Wisdom is knowledge obtained through experience

Wisdom is knowledge obtained through experience (download article in pdf)

Welcome back to a new school year! We hope you have all had a very good summer holiday and are well rested!

The classrooms and materials are ready again for a new year of exploration and learning. Montessori schools look quite different from other schools due to the amount of educational equipment. The human being learns through all the senses. Often this fact is underestimated and the focus in typical education lies on sight and hearing. However, what we remember best, is what we have experienced through all our senses and especially through our hands.

The brain builds neuropathways throughout our life. This process is most intense during childhood and consequently children need many appropriate experiences. In the classroom environments, one can see the intensity of the didactic materials. A Toddler Community and Children’s House offer a variety of hands-on experiences. During Primary, research-based materials and experiences dominate the environment.

Within our school, the preparation of the classroom environment is very important. It starts with clean, well cared for buildings. Then we add a type of furniture that allows for different group settings. The shelving is placed in such a manner that the materials look very inviting.  The objects on the shelf are classified by subject and also placed by order of difficulty. The set up allows children to work independently and in groups with the teacher. Learning comes through instruction and through individual experiences. Human beings do not only learn through being taught. When personal interest and motivation is involved, the experience becomes a lot deeper and more profound.

Unfortunately development in childhood can be at risk with the virtual experiences which are becoming abundant.  With television, computers and computer games children sometimes spend many hours behind a screen. Limited access is advisable. Screens offer entertainment to the brain. The neuropathways are in a different mode since the person does not need to get physically involved. This mode does not help integrate the personality and can work against true concentration and the urge of wanting to get involved.  Any parent can testify to the state of mind and mood of a child who has just been asked to turn off the TV!

Whilst sunny days and fair weather continue, ‘old fashioned’ play in the garden, together with other children or alone, is a wonderful tool to get minds into a learning mode. As children interact with nature and others, they integrate their thinking, make plans, put plans into action, discuss possibilities, come to a compromise, communicate and so on. These are all good skills needed in the classroom and for life.

When learning is integrated in life, it becomes integrated with the personality, and forms a base for life long learning.

Wishing you a wonderful year of development!

Annie R. Hoekstra de Roos

Recommended reading:
-    “The hand, how it shapes the brain, language and human, culture” by Frank R. Wilson
-    “Montessori Today”, by Paula Polk Lillard


If I hear I will forget
If I see I might remember
If I do it I will understand