Why no computers in classroom?
Fund raising activities will often focus on providing additional equipment for your child’s class or playground; PTA committees may seek to undertake to raise funds for the provision of computers. In a world that demands basic computer literacy and skills this would seem a sensible idea…let’s teach them while they are young. In our case, committees have been surprised when I say ‘no thank you, there is no room in a Montessori environment for a computer!’ My decision not to have them is based on a number of sound developmental reasons but the main one is that a young child needs a multi-sensory experience in order to understand his or her immediate environment, the outside world and to process the information they receive.
The youngest child when presented with a small flower for the first time will stretch out to grasp it, not with the delicate fine motor control of an older child who already knows what it is but completely enveloping it; crushing it in the process. Holding things in the hand provides the child with information and an opportunity to remember and recall… Dr. Maria Montessori called the hand, ‘the instrument of the intelligence’.
Daily use of the Didactic Materials and Practical Life activities in a Montessori classroom develop not only an understanding of their immediate world through sensory experiences but also help to develop eye/hand coordination, a sense of order and discriminatory skills through the unconscious learning process of total absorption in the chosen activity. Dr. Montessori attributed the young child with an ‘Absorbent Mind’.
A child whose whole body is involved with the learning experience becomes one with his environment and an independent participant in the real world and not in virtual reality. Freedom to choose an activity and to move freely around the room allows for the development of large and small muscle control, self control and independence. Sitting in relative isolation in front of a computer screen and with limited ‘mouse’ skills a child’s interaction with a computer game designed to teach sequencing or spatial vocabulary involves only the visual sense with perhaps some auditory feedback to let the child know if they have been successful or not! With a child centered, and carefully prepared learning environment the child will develop his full potential through total participation and discover for himself his success!
While I readily accept that computers have a great deal to offer, they should not be viewed as an educational magic wand, especially during the pre-school years when so many other experiences are much more important, even crucial, to children's growth. No thank you…no computers!