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Susan Mayclin Stephenson tackles a large subject, Cosmic Education, which Montessori defined as a “unifying global and universal view[s] of the past, present and future.” Stephenson takes the reader from birth to the end of the elementary age with examples of how the child grows into an understanding of Cosmic Education through their experiences at home and at school. Central to her thesis is the theme of discovering one’s cosmic task, which depends on “fostering…curiosity and compassion toward other beings.” Stephenson concludes with examples from around the world and illustrates how children are born with this tendency toward compassion and how it is experienced from birth through age twelve within Montessori environments.
(Editor, "The NAMTA Journal"

COSMIC EDUCATION,
The Child's Discovery of a Global Vision

The word cosmic today usually means something very large or having to do with the universe. But the word comes from the Greek kosmikos, from kosmos, meaning order. The term Cosmic Education in Montessori lingo refers to a child's gradual discovery of order, a unifying global and universal view of the past, present, and future. It is the coming together of many components of knowledge into a large vision or realization, as in a mosaic, of the interdependence of elements of the solar system, the Earth, planets and animals, and humankind. The character of our time is sometimes referred as the information age; today’s children are bombarded with facts and information with no way to make sense or bring this information into some kind of order. Cosmic Education helps a child make sense of all the information and is more important today than ever before.

The term cosmic task refers to a way for a human being to find a valuable role in this mosaic of life. A role that fulfills one’s own physical, mental, and spiritual needs and at the same time that contributes in some way to the creation of order or balance in the cosmos; to create a personal expression, and responsibility within this beautiful mosaic of life. Simply, this means we want to help a child learn about and make sense of his world and find a way to make it a better place.

These principles of Montessori education are usually discussed in reference to the second plane of development, the years 6–12. But such an idea is not something Dr. Montessori invented for the elementary child as an academic curriculum. As usual, she “followed the child” and the child’s interests. This does not begin at age six.

Learning about the World

In all Montessori environments from the home, the nido (first year), infant communities (age 1-2.5), through high school, curiosity in its variety of expression is fed.

Birth to Three Years

The world at first is the home. From the first days of life, a child is exploring the world around him, through sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch. This curiosity is a strong urge throughout life if protected and nurtured. Since the beginning of the assistants to infancy program in Rome in 1947, parents have been guided in preparing an environment that supports and feeds this curiosity. It is suggested that the environment of the child not be changed during the first year of life if possible. The child is exploring the order of this environment, his first world, visually from day one, and the drive to move toward objects and explore them in other ways, make sense of them, and there is a strong impetus to learn to crawl, stand, and walk.

When a child is first on his tummy and able to reach out for a toy, the adult can encourage exploration by placing a toy a distance that is not so far as to frustrate the infant, yet not so close as to allow him to grasp it with no effort. This skill at observation and meeting the needs of a child is the very highest level of ability of the adult in life. Today the Montessori assistants to infancy are doing the same thing on all continents, and neuroscientists are discovering the value of knowing the child in these early days and months.

The same sensorial Montessori math materials are used in Bhutan (above)
as anywhere else in the world.

Age 3-6 Years

The child’s world at this age moves from the family to the primary class. The world is brought into the class rather than the child taken out into the world at this age. We do not believe in pushing a child toward early intellectual studies, however if presented correctly, young children show an amazing interest in a wide range of subjects, something that can be hard to believe. I learned this the hard way. One year, in my work as a Montessori assistant to infancy, I was consulting with a mother from South Africa about the care of her newborn. As we talked more and more about the Montessori principles behind what I was sharing with her, she asked if it would be possible for her to observe in a Montessori class. I set up an observation with the local AMI primary class and agreed to meet with her the next morning to discuss what she saw.

I let her talk about all of the things she was amazed to see. She had been raised as a Waldorf child and not introduced to academic subjects until age seven. She was surprised to see children at such young ages teaching each other and doing math, reading, writing, continent puzzle maps, and so on. I could tell that something was bothering her however and asked what it was. Hesitantly she said, “Well, it was a very nice situation in many ways, but when do the children get to do what they want to do?”

She was very surprised to hear that the children, after entering the classroom and greeting the teacher, are free to choose any piece of material that they understand. She could not believe that they had actually selected work in areas that in traditional schools they might not, such as math, language, science, and geography.

Before age six, the child absorbs—totally, easily, without effort, and with deep love—all the attitudes and impressions in the environment. It becomes a part of him and forms his mind, so parents and teachers as models are the strongest element in these years. If kindness and patience, enjoying reading, having good manners, enjoying math and biology, for example, are in the environment at this age, these attitudes and actions will be of great value to the child. If they are not part of the early environment many of these things can be learned later, but they will not make up the basic personality of the child.

Before age six, the lessons and experiences of Cosmic Education are carried out by means of a lot of movement and sensorial experience. But along with the basic and extremely valuable practical life and sensorial lessons, the child begins to learn about the earth and water, physics, plant and animals, the variety of humans on earth, art, dance, music, geometry, math, and language. By the end of this first plane of development, the child has a lively curiosity about and love of all of these areas of study.

Maria Montessori understood the child's built-in receptiveness to all these areas of interest and found that the young child could comprehend what was considered far beyond a child's reach, given the right environment, the right equipment, and a teacher who was skilled at putting the child in touch with this environment.

Newsletters announcing books

#13 Book, Child of the World: Montessori, Global Education for Age 3-12+, March 2013

#14 Book, The Joyful Child: Montessori, Global Wisdom for Birth to Three, July 2013

#15 Book, The Universal Child, October 2013

#21 Book, No Checkmate, Montessori Chess Lessons for Age 3-90+ May 2016

#23 Book, Montessori and Mindfulness, November 2017

#25 Book, The Red Corolla, Montessori Cosmic Education (preparation in the 3-6 class), June 2019

#26 Book, Montessori Homeschooling, One Family's Story , August 2020

#27 Book, Aid to Life, Montessori Beyond the Classroom, March 2021

#28 Book, Please Help Me Do It Myself, Observation and Recordkeeping for the Montessori Primary and Elementary Class, May 2022

Other Newsletters of interest

#2 Montessori Art, Jan 2010
#3 Montessori Cultural Geography, May 2010
#4 Montessori Parenting/Teaching, Aug 2010
#5 Montessori Home Environment, Nov 2010
#6 Montessori in Sikkim, Jan 2011
#7 Montessori Math, Apr 2011
#8 All 2009-2011 Newsletters, May 2011
#9 Montessori Grace and Courtesy, Aug 2011
#10 Montessori Biology, May 2012
#11 Practical Life, Real Life, Aug 2012
#12 Happy Children for the Holidays, Dec 2012
#16 Montessori Language, Apr 2014
#17 Swaddling, Caring for Others, Authentic Montessori. Nov 2014
#18 Concentration, Where the Magic Happens!, May 2015
#19 Michael Olaf Montessori Company, Nov 2015
#20 Cosmic Education, Feb 2016
#22 The Music Environment July 2016