Discusses similarities between Montessori method and optimal experience theory. Considers three conceptual similarities between these educational theories: the child as focal point of human society; the role of deep concentration in learning and the evolution of human nature; and the understanding that social contexts can be designed to promote…

Compares and connects the cosmic awareness emerging in the elementary classroom to adolescent cosmic sensibility embedded in the experience of the Hershey Montessori Farm School. Provides examples of students' poetry to support Montessori's concept of valorization of personality as each individual turns toward maturity. (Author/TJQ)