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PMC Module No 11
PMC Module No 11
MODULE NO: 11
INTRODUCTION TO COSMIC & PEACE EDUCATION
ANSWER.
Doctor Maria Montessori believed that Cosmic Education was vital to early
education because it provides children with a framework to understand their world and their place
within it. Children learn to respect studies of the past, develop an understanding of ethics, and
value the contributions of others. In this way, Cosmic Education teaches children to become
aware of the interdependence of all things, and develop a sense of gratitude that comes from that
awareness.
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environment. In Montessori, every moment is an opportunity to understand the integrity of the
universe.
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Why is Cosmic Education important today?
Doctor Maria Montessori believed that the world was a purposeful place; and
that war, poverty and injustice, were deviations from that purpose. She believed that Cosmic
Education was a way to restore harmony and order, and thus allow humankind to realize their true
potential. In the twenty-first century, global awareness, peaceful communication, and ethical
cooperation are integral to resolving global disputes. By providing children with a Cosmic
Education, Montessori empowers students with the knowledge to transform the world. As Doctor
Maria Montessori states: “The child is both a hope and a promise for mankind.”
Most children 3–6 years old are very much absorbed in experiencing their
immediate environment. These children feel close to and connected with the natural world. To
lay the groundwork for cosmic education, it is enough for teachers to ensure that children
experience nature as much as possible and retain their connection with the natural world. It is
important for teachers to realize that in experiencing the natural world, the children are the
teachers. Any three-year old lying in the grass will see much more than a teacher will! The
teacher’s role is to not interfere with this experience, but allow it to happen.
To help the children retain their connection to nature and to appeal to their developing
senses, the Montessori equipment, materials, and activities involve as much as possible natural
materials such as plants, wood, water, and sand. When teachers and children are working with
these and other materials, teachers can link the materials to their origins. For example, the
Montessori Thermic Tablets, which are made of stone, wood, steel, and fabric, can be described
as coming from different kinds of matter produced by the earth. Teachers can also discuss with
the children what materials can be recycled, where the materials came from, and how the
materials were made, linking the materials in the classroom with their origins in the world. At the
same time, teachers can indicate the role of human beings in the collection and production of the
materials. Even simple objects can provide rich material for cosmic education. Examining and
discussing a simple block of cedar wood, for example, could guide the children to making many
different connections.
In this way, each activity and material can be linked to the world beyond the classroom:
By touching, lifting, and smelling the wood, children can assess in a general way how
heavy it is and whether it is hard or soft wood.
By imagining what tree the wood came from, the children can think about where the tree
grew, and in what part of the world.
By talking about how the wood came to be a block, children can think about what tool
might have made the shape, where the block might have been made and by whom, where
it might have been purchased and for what purposes.
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Teachers can connect many activities in the classroom to the natural cycles of
the world. For example, while helping the children cook eggs for a snack, a teacher could
discuss with the children where chicken eggs come from. After eating together, the teacher
could invite the children to dry the eggshells, and then grind them up to make fertilizer for the
garden. The teacher could explain that the chickens needed nutrients from the earth to make
the eggs and that the children are now returning the nutrients to the earth. An activity like this
incorporates practical life skills, the simple human pleasures of eating whole foods together,
consciousness of the food chain, and the recycling of what is not consumed.
Children 3–6 are almost always open to being outdoors. This makes it easier
for teachers to support the children’s sense of connection to nature in a direct, physical way.
For example, a teacher might invite a few children to take a short walk outside on a bright
spring day, and then share a simple snack of fresh bread. The teacher could initiate a story
like the one below about the bread and all its connections with the world, inserting many
pauses and encouraging the children to contribute details. The point is for the teacher not to
make the situation into a fact-based cultural geography lesson, but to help the children link
where they are and what they are doing and experiencing to other people and places in the
world.
Look at this bread! Isn’t it beautiful? Won’t it taste good for our snack?
Where does this bread come from? Further back than the bread basket in the school,
further back than the store where the teachers bought it, where does this bread come
from?
So that we can have this bread today, last spring a farmer planted some tiny wheat
kernels in a big brown field. In the field, under the soft brown earth, the tiny kernels
would receive spring rains and warm spring sun, and the tiny kernels would start to
grow into tiny plants.
Feel how warm the sun is on our faces today. The sun feels warmer every day now
that it is spring. The tiny kernels planted by the farmer would need lots of warm
weather like this to grow.
Just like people, plants need water to grow. Put your fingers into the soil in the
garden. Does it feel damp enough for little wheat plants? We know that the little
wheat plants would need lots more rain over the spring and summer to grow into big
plants.
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At the end of the summer, the wheat plants will have grown big. They will be tall and
golden yellow, and they will wave in the wind. How much would the wheat plants
wave in a wind like we have today?
After the summer, before the weather turns cold and rainy again, the farmer will take
the wheat from the field. While you are watching leaves turn color in the fall, the
farmer will take the wheat to a big, noisy mill. There the wheat will be ground
between huge stones into soft, soft flour.
The millers will sell the flour to bakeries, and the bakers will use their hot ovens to
make the flour into bread and wrap it into loaves. Stores will put the loaves on
shelves. Teachers will buy the bread, and children will eat it outside on a bright spring
day!
Smell the bread in your hand. Doesn’t it smell good? It reminds me of that bright
spring day last year when that farmer planted those tiny wheat kernels... Other
focused activities can also be conducted outdoors. Each activity presents opportunities
to experience the connectedness of life.
For example, if the school has an outdoor area that can support even a small
garden, activities might include:
Planning a garden, then working together to build it.
Arranging a schedule and assigning responsibility for tending and watering the
garden.
Building systems for collecting rainwater to water the garden.
Picnicking on the vegetables from the garden, then recycling the leftovers by
composting.
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Teachers and children can work together to include simple activities that involve the
senses:
Creating a dance that mimics the unfolding of the season, choosing music that
conveys the sounds and changes of the season.
Designing a walkway that passes by several “smell” features of the season, such as in
the spring a flowering cherry tree, a fragrant hyacinth, and composted earth.
Designing a walkway that shows several examples of seasonal wildlife, such as in the
fall an abandoned bird nest, a tiny hole burrowed at the base of a tree, and a garden
plant nibbled by a squirrel.
Preparing and eating a simple, local seasonal food (e.g., carrots in the fall, dried
apples in the winter, and eggs in the spring) and talking about how it came to be.
Sitting in silence and just experiencing the sounds, smells, and sights of the season.
Socially, most young children prefer to work on their own or just alongside
others. Teachers can enhance relationships between children by helping them interact socially
through cooperative, rather than competitive activities. Always giving the children the
opportunity to choose what they are ready for, teachers can also gently encourage children to
work together occasionally on projects that require more than one person to complete, such as
making a poster or acting out a play. Teachers can also invite older children to read to
younger children or teach certain practical life skills.
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QUESTION NO: 02
Discuss Montessori Peace Program and its importance.
ANSWER.
Students need to learn, practice, and develop skills in order to put that
approach into action. A Montessori education seeks to teach students, through daily activities
in the classroom, the skills to become peacemakers, people committed to working toward
peace, understanding, and non-violent ways of reducing or resolving conflict. Giving
students opportunities to see their own abilities develop is the surest way to make students
confident that they can make a difference in the world. As teachers, everyone places an
important role in inspiring students and modeling peace behaviors that the students need to
learn.
There are, in fact, many forms and layers of peace. To think about what peace
is and how it can be practiced means analyzing possibilities for its application. The Peace
Flower diagram provides a simple, concrete framework upon which Montessori teachers and
parents can focus on.
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Self-Awareness:
Someone that is aware of how he/she is thinking, feeling, and behaving. It
means being mindful about thoughts, words, and actions.
Community Awareness
Someone is aware of other people in the community and the nature of
relationships she/he has with people, especially people with whom the person interacts every
day. Community radiates out from each individual to include family, other students,
teachers, school staff, shopkeepers, bus drivers, etc.
Environmental Awareness
Someone is aware of what the earth needs to stay healthy and how individuals,
communities, and cultures treat the earth.
Cultural Awareness
An awareness and appreciation of the differences in people’s attitudes, beliefs,
practices, customs, and social behavior.
In the primary classroom, we will spend a significant amount of time on the
first petal of Self Awareness. We want to help identify and name all of the various feelings
the child will have, and help them know that all feelings are okay. Continuing to move
outward, we want to show them what appropriate actions they can do with these feelings. We
then want the child to begin to contemplate and meditate upon their actions before they are
performed.
While concentrating on the first petal of self-awareness, our overall goal is to
help the child move from a less egocentric state to one of community, environmental, and
ultimately cultural awareness.
The essentials for peace education are inherent in every level of the
Montessori curriculum.
Ages 3-6: Continent and Peoples of the World studies provide a global view of life
and humanity’s part in it.
Ages 6-12: This is the age of reasoning, abstract thinking, and an imaginative state of
mind. Students continue their study of Peoples of the World, learning about the
Fundamental Needs of Humans. They learn that the fulfillment of these needs varies
by not only historical time periods but also by geographic location. With emphasis
placed on the family of humankind and the interrelationship of all life, Montessori
students begin to realize that they are not separate from the rest of the world, but are
an integral part of creating a harmonious world.
Montessori believed education was the most powerful and universal way
through which to reconstruct society; a way to transition from war to peace. Therefore, it is
necessary to think of education as peace, not education for peace. While the curriculum
teaches about peace, it cannot by itself result in peace. As Montessori teachers, we realize
that it is not enough to simply talk about peace. We must create an environment that will
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promote the development of peaceful individuals. We cannot create this peaceful
environment if we ourselves are interacting negatively or competitively with others.
Children easily pick up on hypocrisy around them. The old adage “do as I say,
not as I do” no longer is acceptable. It is necessary for Montessori teachers to look inward
and take note of their own beliefs and values. If we teach peace in our classroom, we must
strive for peace in our lives, in our home, and in our workplace. We are the models of peace.
We are teaching and nourishing the peace keepers of the future.
As the Montessori teacher sets the framework for the understanding that all
living creatures are important and interconnected, the next step is to encourage in each child
the skill and ability to become the peacemaker.
This yearlong series looks at the experiences of teachers, parents, students, and Montessori
education itself, as we follow a student through his first year at a Montessori Preschool.
The Montessori Insights and Reflections of a Preschool Student’s First Year is a collection
of useful stories, tips, and information that has arisen from one real student's Montessori
journey, viewed through the eyes of his Montessori Teacher, Bree Von Nes.
For the first couple of months, I wondered if the Peace Table was a success, as it was
taking a great deal of adult mediation to ensure the appropriate language was being used and
to ensure the conflict was being peacefully resolved.
Then one day in early spring of that year, one of my five-year-old students, Cassia
approached her friend, Emma and said, “Would you please join me at the Peace Table?” The
two girls sat down together and I simply stood back and observed the magic unfold. The girls
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passed the Peace Rose back and forth and Cassia expressed that she was feeling sad because
Emma was working with another classmate instead of her.
After much discussion, they decided to find an activity that all of them could do
together. The girls felt so proud to have resolved the issue and all three students sat at the
snack table together, tidied up and then each created a flag to take home. It was amazing to
observe these young Montessori students solve their issue honestly and fairly and it is
amazing how the Montessori Peace Table can help to maintain a harmonious and cooperative
atmosphere in the Montessori community.
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QUESTION NO: 03
Prepare the any two of the following peace crafts and send to your
tutor along with the assignment.
ANSWER.
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QUESTION NO: 03
Explain the following activities briefly in your own words:
ANSWER.
There are, in fact, many forms and layers of peace. To think about what peace
is and how it can be practiced means analyzing possibilities for its application. The Peace
Flower diagram provides a simple, concrete framework upon which Montessori teachers and
parents can focus on.
Self Awareness- Someone that is aware of how he/she is thinking, feeling, and
behaving. It means being mindful about thoughts, words, and actions.
Community Awareness- Someone is aware of other people in the community and the
nature of relationships she/he has with people, especially people with whom the person
interacts every day. Community radiates out from each individual to include family, other
students, teachers, school staff, shopkeepers, bus drivers, etc.
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outward, we want to show them what appropriate actions they can do with these feelings. We
then want the child to begin to contemplate and meditate upon their actions before they are
performed.
While concentrating on the first petal of self-awareness, our overall goal is to help the child
move from a less egocentric state to one of community, environmental, and ultimately
cultural awareness.
Peace is a work rooted deeply in the approach in Montessori schools across the world
and Maria Montessori was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize on three different occasions
as her passion for Peace Education led her to spread its good word in various countries. Her
legacy lives on as she is now widely recognized as an advocate for peace and her educational
philosophy is practiced throughout the world.
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“Peace is a goal that can only be attained through
common accord, and the means to achieve this unity for
peace are twofold: first, an immediate effort to resolve
conflicts without recourse to violence—in other words,
to prevent war—and second, a long-term effort to
establish a lasting peace among men” (Education and
Peace, Montessori, 1949, p. 27).
Montessori education addresses Peace in a variety of ways, encouraging
children to first develop inner peace. At its most basic level the Montessori method does this
by honoring the individual interests, passions and ability of each child, giving children space
to develop confidence with making mistakes as they explore and the courage to fix mistakes,
and inspiring them to be part of a community. Because each student is recognized as an
individual, you will find children working on a variety of activities at any given time. This
gives children space and encouragement to accept that differences between humans exist at
varying degrees.
Inner peace gives children the foundation for supporting peace within their
classroom, school, social and family communities. Communities are an important aspect of
the Montessori philosophy in that there is an emphasis on the whole person and learning to
function within a community is essential to the success of human endeavor. A successful
community is made up of a variety of different talents, strengths, skills and goals. As our
students engage in peaceful conflict resolution, modeled by the adults in the community, they
learn to function as many parts making up a whole. As they assist in the management of the
environment, including caring for the physical space, taking on important leadership roles
within the classroom, and engaging in group discussion about how to make change for the
better, students practice lifelong skills of considering others and building functioning
communities.
Cosmic Education is the child’s gradual discovery, throughout the whole of childhood,
of the interrelatedness of all things on earth, in the past, in the present, and in the future.
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Multi age classrooms allow children to play varying roles throughout their cycle in a
classroom, allowing investment in the environment and practice of various skills, jobs and
identities.
Follow the child means that each child is considered individually and opportunities to
further develop special skills and talents is honored along with opportunity for extra,
repetitive practice of more difficult tasks.
Class meetings and agenda books allow children to bring up issues or concerns and
decide, with adult guidance, how to overcome challenges as a group. It also allows a sacred
place for celebrating one another’s accomplishments.
Peace areas in each classroom provide a place for children to go when they need
to find inner peace. Meditation, breathing and various other exercises are encouraged to help
students look within.
Outdoor education and care for living things (plants and animals throughout the
school and in each classroom) give children the opportunity to practice care for and
consideration of the needs of all living things and help them develop a love and advocacy for
our earth and all it has to offer.
May you all find inner peace and enjoy a most lovely day of celebrating the
beauty and hope of mankind on this day set aside for celebrating Peace on earth.
Observers will notice in the Primary classroom, a child seems to work mostly
parallel to his peers, each on their own individual activity in order to concentrate best.
Elementary children, however, are entering a new period in their life and have a strong drive
to be social and collaborate.
For this reason, most lessons and research projects in the elementary
classroom are done in pairs or groups of children.
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Each day, the community setting of the elementary classroom allows the
children to practice social skills necessary to carry out their task by: delegating work, sharing
resources and materials, making group decisions, taking responsibility for actions, and
celebrating the success of peers. On the other hand, conflict is not uncommon, but the
motivation to resolve it comes from the children.
Saving Water:
The child is endowed with unknown powers, which can guide us to a radiant
future. If what we really want is a new world, then education must take as its aim the
development of these hidden possibilities. ~ Maria Montessori, the Absorbent Mind.
The World Water Day is a great springboard for Montessori activities in cultural
geography. Students of all ages can participate in activities that develop an understanding of
the geography of water, and the 2010 motto, “Clean water for a healthy world” can serve as
a catalyst for further exploration of the importance of clean water for people around the
world.
World Water Day is a globally-recognized initiative that grew out of the United
Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro in 1992.
The decade between 2005 and 2015 has been named “Celebrating Water for Life: the
International Decade for Action.” There are a number of activities and learning opportunities
for you Montessori classroom centered on World Water Day.
At the Montessori elementary level, students enter a sensitive period for community
care and service. Activities such as the water cycle and those covering the earth’s
hydrosphere and take on new meaning in the context of water conservancy. World Water Day
can be a springboard for taking action by identifying ways in which students can conserve
water at home, study how water is treated in their community, and advocate for water
protection and conservancy in their community. A Montessori elementary classroom might
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even find a way to help children in another part of the world that is directly affected by the
absence of clean water.
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