Montessori Cosmic Education, The Child’s Discovery of a Global Vision and a Cosmic Task

This small book, 40+ pages, is the first title in the “Brief Montessori Introductions” created for busy parents and other educators. Being aware of the meaning of the concepts “Cosmic Education” and “Cosmic Task” is essential in understanding authentic Montessori practice, at home and in school. It is sometimes overlooked, and begins at birth.

Susan Mayclin Stephenson tackles a large subject, cosmic education, which Montessori defined as a “unifying global and universal view of the past, present and future.” Stephenson takes the reader from birth to the end of the elementary age with examples of how the child grows into an understanding of cosmic education through their experiences at home and at school. Central to her thesis is the theme of discovering one’s cosmic task, which depends on “fostering...curiosity and compassion toward other beings.”
Stephenson concludes with examples from around the world and illustrates how children are born with this tendency toward compassion and how it is experienced from birth within Montessori environments.
—David Kahn, Executive Director Emeritus of the North American Montessori Teachers’ Association (NAMTA)