[Michael Duffy]

Jennifer,

Your principles of deep time education are perfectly compatible with the philosophy of Montessori’s cosmic education, and they help articulate the implications of our program of education. I agree with everything you have on the list of principles.

1) orienting to an evolving universe – this is the basis of cosmic education.

2) matrix – grounding in the Earth community is a major theme of cosmic ed

3) awe and wonder – this is the aim of our impressionistic lessons

4) reflection and discernment – if knowledge of the universe story and the earth matrix doesn’t lead to good choices, it has no purpose

5) action and evaluation – this seems to just give more detail and specificity to #4

6) passion, place and purpose – I misread “place” as “peace,” which betrays my orientation to the aim of cosmic ed, to create an environment of peace and determine the human / personal cosmic task

7) framework and continuum – we look upon our cosmic ed curriculum as the foundation for a deeper and broader understanding as our students climb the spiral of further education. For example, differentiation, interiority and communion are concepts addressed in our curriculum only at an introductory level, to be explored at later levels of education to get a fuller appreciation of their place in the big picture. It would be helpful to us in Montessori to be aware of those elements in our teaching.

Thanks for what you are doing.

Michael

[Michael Duffy]

Jonathan,
I think your attempt to expose “pre-school” age children to the concept of evolution is great, particularly with an enchanting story book. I don’t know whether these young children will fully understand the concept of shared ancestry, but it can’t hurt to expose them to it for whatever level they can internalize it. Even if they don’t fully “get it,” you are laying the foundation for lots of later work and understanding, the way Montessori primary education for 3-6 year olds does in lots of areas.
Keep up the good work.
Michael

[Michael Duffy]

Kyle makes a very valid point about the need for the middle school / high school Montessori level to put sufficient emphasis on the intellectual content of Cosmic Education. We can’t assume that even those students coming from Montessori elementary are totally familiar with the details of the Cosmic Education story that helps them unify all their learning. And students at this higher level can achieve a much deeper understanding of the elements of the various chapters of the story. As Kyle rightly notes, we shouldn’t let academic pressures distract teachers or students from the goal of putting all knowledge into the context of the Cosmic Education / Big History narrative. That said, it is appropriate to look for practical applications of the lessons of Cosmic Education for students at this level, as Betsy notes.

[Michael Duffy]

I think Betsy Coe’s schema for lining up the Planes of Development and Cosmic Education matches our own ideas about the way we develop the Big History story in Montessori – sensorially at the 3-6 age level, intellectually at the 6-12 level, and practically at the middle/high school level. There are definitely practical implications for students who become aware of the Cosmic Education / Big History story, and those are most appropriately addressed at the middle / high school level. The intellectual acquisition of the overall story at the elementary level may be earlier than envisioned by Big History proponents, but we believe it is appropriate for students this age. Obviously, they can’t acquire as deep and understanding of the story as older students, but they should at least have a firm grasp of the overall story by the time they leave Montessori upper elementary classrooms.
Michael and D’Neil

[Michael Duffy]

I think it is wonderful that a commercial network like Fox is carrying this latest attempt to publicize the story that science has developed about the evolving universe, updating Carl Sagan’s work. The general public needs to be familiar with the broad outlines of this story, and this series should go a long way to achieving that goal with a bigger audience than PBS could provide.
I found the first episode a little disjointed in the way it bounced back and forth in time in huge leaps, working its way back to the Big Bang and then jumping forward to human emergence and back to life in general. And the middle section on the scientific debate within the medieval church was interesting, but a bit overdone, it seemed to me. Perhaps this was meant to be just an overview to introduce a more systematic presentation of the elements of Big History / the Universe Story.
I look forward to future episodes.

[Author]

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