The Absorbent Mind

2022 Reprint of the 1963 Edition. Illustrated with a photograph and drawings. Facsimile of the original edition and not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. Montessori is world renown for having developed the Montessori Method. This is a method of education for young children that stresses the development of a child's own initiative and natural abilities, especially through practical play. This method allowed children to develop at their own pace and provided educators with a new understanding of child development. Montessori's book, The Montessori Method, presents the method in detail. Educators who followed this model set up special environments to meet the needs of students in three developmentally-meaningful age groups: 2-2.5 years, 2.5-6 years, and 6-12 years. The students learn through activities that involve exploration, manipulations, order, repetition, abstraction, and communication. Teachers encourage children in the first two age groups to use their senses to explore and manipulate materials in their immediate environment. Children in the last age group deal with abstract concepts based on their newly developed powers of reasoning, imagination, and creativity.

In 1939 Montessori gave a training course at the Theosophical Society in Madras and had intended to give a tour of lectures at various universities, and then return to Europe. When Italy entered WWII on the side of Germany in 1940, Britain interned all Italians in the UK and its colonies as enemy aliens. In fact, only Mario Montessori was interned, while Montessori herself was confined to the Theosophical Society compound, and Mario was reunited with his mother after two months. The Montessoris remained in Madras and Kodaikanal until 1946, although they were allowed to travel in connection with lectures and courses.

The present volume is the publication, originally published in Italian, of the first Training Course after her internment in India.

Contents:

The child's part in world reconstruction -- Education for life -- The periods of growth -- The new path -- The miracle of creation -- Embryology and behavior -- The spiritual embryo -- The child's conquest of independence -- The first days of life -- Some thoughts on language -- How language calls to the child -- The effect of obstacles on development -- The importance of movement in general development -- Intelligence and the hand -- Development and imitation -- From unconscious creator to conscious worker -- Further elaboration through culture and imagination -- Character and its defects in childhood -- The child's contribution to society: normalization -- Character building is the child's own achievement -- Children's possessiveness and its transformations -- Social development -- Cohesion in the social unit -- Mistakes and their correction -- The three levels of obedience -- Discipline and the teacher -- The teacher's preparation -- Love and its source: the child.