It is at six years that one may note the beginning of an orientation toward moral questions toward the judgment of acts. The preoccupation belongs to an interior sensitivity, the conscience.
—Maria Montessori
From Childhood to Adolescence, p. 12.
From Childhood to Adolescence, p. 12.
If the first plane of development can be called the “play-age” (Montessori, The Formation of Man), then the second plane of development may be classified as the “age of rules.” In fact, Montessori tells us that “A second side of education at this age concerns the child’s exploration of the moral field.” (Montessori, To Educate the Human Potential, p. 4.) It is during this time that children consciously consider, explore, and question universal morality. This is also the age when children learn about and internalize universal principles of right and wrong.
As elementary-age children begin to pull away from their family’s identity and start to develop their own identity, they also move toward their own understanding of right and wrong.
