The Conscious Mind: Information is Selected and Absorbed
/The past few weeks we’ve been learning about the Absorbent Mind. This period is broken into two phases. The period from birth to three is known as the Unconscious Mind. This week we move into the stage from ages three to six, known as the Conscious Mind.
While you read this week’s post, picture our Primary Classroom. This classroom is almost completely made up of students going through the Conscious Mind period.
“No one can be free unless he is independent: therefore, the first, active manifestations of the child’s individual liberty must be so guided that through this activity he may arrive at independence.”
Starting Young
Want know a classroom work that hardly ever gets a break? The puzzle maps.
We had a group who visited the US puzzle together daily. They could spend almost all morning at it. And from their workspace, you would frequently hear them singing the “Northern Border” song or the “Western Border” song as they worked.
Think about your knowledge of the 50 States. If you’re like many adults, you probably learned the states and their locations around fourth grade. How well do you remember all the names and their respective locations on a map?
Through repetition and hands-on practice, these 3 - 6-year-olds will absorb not only the states’ locations, but also eventually their respective names and capitals.
And they gain all this by simply and repeatedly putting together a puzzle they love.
The Conscious Worker
This is the Absorbent Mind at work. While 3 - 6 may seem a bit young for a lesson on the United States geography, it’s the age when children can still pick up information with ease.
But now, we’ve entered the Conscious Mind phase. In this phase, a child is more aware of the learning process. While her brain is still absorbent like a sponge, she’s more selective in what she learns.
A child’s interests start to form here, and they begin to drive her new quest for knowledge. This shift demonstrates the shift in the child’s role in her learning. She’s no longer a passive student, but an active one.
Preschool: The Beginning of Conscious Learning
Given that preschools generally begin at age three, it seems there’s a general acceptance of the Conscious Mind theory. The child’s desire to make sense of her environment makes her learning more suited for a classroom environment than during the Unconscious Mind phase.
She wants to put her information in order. There’s more sense and order (from the adult’s point-of-view) to how she learns. In short, by age three, a child more easily fits into a larger learning environment resembling a familiar educational structure.
Additionally, the Sensitive Periods that begin during the Conscious Mind lend themselves to content typically thought of as “school” content. A Conscious Mind child has already absorbed a vast amount of information as previously discussed in the Unconscious Mind. Some of these Sensitive Periods carry over into the Conscious Mind phase as well. (For more on Sensitive Periods, see the chart posted in this post.)
The three big Sensitive Periods that tend to begin (and end) between ages three and six are explained below.
Sensitive Periods Beginning During Conscious Mind
It’s again important to note that Sensitive Periods are sometimes broken or condensed a bit differently. We also respect that each child develops on her own timeframe, but we acknowledge that there are average timetables that can help inform us. This is only meant to give us an idea and a starting point.
Reading (3 - 5.5) A child’s understanding of language now begins to inform her awareness and curiosity of patterns in written language. She’ll begin to associate sounds with symbols. As these symbols and patterns become more recognizable, she will show an interest in deciphering them.
Writing (3.5 - 4.5) There’s some debate as to which Sensitive Period comes first, reading or writing. While it’s most likely that the two happen almost simultaneously, it seems that often an interest in writing can even emerge slightly before reading. This is probably due to the child’s desire to communicate her own thoughts. She realizes the weight that the written word carries, and she’s fascinated by it. Often the Sensitive Period for writing begins before the fine motor skills required to manipulate a pencil are in place. For this reason, the moveable alphabet is a beloved work during this period.
Math (4 - 6) Counting how many pages the story is. Calculating who received more at snack time. Comparing ages or heights. Counting down the days until her birthday. This child is becoming interested in numbers and the reliability and order that they hold. She begins to associate the consistency in quantities and recognize their patterns.
As a child’s learning begins to look more “grown-up”, we adults are again reminded of the importance of our task. Joyfully guiding a child on her quest for knowledge is an exciting way to set the stage for her lifetime of learning ahead.
“It must be remembered that during this period the child is entirely in the care of the adult, because it cannot yet provide for himself, and we adults, if not enlightened by the wisdom of nature or science, will present the greatest obstacles to the life of the child.”