Engaging Montessori Students by Studying Bird Behavior

Montessori educators and parents with children enrolled in Montessori usually frown on video games that are not specifically designed for education, especially since so many video games rely on violent actions for much of their material. This Montessori dislike of video games especially extends to children younger than 13, which is not surprising.

While this writer if of the opinion that denying children all access to all non-education video games is excessive and, in our current society, possibly somewhat detrimental to their social lives, this inimical attitude toward video games is perfectly understandable within the Montessori context. Its teaching philosophy stresses children being undistracted and not being conditioned by what Montessori educators consider to be "fantasy", which they distinguish from imagination (considered very healthy) and label as an intrusion by the adult world on the child's world.

One Montessori educator recently related a story to this writer about how she brought a new Montessori student away from video games and into the world of birding.

Birding and studying bird behavior is the kind of activity that Montessori educators are highly in favor of. Not only does it get children actively engaged, interacting with the real world, but it fosters a love for nature and wildlife that is part of the core Montessori curricula.

This Montessori educator had a new boy enrolled in her class. He was five-and-a-half years old and this was his first Montessori experience. Most Montessori children who are of that age have already been involved in Montessori for a year or two, and the teacher exclaimed that the typical respect for wildlife--as well as other people--was lacking in him, although he was not by any means "bad".

This teacher soon got the impression, from talking with the child, that he spent a lot of time playing video games while at home--and they were not the educational kind, but often the violent kind.

With spring in full bloom in this Montessori teacher's area, a nest of robins had appeared in a pear tree in the school's playground. The teacher, who observes this happen annually, could tell from the robins' behavior that the eggs would soon hatch, and she talked with her students about the importance of not disturbing the nest when outside playing. However, the five-and-a-half-year old tried to be sneaky and disturb the birds by making them startled and fly.

The Montessori teacher became even more disturbed when the little boy began holding his hand in the shape of a pistol and pretending to shoot the robins. And worse yet, he began throwing stones or mulch at the bird's nest.

The teacher pulled him aside and told him the error of his ways. Then she got an idea. She brought outside a pair of binoculars, and gave them to the boy. She had noticed that he likes to use his hands a lot, and the binoculars could be held in his hands and were something technical like a gun or a video game box.

The boy became utterly fascinated with birding in the space of that very same afternoon, and when the teacher came back she found him instructing the other kids on how to walk quietly around the pear tree. The teacher also observed that he was quickly learning the mother robin's habits and soon could recognize her bird call.

When the students when back inside, the Montessori teacher brought out a birding book for the boy and together read the pages on robins, which thrilled him.

While it is not very likely that all children who are having a problem with disrespecting nature can be so easily turned around, the experience of the teacher shows the value of active interaction with the world around us that Montessori education prizes, and it is the kind of teaching lesson that can be applied by all parents and teachers.