Item 1: | Outline: Expectations and Challenges for RE Teachers | 20% |

Either: 1. Outline Religious Developmental Stages that are likely to be encountered in the Primary school (3-6 years; 6-9 years; 9-12 years). 2. Include some brief suggestions for suitable activities at each level.
To be handed in at the School of Education office by 4.00 p.m. on the due date. An electronic copy should also be sent to the unit coordinator, Gerard.O’Shea@nd.edu.au

Maria Montessori developed three developmental stages within the primary school setting. These stages serve as a guide and help teachers in considering the education approach they need to take. In order for children to achieve each of these stages they need to start with a
Children between the age of six and nine start to make sense of the information they have and start to link it to the ‘big picture’. Children are looking for connections to explain the data they have gathered (O’Shea, 2012, pg. 68). At this stage children have the desire to work independently in the need of mental independence. At this stage students are able to self-correct themselves so that they are able to reason out what they have done wrong and things that they have done right. The children obtain moral reasoning where they have a particular interest in distinguishing things as good and evil or right and wrong (Gobbi, 1998, pg. 87).

At this second stage children are introduced to the interconnectedness of all creation. From here children can explore the beauty and wonder of creation and their responsibility they have towards the world. Here children consider ways to take care of creation. Children need to have a strong understanding of their environment and need to explore the wonder of creation. Teachers can take students for nature walks either around the school, the local park, botanic gardens, rivers or wetlands located within the local area. This will allow the children to explore at the wonders of God’s creation. Children will have the ability to be intrigued by plants, flowers or leaves or they can explore the work of other creatures in the