The Early Years
Maria Montessori was born in 1870. By the age of thirty, she has already received the first medical doctorate awarded to a woman in Italy, had a successful private practice, worked at a hospital, conducted research at a psychiatric clinic, and had represented her country at an international Woman’s Congress.
Discovering Sensory Education
It was during her work at the psychiatric clinic that she came across her first students. She worked with young mentally handicapped children and developed a method of training their senses. She was so successful that many of these children were able to pass the state administered exams for the primary grades, the highest level reached by the majority of the Italian population at that time. While the press and her supporters marveled at her success, Montessori was aghast at the thought of the terrible conditions that must exist in public schools which stifled the intellect of so many ‘normal’ children that they were held back to the level that her institutionalized students were able to rise to. Montessori went on to become an authority on education of the mentally handicapped.
The First Children’s House
It was not until a few years later, in 1907, that she had an opportunity to work children of average intellectual ability. She was asked to operate a childcare center for a housing project in Rome. She called it the Casa dei Bambini or Children’s House. Within a year, her results were so impressive that news of her school spread around the world.
Until her death in 1952, she spent her time training teachers and further developing her educational approach. Since 1929 there have been Montessori schools on all inhabited continents. The number of Montessori schools has begun to increase rapidly as recent educational and psychological research has discovered more and more evidence in support of Montessori’s theories.
Montessori’s Contributions
(Adapted from Maria Montessori
“Maria Montessori passes the test for the real innovator- many of her ideas have become part of our common language of discourse about the subject of educating the young.”
Her contributions include:
• The concept that children learn through play; educational toys
• Child sized furniture and materials
• The open or un-graded classroom and individually paced instruction
• The significance of early stimulation and experiences
• The idea that imposing immobility and silence hampers learning
• The concept of sensitive or critical periods
• The idea that school must be a part of the community and involve parents if education is to be effective.
Read more about the Montessori Philosophy and the Montessori Curriculum
