Discuss the difference between sensorial impression and sensorial education. Give examples to show your understanding and explain why sensorial education is considered important in the Montessori classroom.
“Children pass through definite periods in which they reveal psychic aptitudes and possibilities which afterwards disappear. That is why at a particular period of their lives they reveal an intense and extraordinary interest in certain object and exercises, which one can look for in vain at a later age.” (Maria Montessori, Her Life and work Chapter vii page 120).
The sensitive period is a phase in the life of a child when he is interested in movement and seem to be anxious to learn things found in their environment. This is the period when they must become masters of their own actions. The absorbent mind is the unconscious state in the life of the child. From 0-3 years of age the child absorbs and forms many impressions from his environment unconsciously and without willing it. These impressions are kept in his Mneme for later use as he develops. It is an immense operation, the very existence of which was, until quite recently, almost unknown. Even now the majority of people still think of the baby during the first six months of his life as being almost without mental activity; more like a little animal,’’ concerned only with eating, drinking and sleeping. Instead Montessori presents us with this surprising picture of an infant who acquires “the whole world” unconsciously; then passes gradually from the unconscious to the conscious.
This passage is possible through movement on the part of the child. When the child begins to move, his absorbent mind has already taken in the world unconsciously. Now as he starts to move, he becomes conscious. He is not only interested in objects as a whole but also in their qualities, such as roughness, smoothness, hardness, softness, color, taste, texture, weight etc. If you watch a small child of 2 he is always...