“One of the means to this end is a cosmic education, which gives the child an orientation and guidance in life. For this education wants to prepare the growing child for the task awaiting him in adult life, so that he will feel at ease in his own environment, in which he will later have to live as an independent being.”
– Maria Montessori, International Montessori Conference, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, April 1950.
Dr. Montessori’s vision of Cosmic education is to guide the children as they study the whole of humanity throughout time and find their place in the universe through their explorations.
In Upper Elementary, the 5th-grade students, after extensively working on overarching concepts of ancient civilization and global history for the past two years, are now zooming into U.S. history. Their exploration of U.S. history begins with a foundational understanding of the physical and political geography of the United States. Currently, the students are gaining knowledge about U.S. states, physical features, and biomes, through puzzle maps – where pegged puzzles have knobs placed on the capitals for internalization, pin maps that give a concrete understanding of land and water forms. Each student will complete a research project on a state of their choice.
