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Understanding the Sensorial Environment Series: Part 3July 3, 2008 by Miss Norma | No comments

All of the Sensorial apparatus have specific characteristics that help the child to use them. One of the characteristics in the materials is that it isolates the sense. Whenever possible, all the other sensory clues are removed. For example, when working with the tactile sense one should encourage the child to use a blindfold to enhance the sense of touch to assist him in recognizing different textures. The next characteristic is of the materials is that they isolate the level of difficulty. When giving lessons or placing materials on the shelves the directress should follow a sequence that allows the child to work with the materials with ease. The materials also follow a simple to complex characteristic. The position of the materials on the shelves should go from most simple to most complex, left to right and top to bottom. The apparatus are also auto-educational. Since most materials have a control of error built in, the child learns by discovering mistakes on his own. The beauty, clarity and precision of the materials also encourage and allow the child to work independently.

The classroom setting in a Montessori institution is perfectly designed to provide limitless sensorial experiences. Furthermore the activities that pertain to the sensorial lessons are given in a very specific order. “Order is one of the needs of life which, when it is satisfied, produces a real happiness” (Montessori, 1973, 52). The child will attain the ability to organize and thus become a more logical thinker. The overall clarity of thought being present at this early stage will lead to classification and organization of information. The child is presented an object which is then manipulated by the child. The ensuing familiarity that is fostered with the sensorial tool leads to the understanding of conceptual topics. Concrete contact with the materials leads to a deeper comprehension of the concept because of the physical relation that the child has just formed with the concept. This learning phenomenon is called the process of abstraction. The sensorial method is the most natural of the teaching modes for the child. The child is innately curious about the surrounding environment, consistently interacting with what is available to touch, see, and hear.

The sequence of the Sensorial activities is presented in a particular fashion. The child is first introduced to a familiar and known activity. They are then presented with an unfamiliar, unknown similar activity. An example of this sequence is the Knobbed Cylinders and the Knobless Cylinder. The Knobbed Cylinders are a set of four wooden boxes that have holes and ten cylinders with knobs that pertain to each different sized hole. The Knobless Cylinders come in a set of four boxes that contain cylinders which vary in height and diameter. Most children would be able to complete the Knobbed Cylinders without having had a lesson on them. This is due to the fact that the cylinders have predetermined fitted slots, providing a built in control of error. The Knobless Cylinders would be a little harder to decipher. Depending on which box you use, the cylinders are to be graded in a particular order without a built in control of error.

Some activities are also very concrete while others are very abstract. The Touch Boards are a concrete activity that helps the child discriminate between the feeling of roughness on one side and the feeling of smoothness on the other. On the other hand, the Trinomial Cube is very abstract. When this activity is performed the child is building a large cube by matching smaller colored cubes and rectangular prism that physically represent the Trinomial Theorem. Once they have mastered building the cube they begin to develop a more mathematical and logical way of thinking.