Cosmic education is at the core of Montessori elementary education. In fact, it is also what Montessori elementary education is as a whole. Cosmic education presents the big picture of everything in the universe first. Once the framework is formed, key lessons are given to the students based on the interests and developmental needs of each and every one of them. Teaching is not practiced by subjects. Instead, the interrelatedness among human beings and everything else in the universe is introduced to the children. Hence, the teacher in a Montessori classroom is the guide for the learning of all subjects.

• Cosmic education builds the framework for learning with five great stories: God with No Hands, The Story of the Coming of Life, The Story of the Coming of Human Beings, The Story of Communication in Signs, and The Story of Numerals.
• The method of language immersion is adopted for the teaching of both the Chinese and English languages at TMIS.
• The power of imagination is a key developmental characteristic in the elementary phase. It is utilized to interest children in their learning of all lessons, including arts, science, geography, and history to help develop their ability to think abstractly.
• No textbooks or workbooks to follow through the whole semester. Our emphasis at TMIS is placed on open-ended and more in-depth study. We encourage the children to collect information and materials on their own. There are encyclopedias, text-only books as well as illustrated guides, timelines, etc. Ready in the environment to help connect the children to what they are researching.
• We discover and assess what the children know and have learned mainly by using two tools: written reports of learning and oral presentations.

The Great Stories are like the prelude of a drama. They broaden the view of the children by drawing up one curtain after another to reveal the wonders of the universe. They send the children’s imagination flying and invite them to explore, seeking the interconnectedness behind everything in the world.

The Great Story 1 – God with No Hands – is the first story told after the school begins at the start of every school year. The guide would inspire the children to imagine how the universe began (including all the elements, matters, laws, etc.) and how the waters and lands on earth were formed.

The Great Story 2 – The Story of the Coming of Life – covers the time before the coming of human beings. It is about the origin and evolvement of various lives before the arrival of human beings with a spotlight on biodiversity and the contribution all the lives have done to our earth.

The Great Story 3 –   The Story of the Coming of Human Beings. Humans are so special because three special gifts were bestowed upon them: wisdom, two hands that can create, and the capacity to love. The story takes the children on an in-depth exploration of the origins of human civilizations and the needs of early humans begin.

The Great Story 4 –  The Story of Communication in Signs. This story reveals humans’ extraordinary capability of making their thoughts reality, introducing written and spoken languages, signs for communication, and inventions in various cultures.

The Great Story 5 – The Story of Numerals – begins with the earliest civilizations when humans back then were only able to count one, two, and bigger than 2. As time went by, mathematical systems were invented and the story ends with the decimal system that is currently still used.

Once the great stories open up the doors to the universe, key lessons help the children continue with their work and interest them for further explorations. What are the key lessons to provide for the children? The guide knows it by observing what makes each child curious and have questions about it. The guide then provides key ideas in a succinct, clear, and precise manner for the child to identify the key to knowledge on their own. This is to help them learn and acquire knowledge independently and keep on moving forward.

Here is the chart of Interdependencies created by Dr. Montessori to help the children understand the world as an interconnected and interrelated system where each and every element affects one another. It starts from the Sun that nourishes everything, moves on to the lithosphere, water, and air, which together give birth to plants and animals. At the end are the humans, who have evolved with the world and now are creating, making use of, and improving the world.

One of our responsibilities is to guide the children to find their own place on this chart so clearly understand that all forms of life and everything that is being done affect other things in the world because of the interconnectedness and interrelatedness among them. Humans are born with tendencies to explore, to order, to abstract, to work, to self-express, to communicate, etc. Cosmic education aims to ensure the development of human tendencies in children so they play independent and responsible roles in this cosmic system. It is the task of the Montessori cosmic education to pursue harmony of the world and human beings.

The Montessori elementary school consists of two age periods: 6-9 years old and 9-12 years old. One advantage of mixing ages is for the children to make progress at their own pace based on what they are able to do. Through observation, the guide accompanies the children to find a learning style most suitable for them in different areas. At TMIS, it is our wish to ignite the passion for learning in the children with a range of challenges offered here every day.

The composition of mixed-age children creates a miniature society where they are given opportunities to develop more sophisticated social skills, such as conflict solving, mutual respect, communication, leadership, and collaboration, which are indispensable soft skills in the future society.