Setting a strong foundation: Fostering critical thinking skills in a Montessori preschool environment
Linda R. Turrisi
University of Massachusetts, Amherst The idea of “critical thinking” is not new; it has been around since man has been able to have rational thought. Strong critical thinkers are the people responsible for pushing the development of society and civilization forward. They have developed architectural methods, various fields of engineering, government, the practice of medicine, et cetera. In order to continue to make forward strides in all areas of civilization, it is important to coach and cultivate strong critical thinking skills in the students who will eventually be professionals in the fields they study. My area of concentration is Early Childhood Education, which I will pair with my 31 years of experience in a Montessori classroom. This paper seeks to explore the ways that critical thinking is being fostered in preschool age children in a Montessori school. Montessori schools value independence, autonomy, creativity, exploration, and the innate curiosity with which all children are born.
Some of the earliest documentations of critical thought process can be found in the writings of classical Greek philosophers. Socrates, in particular, is famous for developing the Socratic method. This method of thinking forces the practicer to question presumed “facts” and continue to question with reason: there is no real answer or end.
Oldest philosophical documentation – to1800s
In traditional primary and secondary school programs in the US, the actual practice of thinking is taken for granted and generally not encouraged. A student’s ability to memorize facts is a tangible way of measuring his success. There is no easy way to measure a student’s ability of thinking, and, therefore, how is the teacher able to know if he’s been successful in teaching it? Strong critical thinking skills become evident in abstract situations, and they are different for everyone (Halpern, D., 2003). While the answer to a specific mathematics problem may have a right answer and a wrong answer, the answer to a problem requiring critical thinking may have many answers. Thirty students may answer the question “what is 4 plus 2” the with the exact same correct answer of “6”. The same thirty students, when given a question requiring critical thinking, may give thirty different answers. And all thirty answers may be correct. It comes down to each student’s ability to express himself eloquently, exhibiting a clear process of thought, and understanding of cause and effect. Not only does it require clarity of expression, it requires the teacher’s ability to comprehend. This is where the trouble of measurement comes into play. It is easier to grade an entire class on each student’s ability to correctly give an answer that everyone regards as correct than it is to grade that same class on each student’s ability to solve a problem or question with critical thinking (Ritchhart, 2015).
A student’s career before he begins university learning is focused on performing well on standardized tests and being able to retain the information that their teachers relay as “fact.” It is not until he reaches the university level that it truly becomes expected to be a strong critical thinker, questioning information and endeavoring to prove “facts.” This is unfortunate for the older student, for by the time he reaches college, his thought patterns are set, and his brain is developed (Caspi, A., 2003). Caspi notes that “early-emerging behavioral styles can foretell [a student’s] characteristic behaviors, thoughts, and feelings as adults, pointing to the foundations of the human personality in the early years of life” (2003, p. 1). Teaching critical thinking earlier in a student’s life is important if we are to guide that student towards his full potential, as well as if we are to improve the functioning and development of schools and society.
There are no clear methods of teaching critical thinking in an early childhood education curriculum. As previously noted, many students reach college before they are expected to be strong critical thinkers. How can they be expected to have an evolved, practiced way of thinking if they have not begun until a late age? Because children have the ability to absorb information more easily when they are younger, it only makes sense to guide their educational discovery as it naturally occurs (Montessori). Children, from as early as infant and toddlerhood, are naturally, or intrinsically motivated to learn. At no time in life is learning more easily accomplished than during these times. The first notable quality of a young learner is his innate curiosity in the world around him.
Intrinsic motivation, also called “curiosity-driven learning” (Moulin-Frier, Nguyen, Oudeyer, 2014) presents itself at the time of birth when an infant progresses from babbling to speaking, and later from rolling to walking to running. “What we see in the crib is the greatest mind that has ever existed, the most powerful learning machine in the universe” (Gopnik, Melzoff, Kuhl, 2000, p. 1). The naturally occurring external stimuli in a young child’s environment inspire the curiosity necessary to drive learning.
Curiosity-driven learning leads to the next notable quality of a young learner: the process of asking questions in order to understand his world. Similar to Socrates’ idea that there is no “final answer” or “end,” a child’s question will always lead to his next question. This is the phase in which thoughtful question-asking should be encouraged. Meaningful questions should trigger equally meaningful discussions with the teacher. “‘Children enter schools as question marks and they leave as periods.’ In order for us to become critical thinkers and effective learners, we have to become question marks again” (Chaffee, p. 48). Since natural curiosity sparked the questioning and discussion, the child will feel a sense of success and growth upon reaching understanding. Thus, the retention of the new information will come easily, and the child will be able to explain what he has learned and apply it to similar situations or problems (Chaffee, 2004).
After experiencing curiosity, asking information-seeking questions, participating in a meaningful discussion with a teacher, reaching understanding, and, finally, retaining new information, the child will continue to repeat the cycle. Chaffee concludes that once a student has repeated this cycle many times, and established his own “information framework,” which is his own library of understood information that can be applied to various situations, he has become an “active learner” (2004, p. 44). The information framework can continue to expand to accommodate new information. The active learner is able to apply his framework to situations in his life in innovative ways. He has achieved knowledge and feels accomplishment, and it all stemmed from the original curiosity that set him on his path of questioning and knowledge acquisition. Along with intrinsic motivation and knowledge acquisition, another important quality is creativity. A good problem solver will consider a problem, along with the information he already knows, and think of creative ways to apply his knowledge to the problem in order to reach a solution. In order for a student to reach the status of an active learner, he will have had a teacher that has noticed the ideas intrinsically motivating him, and encouraged and guided him in learning about them. This is an ideal scenario.
Unfortunately, a common model for education is based in extrinsic motivation. This is when a child performs for the approval of a teacher, or the end goal of a reward (a good grade, for example). He memorizes facts for a test, but is not necessarily able to accurately describe, in his own words, a fully comprehended idea or lesson (Abbott, 2015). Once a student’s curiosity has been blanketed by facts, and right and wrong answers, it’s difficult to restore. This student is a passive learner doing what he needs to do in order to achieve the goals set by his teacher. This model is less effective; without natural curiosity, the motivation to learn for one’s self is nonexistent. If a student is being taught for the realization of an end goal, the motivation is the positive result of reaching the predetermined end goal, and not the positive result of satisfying the desire to answer a question he himself asked. “A damaging change in the learning process often happens around the age of three or four, which can last a lifetime. The child learns to stop guessing and inventing answers when his efforts are rejected. After many rejections the child stops speculating…He learns that answers lie not in what the child thinks, but what the…teacher thinks. Instead of continually practicing making connections, guessing and inventing, the focus of learning shifts subtly away from learner to teacher” (Fisher, 2005, p. 23). The goal for a teacher, then, is to avoid this damaging shift in a child’s learning process toward the extrinsic, and, instead, to maintain that child’s intrinsic motivation.
The earlier the child is conditioned to follow his own intrinsic motivation, the easier it will be for him to form a habit of questioning, seeking understanding, and innovating. This will lead to a successful educational experience. A successful student will ideally become a self-guided and ever-curious adult, asking questions and independently seeking understanding throughout his entire life. The ideal time, then, for a teacher to initiate critical thought is when a child’s brain is at its most “absorbent” phase (Montessori, 1967).
Montessori’s contemporary, Jean Piaget, observed four “cognitive stages of child development”: the sensorimotor stage, the pre-operational stage, the concrete operational stage, and the formal operational stage. The stage where it may be most appropriate to introduce critical thinking is during the pre-operational stage (ages 3-7) when children begin to be able to retain information (create memories), and simultaneously be imaginative. This is also the point at which they are able to understand things symbolically, and to understand the ideas of past and future (Piaget, 1952).
Montessori generally agrees with Piaget that each child has a series of developmental “planes.” The “First Plane of Development” takes place from birth to six years of age. This is the period during which a child’s mind is most absorbent. In this plane, there are two sub-planes: Montessori observed the transition of a child from birth to adulthood, noting a “sensitive period” during the “first plane of development” occurring from ages 3-6 during which a child becomes a “conscious worker” (Montessori, 1967). Prior to age 3, the child is absorbing information unconsciously. During the “conscious worker” phase, the child’s information absorption becomes conscious. Since this first plane of development is the time when a child is most sensitive to surroundings and new information, this is the ideal time to begin fostering a strong ability to think.