Montessori Childrens House
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The Second Plane of Development: The Period of Reasoning and Abstraction

Posted on Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Montessori educational philosophy divides human development into four planes of development.  Children from birth to 6 are in the first plane of development, the period of the Absorbent Mind. The first plane of development is concrete and sensorial and is governed by the powers of the absorbent mind.  Information is processed effortlessly through the senses, the mind is focused through the sensitive periods and is motivated by powerful tendencies.  It is the most formative and constructive period in the child’s physical, emotional and intellectual development and lays the foundation for all future learning and development.

The second plane of development, 6 – 12 years, is called the period of the Reasoning Mind. The power of the Absorbent Mind and the Sensitive Periods has faded and is replaced by the mind that uses reason and imagination and is developing the ability to abstract; a brain that no longer needs to work only in the concrete world but can use the foundation constructed in the first plane of development to work with abstract ideas and thought.  Language now becomes an important tool for learning at this plane of development.   

The second plane of development is in general a period of great emotional stability.  It is a period of internal cognitive synthesis.  There tends to be some difficulty around the age of six as the child moves from one plane to the next but all-in-all it is relatively stable.  The body of the child in the second plane becomes leaner and harder, physically and mentally. Baby teeth fall out and are replaced by adult teeth. 

This is the age of reason and the “why?”  Children during this period are interested in broad intellectual and moral concepts.  The concept of justice begins to form and 2nd plane children have a very “black and white” sense of justice; everything is either right or wrong.  There are no grey areas.  It is the age of testing adult reactions and testing their moral code. They want to know how the social world and relationships work.  The child in the second plane loves and admires adventure, courage, danger and the world of heroes.  Fairy tales and books with super heroes and fantasy attract this child and appeal to the imagination. 

This is an age when the child forms new concepts of a social life.  In the first plane of development, the child easily found a place in the family matrix and the preschool classroom where each member had an equal opportunity. The child in the second plane is motivated to go out into the world and find a group outside the family with which to identify, a group where each member must finds his or her own way to be accepted. He or she is happiest away from home with his own group of friends. A feeling of responsibility prevails in them and they will gladly cooperate with and participate in the daily running of the family or the social group at school if they are explained their duties and rights.  The child in this period experiences loyalty, discipline, achievement and failure. Given a solid foundation in the first plane of development a child can now enter this period with confidence, a strong sense of self and the skills necessary for success. 

The prepared educational environment for the child in the second plane of development reflects these new needs and how information is most powerfully presented and processed.  The materials and apparatus used in the Montessori classroom are still concrete and sensorial and aid the child in honing their academic skills.  But the curriculum broadens now and appeals to the child’s imagination and reasoning mind.  Big lessons are now abstract and look at the larger picture:  the creation of the universe, the formation of the earth, the evolution of life on the planet and civilizations and the interdependence of all facets of life on the planet.  These lessons Montessori called Cosmic Education.  Children begin to see how they fit into a much larger cosmic picture and to see how he/she is an integral part of this larger picture. 

The adult in the classroom appeals to the child’s imagination and reasoning power.  He/She stimulates and kindles a flame of interest and enthusiasm by large collective group lessons and the use of “cosmic” stories.  These stories about the beginning of the universe and the formation of the earth appeals to the child’s imagination and sparks much research in why and how this all occurred.  Other classroom curricular areas such as reading, math and science are all imbedded in this “big picture” curriculum.  It is exciting to see children go off individually and in groups to do research on many of these exciting areas of exploration. 

Responding to the child’s need for group identity the Montessori teacher works it into the running of the classroom.  At the beginning of the year there is a class meeting, including all the adults who are in contact with the children. The children create class rules and then sign there name to a “code of conduct”, all agreeing to abide by them.  They also create a chart of various duties and responsibilities for the smooth running of the class.  Children rotate through these various jobs throughout the year.  Class meetings are held weekly and problems are brought up for discussion and resolution.  Children take these roles and responsibilities in the classroom very seriously and can be very strict in their condemnation of peers who do not comply.

The “free work” of the 3-6 year old period now consists of choice of work… but work they must.  The child in a Montessori elementary classroom is allowed to create their own work plan for each day and each week.  The adult checks to make sure the work is done and done properly.  Corrections can be made.  The child wants feedback from the adult and can accept constructive criticism without harm.  If an assignment is not completed on the child’s work plan the child is not chastised.  The teacher discusses why the assignment was not completed and helps the child to problem solve.  This helps the children learn about time management and where to find the resources needed to resolve the barriers to completion.
 
Lessons can be given individually but most often are given in “ability groups”.  These “ability groups” are not age restricted.  They are fluid and are formed because of a child’s academic ability or interest level. It is a dynamic process that looks at each child’s natural ability and interest.  It allows children to move at their own pace of learning with competition only against themselves.

The 9-12 year old child has now perfected many of their academic and intellectual tools.  They know how to use their time constructively and they have a great sense of responsibility and interest. They now have firmly moved from work with the concrete and moved fully into abstraction.  The work initiative moves from the teacher to the child. 9-12 children chose their projects out of the overall curriculum, research it with their interest groups and when they decide they know it well they present it to the teacher as well as to the class. 

The adult becomes the control of error.  The child relies on the adult for feedback and correction.  Obviously a tremendous amount of respect and trust abounds in this type of environment and the child really feels valorized and grows in confidence and independence.  The child truly becomes an independent self-motivate learner – a life-long learner

The Montessori elementary classroom is quite different form more traditional elementary classrooms.  It is amazing to see what children can accomplish when give the proper tools and the opportunity to show their new found sense of responsibility and confidence.  If you have the opportunity and time, please visit an authentic Montessori elementary program.  You will see the fruits of our labor here at MCH.