The polarization of attention
Maria Montessori discovered the phenomenon of the polarization of attention thanks to her careful observation of children from first children's home, Casa dei Bambini, in San Lorenzo. In the book "Understanding Montessori" written by Małgorzata Miksza, we will find the following description:
"(...) She once observed a 3-year-old girl completely immersed in the task of matching cylinders to the correct holes in a wooden block. It was a kind of exercise for the senses. "The expression on the child's face testified to such intense concentration that I experienced a revelation," the author wrote in her later works.
Montessori tried to interrupt the child's work, but nothing could distract the girl from her task.
Montessori moved the little girl with her chair to the table and asked the other children to sing a song. But the girl held her work securely on the back of a small wicker chair and continued performing the exercise. Before the child had finished the activity, Montessori counted 44 repetitions. She also noticed that the girl did this independently of Montessori’s inspired distraction. She also showed no signs of fatigue, but “looked around her contentedly, as if she had woken from a peaceful, refreshing sleep.”
The phenomenon of the polarization of attention, as can be easily understood from the above quote from the book, is the maximum concentration and focus of attention in a child. This is the moment when the child changes, becomes calmer and more revealing.