During the ages 6 – 12, one of the neural developments that takes place is an increasing integration of the brain as a whole through mylinated neurons (white matter). Though boys and girls tend to have the same number of neurons overall, boys will have more white matter in the end. Though there are many […]
Light and Darkness
by David Fleischacker Light in the physical world is the closest analogy to the human mind that is found. Aristotle recognized that sight is the most liberated of the senses and the sense that is closest to the nature of the human mind, especially what he called the Agent Intellect which translated what Plato called […]
Why self-correction is so important in the materials and activities of a natural atrium and classroom
by David Fleischacker It is key that all materials and activities in the Montessori world assist the child in self-correction. The explanation for this is intrinsic to the nature of the child. Interiority reveals this in questions. The questing spirit of a child continues to press forward until there are no further relevant questions about […]
Why INSIGHT is a key in an atrium or classroom.
by David Fleischacker Though the modern educational world has developed thousands of techniques for dealing with this or that situation in the classroom, there is something central that has never changed in the core of education. That unchangeable reality is that true education generates insights, and all insights spring from patterned images or what Saint […]
Smell and Affectivity in Children
by David Fleischacker One area that would be good to expand in a four-dimensional living classroom (which is the general character of a Montessori classroom) is the opportunities for children to learn about themselves and each other in terms of smell and affectivity.1 Smell is profoundly linked to affectivity. It naturally generates feelings at […]
The Importance of Motor-Sensory Refinement
by David Fleischacker, Ph.D. As one scans the animal world, one notices that in moving from more primitive animals to higher animals, there is an increase in the freedom gained to operate in this world. That freedom is not merely in a single individual of the species but rather found in the species. Every individual […]
Phyllis Wallbank: Her Dream Classroom
By David Fleischacker One day some years ago, Phyllis Wallbank and I were sitting in her living room looking across the pond in her back yard (this is the picture that is the backdrop for this blogsite), and we were talking about the unity of all things in creation. She then in her spontaneous […]
Opening the Doors to the Higher and Lower Levels of Things
by David Fleischacker This one will be short. One important element that young people should come to discover on their own, but through a carefully prepared environment is the higher and lower orders of being. Materials and experiences in life can open up this grand discovery. Descriptively, we get a sense of this order — […]
Liturgy and the Divine Atrium
by David Fleischacker The Liturgy as the Divine Atrium Maria Montessori learned much about the nature of education from the liturgy of the Church. Saint John Paul II called the liturgy a school of life and salvation. For Catholics, we can have a deep and abiding trust in this reality because the liturgy itself is […]
The Development of True Values
By Phyllis Wallbank [Transcript from part of a piece delivered in 1999] The development of true values Up to the age of five, the young child is absorbing his whole environment and in a good environment, he gets to know love. Everyone has to feel love to be able to give love and so this […]