Saturday, June 23, 2007
Open Letter to MCH Families
“Family Science Fair” A Hands-on Success!
Dear MCH Families,
On this week following our “Dad & Family Science Fair and Pot Luck,” I am sitting down at my computer with a tall cup of tea, taking stock of this event which by all reports was a great success, enjoyed by all who attended. Some of the grown-ups even said that they learned something new!
My first thought is to acknowledge my wonderful staff, who truly outdid themselves in their efforts to create accurate, attractive, and effective “Experience Stations” for families to explore together. Thanks to their concerted effort, we had a wide variety of science-based experiences that were enthusiastically enjoyed by adults and children alike. As our children likely to say, “Science is so-o-o cool!” Our evening’s mix of learning while having fun will surely become a treasured memory for many of us. So, kudos for my entire MCH team!
And kudos to all our families for the generous variety of fabulous food--folks were saying that it was like an international food fest! Of course, that observation bears on the fact that we do have such a lovely “United Nations” community at our school, which is itself a high value for many of our MCH families.
One “key” to success for our event was providing ready and replicable opportunities for hands-on participation, exploration, and discovery. Also, it required supportive parents willing to play with this process--so, thanks again! As Rachel Carson once said,” "If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder...he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement and mystery of the world we live in." Parents as well as teachers can variously serve as that “one.”
What is significant about our approach is this: our design concept for the event is a direct reflection of certain well-considered principles on which our Children’s House environment is based. Dr. Maria Montessori herself was a scientist and a physician. The principles regarding children’s learning that she championed have led to the Montessori ideal of “freedom to learn within a prepared environment.” For example, parents were noticing the consistent imperative for everyone to “leave each station ready for the next family to use.” This guideline corresponds to children’s innate sense of order and the natural desire for completing a cycle of activity; it also supports children in developing the social graces required for living in community. Each of these correspondences are consciously incorporated into our school’s learning environment.
A second “key” feature of our Science Fair evening was the addition of MCH alumni science projects for everyone to see. Younger children are often inspired and impressed by what the “big kids” do; to see such accomplishments gives them an idea of they can look forward to making and doing themselves. Correspondingly, another essential component in a true Montessori community is the presence of mixed ages and stages of children. Such a balanced learning environment supports the steady progress of a group of children at an individually appropriate pace. Another child is often the best teacher for a younger “admirer,” or any child who is new to a skill set or concept. The benefit for the older children is the opportunity to contribute and “shine,” while reinforcing their own understanding through the experience of articulating the inherent concepts to others.
A third “key” to success in teaching children “MCH style,” as reflected in the Science Fair event, is providing children with the freedom and the opportunity to ask questions and to explore many possible responses and answers. We believe that challenging children to think for themselves is to be encouraged, as opposed to preempting their internal processing with a “One Right Answer” provided by a teacher or other designated grown-up. We know that children learn through a wide range of modalities, often referred to as multiple intelligences. Likewise, guiding a group lesson with a few stimulating questions is preferred over beginning with canned explanations. The questioning approach has an implicit message for children: it says, you are capable of thinking valuable thoughts worth listening to and exploring; it says that there are often many ways to a valid answer; it says that it is not only OK, it can be a valuable contribution to others to have and to share different ideas.
As a child works independently with Montessori material provided for each hands-on lesson in the environment, the child’s experiential discoveries are guided by the material’s built-in control of error, a hallmark feature of Montessori-designed materials. While engaged in the cycle of activity with that material, the child sensorially absorbs the concept or skill set isolated in the exercise. Here, the primary focus is on experience, the hands functioning as partners with the mind. In an extension lesson following some familiarity with the material, the child is given the language associated with or embedded in the work. Thus, the child’s mind is given its answer to the hands-on experience of “What’s this?” or “What’s this about?” and “What’s it llke?”
As the relationship between direct sensorial experience and the associated language becomes strengthened through repetition of the lessons, the child moves toward mastery of that material, leading inevitably to further exploration. As John Muir has said, “Whenever we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe.” Muirs astute observation has become our schools motto, with good reason. Children at MCH have gone from a primary Practical Life exercise of learning to use a paper clip, to exploring the relationship between a honeybees hive pattern, to studying--and working together to construct--a model of the geodesic dome of R. Buckminster Fuller! One curiosity inevitably leads to another, if honored and fed.
Given childhoods innate drive to learn how the world works, this would seem the most natural way in the world to support their learning process by considering The Sciences as the core curriculum. From this perspective, we can begin from anywhere childrens interest and passion resides and move outward from there with them to connect and incorporate purposeful reading, writing, mathall of the languages for relating, comprehending, remembering and articulating ones understanding of the phenomenal world around them. From a Montessori perspective this comprehensive approach is the most energy-effective way to provide a deep and lasting learning experience for the absorbent mind of the child. As the children themselves have said so clearly: Science (that is, learning about life) is so-o-o cool!
Respectfully,
Dr. Perrah