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There are many IT or “tech-y” Montessori materials available and being used every day in and out of classrooms, often times unknowingly. “Google it” is now part of our culture. Google is a Montessori material (or, at least, was developed by Montessorians Brin and Page). Amazon is more than a river; it’s from a Montessorian, too!
But what about today’s techy doo-dahs and young children? An increasing number of apps targeted at young children are in the digital storefront; is there value for them? Does your 3 year-old have to have their own iPad? What would pioneering educator Dr. Maria Montessori think about these doo-dahs? Now that I think about it, what did my children play with in the car? It seems the newest source for quiet passengering today is a smart phone, especially those with video capability…
“Mom! The DVD is stuck!”
“Honey, that’s not a DVD. It’s streaming video. We must be out of the hotspot!”
“Mom! Turn around!”
Montessori classroom materials (the ‘real’ ones that are expensive and finely crafted and have been around for more than 100 years) provide an experience meant for collaborative learning within the classroom setting. But don’t even consider piling the Pink Tower into your child’s car seat, and the Red Rods are too long for most fuel-efficient cars. But the digital versions of these educational tools fit into your child’s palm. That means Montessori ‘materials’ are available all the time, even in the car on the way home!
I actually think there’s a Montessori approach for children to experience Montessori “apps.” Some traditional Montessorians might gasp at the thought. I’m a traditional Montessorian and I’m suggesting that when in traffic, when in line, when your child is desperately seeking something to busy themselves, that if digital Red Rods capture their attention, or the tracing of digital sandpaper numerals fixes their concentration until you reach your destination, what’s the harm? If a Montessori-style “app” keeps them focused until you’re again available, might they learn something? Might there be some value? What would Dr. Montessori say?
Do today’s techy doo-dahs have a place in a traditional Montessori classroom? For adolescents, yes. For primary level three and four year-olds, no. Montessori adolescent programs often feature and utilize Smart Boards, iPads, laptops, and hand-held devices as commonly as paper and pencils. For now, those digital “accessory” learning tools are not expected in the younger children’s Montessori classrooms. But a surprising number of young children (under six years) now have access to their parent’s equipment at home, where the one-on-one nature of the techy doo-dahs makes for a better learning experience than in a Montessori classroom.
The Montessori preschool classroom may not be the ideal place for techie doo-dahs, but on the way home in their car seat when there’s traffic and they want to be doing what their older brother or sister are doing? Then, let’s consider the possibilities.
As for Dr. Maria Montessori, herself? She’d be tweeting. She’d be all over today’s techy doo-dahs, presenting lectures and streaming information everywhere. She was a pioneer 100 years ago and she would be today. In fact, here we are now, using IT experiences to share Montessori’s vision for children and their families. Welcome to Montessori 2.0!
Jim Fitzpatrick
Jim Fitzpatrick is the founder and Head of School at Santa Barbara Montessori School, an AMI school on the beautiful California coast.
A thoughtful post. Thank you.
For travel in the car there are so many games to play like finding things for each alphabet letter, reading signs, listening and singing to CDs or just by memory, and talking about your day to mom or dad. Identifying models of automobiles was a past time on the road in my childhood. As they get into elementary, world events on the radio can be brought into focus and values can be learned. Sometimes the car trip is the only time a parent can converse with their young person, and very soon they have a licence.
A very thought provoking post. We could look at these devices as a way of refining the senses, assisting with eye to hand co-ordination, developing concentration, all of which the early Montessori materials do. As long as they are used as supplementary to the concrete materials I think they are a great asset. I believe that Montessori would have welcomed the advances in technology and embraced them fully. She wanted children to adapt to the society of their time and technology is a big part of modern life. Love the idea of virtual red rods etc
K.
I totally agree that technology has its place in montessori education.Not only in the car, they can be brought into the clssroom. An ipad can for example be used the same way Montessori used the blackboard in writing, a complement to pen and paper. Another aspect is that with the use of laptops and Ipads children has access to primary sources when they seek facts and information out in nature for example. What a wonderful complement to books. This is just a few examples.
“when in traffic, when in line, when your child is desperately seeking something to busy themselves”
there are social graces they can learn from these moments – or utilize/strengthen if they have been practicing them (grace and courtesy lessons) at home and at school. Here is the perfect place to apply the g&c lesson on “how to eradicate boredom” or “how to wait patiently”.
Children do not need the “noise” of technology to keep them busy .all.the.time. Even volume-off technology is still “noise” in the child’s world — and the adult’s world – this computer I am on is a distracton from the rest of my life – it is a tool that must be carefully respected – not used flippantly because I’m bored, or impatient. This sort of practice will only lead to *very *serious vices, bad habits and painful experiences down the road.
Let the children be at peace, enjoy a friendly interaction with someone else waiting in their same situation, watch the ants crawling along – whatever it is – just let them BE there.
When they always need to be occupied, there is no longer internal peace, internal equilibrium that leads to the cosmic nature that Dr. Montessori wanted us all to experience.
Technology of any kind is a tool. Use it in its place, but not to pacify boredom or to otherwise hinder a child’s natural growth processes they need in order to grow up as a fully healthy human being (think of the butterfly that is “helped” out of its chrysalis – it dies, rather than take flight).
Great post. I agree w/ the comment of allowing children to learn to be at peace. Technology has a place in our lives but it must be carefully monitored when it comes to children 6 and younger. That being said… I am extremely grateful for our Ipad on long road trips or my Iphone when waiting with a sick little one in the pediatricians office for 45 minutes.
As Maria instructed… we must sit back, observe and ask ourselves, “Is it purposeful?” And, yes sometimes it is.
I had a look to see if ipads were in use in Montessori schools.
Although some parents are very enthusiastic and their kids use them for Montessori games at home, I saw no schools yet using them – just a lot of discussion for and against them.
A reason why it interests me is because I myself am exploring the marvellous online ‘virtual worlds’ like SecondLife – which is nobably used for education, costless, and limited only by your imagination.
Doing so (in contrast with my ‘real world’ living) has raised the fascinating question of why physicality is so important (compared with virtual, abstract things).
I conclude that every mental object (abstraction) originates from a physical experience. That’s why physicality is so essential. E.g., we describe ‘time’ in the language of physical ‘distance’, and difficulty in terms of physical ‘hardness’ or ‘push-over’.
Because I increasingly ‘live’ so much inside my computer (‘virtual’ living, just like people who read books a great deal), I find I need to deliberately increase my physical life to compensate.
I do rough renovating, gardening, fixing things, cycling, walking in the rain, etc.
But paradoxically, my virtual living hugely enhances my real-world life by enabling me to examine it abstractly, without any limits of physicality. I can design a new house layout, delete bits, cut and paste in a second to change it, etc.
I think iPads and similar will be in most Montessori schools within a few years, but only when everyone has had time to decide how to manage them appropriately.
Only then will the kids and teachers gain the huge wealth of experiences available from the technology without sacrificing the physical living experiences that are the foundation of our minds.
Bruce (Tomo) Thomson
20 Lyndhurst St. Chelwood Village,
Palmerston North
06 357 7773 021 176 9711
bruce@nettel.net.nz
And for waiting in doctor’s offices, caresses, and long car trips, I have similar thoughts and I know the lives of lots of Montessori children.but that’s for another time.
I think of myself as a Montessorian who supports the appropriate use of technology yet, I am cringing about many of the ideas raised in this article. The children’s use of technology is something that we will have to figure out as Montessori moves into the next hundred years, but let’s take our time and get this right the first time.