Sensory Knowledge
Today I will allow my senses to awaken and sharpen in their ability to take in this magical world that surrounds me. I will learn with my senses. The opposite, I imagine, will also happen; through my senses I will come to touch, see, feel and smell the life around me that is alive with spirit. I am a sensual being. To denigrate my senses, to ignore or deny them is to block off an important connection with soul. My senses give me a way to experience the mystery.
My senses are alive with spirit.Pestalozzi's first principle was that children should be taught to observe (anschauen). The import of this word, however, did not suggest merely "looking": for him it included observing intently with each sense. Each object should be handled, smelled. tasted, listened to. and looked at from a variety of angles. One should be given the name of a thing only after all its properties that the senses can record have been absorbed. Slowly these sense impressions should be increased to include the many objects in the child's environment.
Joan M. Erickson
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