There are many facets of Montessori philosophy and educational practices that are easy to grasp and understand. The concept of multi-age groupings of students, child-led choice-based learning, skills mastery through repetition and practice, even the concept of teachers as guides instead of lecturers: these are all concepts and practices that even people without a background or deep understanding of Montessori can understand.
The idea of Cosmic Education, however, is a more abstract and often misunderstood part of the Montessori philosophy of education. In this post, I will present the concept in a way that will help break it down and explain the various aspects of thought and practice involved in the overarching concept of Cosmic Education.
In the book Children of the Universe by Michael and D’Neil Duffy, they describe Cosmic Education like this-“Cosmic Education puts everything in its place within the whole, the cosmos. It gives meaning to everything, including our own lives as humans. As Montessori educators, we teach spirituality without teaching religion, bringing children into touch with the ineffable principles of ‘spirit’ which makes the universe a unified whole. We introduce young children to the most sophisticated philosophical concepts ever conceived by the human mind, encouraging them to pursue the truly big questions in life. We tap into the mystical experience of being a part of the cosmos and help our students realize that they are truly children of the universe.”
Cosmic Education is an overarching concept that includes the study of such topics as biology, history, sociology, environmental education, psychology, astronomy, morality, economics, creativity and spirituality. It does present abstract concepts such as global stewardship, cosmic task, creation of the Universe, Peace Education, and our responsibility as humans to care for each other as humans, despite our differences. One might think that those concepts are too broad and abstract to teach to an elementary audience. However, Maria Montessori believed that children in the elementary years were in the plane of development where such big questions and answers would speak to their own wonderings about the world outside of themselves and their immediate family and help them to find their place and their way along their own journey in the vast immensity of the Universe.
Click the link to see more about planes of development in our blog post: multi-age learning environments
She believed that students at this age are ready to grasp and understand these broad, abstract concepts and that at this age, they are eager to find their own place in the greater universe and begin to shape their lives and action to make a difference in the larger world in ways that are meaningful to themselves.
Cosmic Education was a concept that Maria Montessori and her son Mario developed after they spent a great deal of time working in India and experiencing a variety of Eastern spiritual practices which were very different from the Roman Catholic religion she had grown up knowing in Italy. The influences of Eastern spiritual practices and the broader concept of “my place in the Universe” had a profound influence on the development of the Montessori Cosmic Education curriculum.
The ideas, concepts, and lessons present through the Cosmic Education curriculum give students a chance to see the world outside of themselves. It allows them to experience life and culture from various regions of the world and to begin to understand that even though we are all citizens of our own families, communities and countries; we are also citizens of a collective global society and that we must find ways to connect with one another, find our similarities and work together towards a common goal of peaceful, collaborative, collective existence for all citizens of this planet as one race: the human race.
That is the ultimate goal of a well-rounded Cosmic Education curriculum as Maria Montessori envisioned it.
“The laws governing the universe can be made interesting and wonderful to the child, more interesting even than things in themselves, and he begins to ask: What am I? What is the task of man in this wonderful universe? Do we merely live here for ourselves, or is there something more for us to do? Why do we struggle and fight? What is good and evil? Where will it all end?”
-Maria Montessori in To Educate the Human Potential
To learn more about Cosmic Education:
Children of the Universe-Michael and D’Neil Duffy
To Educate the Human Potential- Maria Montessori