must be constructed through experiences in a structured world".

Here we need to differentiate between the transmission of facts to be memorised and structure, that is structure for the purposes of pre-school learning. Jerome Bruner, in The Process of Education, talks about this concept of structure when he says: "Grasping the structure of a subject is understanding it in a way that permits many other things to be related to it meaningfully. To learn structure in short, is to learn how things are related." The essence of Cosmic Education is the interrelatedness of things. It is important that in laying the foundations for Cosmic Education we can bring this idea of interrelatedness to the child in pre-school in a way that he/she can understand it. 

The writings of both Bruner and Montessori suggest that to achieve this kind of teaching requires a sense of excitement about discovery. The Directress needs to be able to live life with the same awe as the little ones -as though she is seeing something for the first time.

Some of the 'keys' to be given

The history materials in the Children's House are no more than pictures and objects which illustrate how human beings have catered for their needs for food and shelter and clothing throughout time in all parts of the world. Potentially, this exploration takes the child into all aspects of cultural expression: language, poetry, drama, art, music, dance - all expressions of the spirit of human beings.

You can see the enormous possibilities here for bringing these strands of life together and sparking interest in the children to look further should their interest dictate. But let us start with one of the fundamental keys of the concept of history. To set a context within which these experiences are given, children need to start to come to grips with the dimension of time. Not unsurprisingly, it is useful to begin here with something that will involve the child. A simple time line of the child's life helps the child develop a rudimentary sense of personal history by giving him/her an awareness of a sequence of events through his/her own life.

Let us discuss some of your experiences when a child comes to regard his/her timeline. Have you been able to use this as a departure point for the child's concept of time and history? These experiences with time can be expanded through classified card materials, perhaps those related to art and music. At this stage 'a long time ago' is usually a sufficient starting point for the young child who will struggle with an operational concept of time into the early years of primary school. There are many other examples of 'keys' which can be associated with things historical and cultural. I am hoping we will have time at the end of this session for some workshop streams on the question of 'keys' for the pre-school child. 

When we come to the work in biology, botany, zoology and geography we come up against a seeming contradiction. On the one hand we need to give the names of things (this is essential for future learning) and this takes us into tricky waters for this aspect of our work looks remarkably like a curriculum. Do we run the risk of presenting something quite alien to life and people, out of tune with the young child's interests and capacities? 

On the other hand, especially through the life sciences, I ask you to reflect on the many occasions when the little ones bring a treasure from the garden, or a spider in a jar. 

The resolution, I suggest, is quite simple. We need to begin with observation and the interest of the child at any time. We do need to be careful, however, because it is possible to present details which lack cohesion (Gillet, 1972, AMI Communications). We will run this risk while we follow the recent approach practised at the primary school and more recently borrowed by some Montessori pre-schools, namely the current fashion of 'themes'. 

Not only does the 'themes' approach lack the organising focus of structure but it puts at risk the element of intrinsic interest necessary for deep concentration. More often than not themes are organised around centres of interest deemed necessary for the child to know. These are chosen by the adult and developed around group activities. These violate some important principles of the Montessori approach

When choosing and presenting activities for the children we need to follow certain general guidelines: 

• Observe and cater for Sensitive Periods
• Incorporate movement where appropriate
• Promote language ...
• vocabulary
• classified pictures on the wall to talk about
• poetry
• stories
• music
• Lead on from these into ...
• writing activities
• drawing activities
• The child needs to know the 'What' of things, not so much the how or the why at this stage.
• Not a supermarket of information but limited information given through a structure
• Need to change frequently, have lots of things in the cupboard
• Give all information from the point of view of giving a 'key'.

We have talked about the 'keys' for history. The 'keys' for the other life areas are similarly organised. We will talk about them in more detail in the workshop streams.

Let me conclude by saying that we must keep in mind the fact, that we are preparing something, laying down the experiences, as foundations upon which the primary child will later reason, question the meaning of and explore the function of. If we do not give at the pre-school level the range of experiences, the opportunities to develop faculties such as concentration, persistence, orderly work habits and so on, as well as preliminary skills such as writing and reading with some concepts and some factual information, the primary child has very little upon which to base his/her reasoning work, to take further and explore.

I see this as a vital part of laying the foundations for Cosmic Education. In no way do I see it as usurping the role of the Primary Directress. Let me leave you with another quote from Jerome Bruner:

We begin with the hypothesis that any subject can be taught effectively in some intellectually honest form to any child at any stage of development. ... No evidence exists to contradict it; considerable evidence is being amassed to support it.

I hope that this session has provoked you to consider an effective and intellectually honest way of laying the foundations for Cosmic Education which can and must be laid in the pre-school. I hope also that you enjoy the experience laying these foundations as much as I have when I have had the opportunity to share the wonder and intense curiosity of the young child in this engaging enterprise.

Patricia Hilson 

1) In the Australian educational environment the term Primary education is typically applied to the age group 6-12 years. This distinguished from pre-school, which typically relates to the age group 3-6 years.