External Activity & Potential

"The role of education is to interest the child profoundly in an external activity to which he will give all his potential. We are concerned here with bringing him liberty and independence while interesting him in an activity through which he will subsequently discover reality. And for him this is the means by which he may free himself of the adult."

Maria Montessori, From Childhood to Adolescence, p 11

Basis of Second Plane

The three characteristics we have just isolated for examination - the child's felt need to escape the closed environment, the passage of his mind from the concrete to the abstract, and the birth in him of a moral sense - serve as the basis for a scheme of the second period.

Maria Montessori, From Childhood to Adolescence, p 7

Second Plane of Development

The seven to twelve year old period, then, constitutes one of particular importance for moral education. The adult must be aware of the evolution that is occurring in the mind of the child at this time and adapt his methods to conform with it.

Maria Montessori, From Childhood to Adolescence, p 6