A SCHOOL IN THE CLOUD

www.montessoricentrewales.com
Influencing Global
Educational Reform
THE SCHOOL IN THE CLOUD
©Alan Evans 2012

The Average Child’s Brain

The Superior Teacher’s Brain

Waldorf, Montessori & Reggio are the three progressive
approaches to early childhood education, which appear to be
growing in influence around the world, Edwards (2002).
All three approaches represent an explicit idealism and turn
away from war and violence towards peace and reconstruction.
They are built on coherent visions of how to improve human
society by helping children realise their full potential as
intelligent, creative whole persons.

In each approach children are viewed as
•active authors of their own development
• strongly influenced by natural, dynamic, self righting forces
within themselves, opening the way towards growth and
learning.
•Teachers depend on carefully prepared aesthetically pleasing
environments that serve as a pedagogical tool and provide
strong messages about the curriculum and respect for children.

Montessori Teaching Style
•Unobtrusive director observing children in self directed
activity.
•Providing an atmosphere of productive calm for children to
concentrate and recover, allowing them to develop confidence
and inner discipline to the point of non intervention

Dr. Maria Montessori
Maria Montessori was a brilliant figure who
was Italy's first woman physician.
Montessori reflected a late19th century vision
of mental development and theoretical kin-ship
with the great European progressive
educational philosophers, such as Rousseau,
Pestalozzi, Seguin and Itard.
She was convinced that children's natural
intelligence involved three aspects from the
very start:
• rational
• Empirical - observation
• spiritual

Sensorial Education - Multi Sensory Materials
Montessori’s approach was far in
advance of the general
psychological understanding of her
time. Montessori developed
materials and a prepared
environment for the intellectual
training through sensory motor
modalities for children aged three
to six years of age.

Look At The Child
Dr. Montessori discovered the child’s
true nature by accident while observing
young children in their free, self
directed activity. Building on Seguin’s
work and materials, Dr. Montessori
found that young children came to
acquire surprising new outward
qualities of spontaneous self-discipline,
love of order, and a perfect harmony
with others.

I Do And I Understand
According to Montessori the
understanding of the sensory
motor nature of the young
child’s intelligence stemmed
from acute observations of
children. Up until then the
idea of intelligence was
based on verbal development
and the manipulation of
visual images and ideas.

LOOK AT THE CHILD
Both Montessori and
Piaget’s discoveries and
insights into the mind of the
child were achieved, not by
what Piaget described as
‘adultmorphic’ thinking
(seeing the child as a
miniature adult), but by
unbiased, astute, direct
observations of the child.

Piaget and Montessori
emphasized the necessity of
active interaction between
learner and the environment.
Piaget and Montessori also
emphasised the child’s
relationship with peers as the
principal means to overcoming
egocentrism in learning.
The Quality of the Environment Can Help or Hinder a Child’s Development

The Montessori method encourages
accommodation to external reality rather
than assimilation to the personalized
motives and fantasies of the child
(spontaneous play).
Montessori and Piaget observed that
certain conditions were necessary for
optimal cognitive growth. Among these
conditions is the creation of learning
situations that involve particular kinds
and qualities of autonomy.
Autonomous Environments Work

The child in the Montessori
classroom is allowed to learn
autonomously, which they receive
from the teacher. It is a very
special relationship based on the
teacher’s trust in the child to
reveal their true nature.

Piaget

Jean Piaget is considered to have
been one of the worlds leading
child psychologists. Piaget also
spoke of sensory motor
intelligence as the first period of
intellectual development from age
two to six years.
Sensory motor intelligence rests
mainly on actions (doing) on
movements and perceptions
without language but coordinated
in a relatively stable way.

According to Penn (2005) Piaget
turned the tables on an approach to
early childhood, which aimed at
filling up the child’s head with
knowledge.
Piaget argued that children had to
find things out for themselves
through experimentation and their
own free thinking.

The Plowden Report
In 1967 the U.K. Government published
a major review of primary and nursery
education known as the Plowden Report.
Richards (1984) suggests that the
principles underlying Plowden’s reports
were attacked by critics for being too
‘child centred’ and for neglecting the
importance of teaching as a way of
initiating the young into public forms of
knowledge.
Bridget Horatia Plowden
Source: www.npg.org.uk

The members of the review board for the Plowden report
were impressed with Piaget’s theories and suggested that
schooling should be radically changed from a teacher in
front of the class to many different areas from where a
child could draw on concrete experiences with play and
learning materials.

‘Underlying all educational questions is the nature of the child himself
…’ (p.1) “At the heart of the educational process is the child. No
(educational) advances … have their desired effect unless they are in
harmony with the nature of the child, unless they are fundamentally
acceptable to him …’ (p7).
Plowden (1967)

We may assert that all effective learning involves personal
change and the most effective kinds of learning seem to be those
in which the learner is the initiator of the change and involves
himself in active commerce with the learning materials e.g.
autonomous experiential learning through play.

A requirement for cognitive growth is the
psychological climate in which the child is free to
spend at least some of his time exploring his
world with complete autonomy.
When we interfere with a child’s play, when we
influence his modes of behaviour, when we
impose our beliefs upon him, we may be
performing a service but we may be unaware of
the harm we are doing.
Children in school and at home are frequently
forced to assume a purely passive position in
which he is required to register and later
reproduce material that has been imposed upon
him.

We tend to treat children according to the group they are
placed in by age, ability, socio economic background and
many other factors.
‘It is as if the most important thing about them is their date
of manufacture’, Sir Ken Robinson, (2012).

‘a return to a simple academic model of basic subjects taught in disciplined
environments where children are regarded a vessels to be filled with knowledge,’
Gerver (2013).
According to an Adobe Creativity study (2012) Companies are looking for more than
graduates who can do specific tasks so they want employees who can also think
differently and innovate. To be successful, students need an education that
emphasizes creative thinking, communication, and teamwork.
Richard Gerver
Leading academic thinkers Richard Gerver and Sir Ken Robinson
are calling for reform in the education system.
Gerver (2012) believes that we are still basing our education
system on the old model of time and motion developed by Taylor
(1911). Robinson believes we should encourage creativity and
divergent thinking. Both are involved in reforming education
around the world through human potential and creativity but here
in the U.K. the call is for

HOT MANAGEMENT IN EARLY YEARS AND SCHOOLS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ck-KrObORfI
Children using a model of the
lung. The children were given
the tools to experiment and
diagrams to make models
including electrical circuitry.
They also made and broadcast
their own radio shows.

KEN ROBINSON, (2012)
What we have in schools today is
• DIVERSITY V UNIFORMITY
• CREATIVITY V COMPLIANCE
• LINEARITY V ORGANIC
• EMPATHY V UNIMAGINABLE HARM
• THE ART OF PEDAGOGY V DELIVERY
SOLUTIONS
• PERSONALISE EDUCATION
• OFFER A WIDE RANGING CURRICULUM
• TEACHING IS AN ART FORM NOT A DISCIPLINE
• ASSESSMENT BASED ON MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES
• CULTURE ALLOWED TO FLOURISH
Sir Ken Robinson
Source: www.gvsu.edu/business/home-1.htm

Dr. Steven Hughes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcNvTPX4Q08
HIGHLY RECOMMEND VIEWING
http://www.goodatdoingthings.com/GoodAtDoingThings/Selected_Screencasts.html
Dr. Maria Montessori and Dr.Steven Hughes - ‘The hands are the chief teacher of the child.’
Source: www.tovatest.com/news/Fall2008_Newsletter

“It appeared that he might be receiving training in the kind of veridical
sequential perception we have called sharpening-that is, the
experiencing of new stimuli in their own right, independent of what has
happened before.” This research led Gardner to conclude, “The
evidence has been so impressive that we hesitate to accept, without
qualification, any view of child development that does not include
recognition of this degree of individuality.”
Gardener’s (1966) research into
individual differences in memory reveal
that the individual differences in
children can be constrained according
to their early experiences especially in
relation to memory and cognitive skills.

Howard Gardener
Multiple Intelligence Theory
Intrapersonal
Interpersonal
Musical
Spatial
Kinesthetic
Verbal/Linguistic
Logical Mathematical
Credit: Peter Gregoire

The curriculum was thematic, and the centres provided seven different ways for the
students to learn the subject matter. Each day began with a brief lecture and discussion
explaining one aspect of the current theme. For example, during a unit on outer space,
the morning’s lecture might focus on spiral galaxies.
After the morning lecture, a timer was set and students in groups of three or four
started work at their centres, eventually rotating through all seven.
Bruce Campbell
Bruce Campbell (1999) implemented Gardner’s theory in an
educational setting by organising his third grade classroom
in Marysville, Washington, into seven learning centres, each
dedicated to one of the seven intelligences. The students
spent approximately two-thirds of each school day moving
through the centres 15 to 20 minutes at each centre.
Source: www.corwin.com/authors/528294

What kinds of learning activities take place at each centre?
All students learn each day’s lesson in seven ways. They build models, dance, make collaborative
decisions, create songs, solve deductive reasoning problems, read, write, and illustrate all in one school
day. Some more specific examples of activities at each centre follow:
In the Personal Work Centre (Intrapersonal Intelligence), students explore the present area of study
through research, reflection, or individual projects.
In the Working Together Centre (Interpersonal Intelligence), they develop cooperative learning skills
as they solve problems, answer questions, create learning games, brainstorm ideas and discuss that day’s
topic collaboratively.
In the Music Centre (Musical Intelligence), students compose and sing songs about the subject matter,
make their own instruments, and learn in rhythmical ways.
In the Art Centre (Spatial Intelligence), they explore a subject area using diverse art media,
manipulables, puzzles, charts, and pictures.
In the Building Centre (Kinesthetic Intelligence), they build models, dramatize events, and dance, all in
ways that relate to the content of that day’s subject matter.
In the Reading Centre (Verbal/Linguistic Intelligence), students read, write, and learn in many
traditional modes. They analyze and organize information in written form.
In the Math & Science Centre (Logical/ Mathematical Intelligence), they work with math games,
manipulatives, mathematical concepts, science experiments, deductive reasoning, and problem solving.
and reasoning.

Self Organised Learning Environments - S.O.L.E.
Sugata Mitra placed a computer in a hole in a wall in a slum and
replicated this experiment across India.
The hypothesis was whether education was effected by
•Remoteness of education
•Teachers
•Infrastructure
•Maintenance of infrastructure
The tests were carried out on children in communities across India.
Measured performance was based on distance from Delhi.
Results were not correlated to size of class, quality of infrastructure
and not related to poverty.

Teachers were asked would you like to move?
•69% yes
•I wish I were in another school impacts on results
Conclusion. Teacher motivation effects children’s learning
Observations
ET is piloted in the best schools
Impact is limited because they already have what they want
Conclusion ET is over hyped and underperforming
Take the same into a remote school and the impact is far greater
Conclusion. ET is better used at bottom of pyramid

The first hole in the wall experiment took place in New Delhi in 1999.
Mitra’s office bordered a slum. He cut a hole in the wall and put in a
PC a touch pad and high speed Internet.
Questions asked were
Is this real?
Does the language matter?
Will the computer last?
Will they break it?
Will they steal it?
Source: www.perceptum.nl

Mitra took the experiment to a number of poor areas where children
taught each other to browse, use the computer.
Three months after leaving the computer in a rural area where no
English was spoken children were using 200 English words. Mitra was
funded to replicate the experiment. Children found a website to teach
themselves the English alphabet. Younger children began teaching
older children.
Results of experiment
6 to 13 year olds can self construct - teach themselves in groups if you
lift adult intervention.
Results showed the same learning curve you would get in a school.
300 children were computer literate within 6 months with one
computer. 8 year olds live in a society, which says don’t do that don’t
touch.

Can A Teacher Be Replaced By A Machine?
Source: http://lifestarstgeorge.com/blog/?p=489Source: http://www.montana.edu/ttt/school_admin.php

Conclusion
•Primary education can happen independently
•Not imposed from top down
•Can be self organising
•Natural systems are all self organising
•Values are acquired doctrine and dogma are imposed
If They Can They Should Be
Source: lrnteach.com blog

Sugata Mitra is working on providing an alternative to traditional
education through his ‘Granny Clouds’ where children teach
themselves and tackle the big questions.
The results of his work are startling and challenge any educated
mind into rethinking education.
Isn’t that why we became teachers?
Do we stop learning?
Do we dismiss the research in favour of maintaining the status
quo?
Do we continue with a system, which has been overtaken by the
rest of the world?

A CHANGE IS GONNA COME
Cultural change is organic from the ground up but people are desperately clinging on to
the old or suggesting we reinstate and update the old.
The future is with the alternative
Revolution does not require permission
It does not start from the top
It is not politicians leading the way
There is a global shift feeding off child and parental unrest.
The effort of constraining talent is greater than the effort in releasing it.
‘All mankind is divided into three classes: those that are immovable, those that are movable, and
those that move.’ Benjamin Franklin
Don’t waste too much time, move around them.
Work with the movable and the movers

In conclusion, Montessori education places the child firmly at the centre of the process and
relies on observation of the child to lead and inform the adult. The relationship between child
and adult is the key to the success or failure of the method.
The Plowden report was revolutionary and should have had a much stronger effect on nursery
and primary provision given that its statement of overall aims included what we now know as
the main premise of Montessori education, i.e.
“At the heart of the educational process is the child. No (educational) advances … have their
desired effect unless they are in harmony with the nature of the child, unless they are
fundamentally acceptable to him …’ .
Autonomy and individuality are also a key factors in the delivery of educational methods. How
that autonomy and individuality transpires differs from place to place and again is dependent on
the adults within the environment. Gardner goes so far as to hesitate to accept any view of child
development that does not recognise the possibility of a high degree of individuality brought
about through the skills that every individual uses to process, categorize and make sense out of
what we see, hear, taste, smell, and touch. The Montessori provision is all about just that if
delivered true to the original philosophy. Montessori has been providing self organised learning
environments for over a century catering for multiple intelligences.

References
Adobe, 2012. http://www.adobe.com/aboutadobe/pressroom/pdfs/Adobe_Creativity_and_Education_Why_It_Matters_study.pdf
Campbell, B. 1999. The Learning Revolution, Education innovations for global citizens
Edwards, C. Gandini, L. & Forman, G. (Eds.). 1998. The hundred languages of children:
Edwards, C. P. 2002, Katz & Cesarone, (1994) New (2000). Three Approaches from Europe: Waldorf, Montessori and Reggio Emilia.
The Reggio Emillia approach-Advanced reflections (2nd ed.).
Gardener, H. 1993. http://www.multipleintelligencetheory.co.uk
Gardner, W. R. 1966, The Elementary School Journal, Vol. 67, No. 2 pp. 72-83.
Gerver, R. 2013 http://www.richardgerver.com/blog/
Hughes, S. 2010. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcNvTPX4Q08
Mitra, S. 2013. http://www.ted.com/talks/sugata_mitra_build_a_school_in_the_cloud.html
Penn, H. 2005, Understanding Early Childhood, Issues and controversies, Open University Press.
Peters, R. S. (Ed.) 1969, A Critique of Plowden's ‘Recognisable Philosophy of Education.’
Richards, C. 1984, The Study Of Primary Education, The Falmer Press.
Robinson, K 2012. http://www.educationrevolution.org/blog/kenrobinson
Taylor, F. W. 1911, The Principles of scientific management. http://www.ibiblio.org/eldritch/fwt/ti.html
Wilson, P. 1974, Plowden’s ‘Facts’ About Children: A Child Centred-Critique.
http://www.npgprints.com/image/70750/mayotte-magnus-bridget-horatia-nee-richmond-lady-plowden
Resources
S.O.L.E. toolkit http://www.ted.com/pages/sole_toolkit
Richard Gerver and Sir Ken Robinson http://www.amazon.co.uk/Creating-Tomorrows-Schools-Today
Free Montesori learning resources www.montessoricentrewales.ning.com

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