Viva Elementary!

Dr. Montessori noted that the period between six and twelve was when a child’s imagination should be engaged and where the “maximum number of seeds of interest” should be strewn, “capable of later germination as the will becomes more directive…”  

In her 1947 book, To Educate the Human Potential (quoted below), Dr. Montessori accurately describes what is now validated by neuroscience:  that exposing the brain to many ideas in the elementary years increases the opportunities for later, deeper  learning.  During this developmental level, the brain, which is pattern seeking, and self-organizing, will take in new material and sort it into ever-expanding “folders” of categorized information, ready to be explored or tapped. If there is no folder (or “seed”), information may be lost; unlikely to be remembered and retrieved.  

This becomes particularly important in the years following the elementary years, when something called synaptic pruning occurs.  At adolescence, the brain begins to trim off unfiled bits of information in order to streamline connections and increase cognitive speed. Using Dr. Montessori’s metaphor, the ungerminated seeds at this point are swept away so the more robust seedlings (“folders”) can develop more fully and with more speed.  

Viva Elementary!