- Maria Montessori (1870- 1952)
Maria Montessori was born on August 31, 1870 in Chiaravalle, Italy. Her father was a financial manager for a state-run industry. Her mother was raised in a family that prized education. At the time that Montessori was growing up, Italy held conservative values about women’s roles. From a young age, she consistently broke out of those proscribed gender limitations. After the family moved to Rome, when she was 14, Montessori attended classes at a boys’ technical institute, where she further developed her aptitude for math and her interest in the sciences—particularly biology.
Facing her father’s resistance but armed with her mother’s support, Montessori went on to graduate with high honors from the medical school of the University of Rome in 1896. In so doing, Montessori became the first female doctor in Italy.
As a doctor, Montessori chose pediatrics and psychiatry as her specialties. While teaching at her medical-school alma mater, Montessori treated many poor and working-class children who attended the free clinics there. During that time, she observed that intrinsic intelligence was present in children of all socio-economic backgrounds.
Montessori became the director of the Orthophrenic School for developmentally disabled children in 1900. There she began to extensively research early childhood development and education. - Montessori method
The Montessori Method is an approach to learning which emphasizes active learning, independence, cooperation, and learning in harmony with each child’s unique pace of development.
Montessori saw with the eyes of the heart. She consistently worked to put dignity within reach of every child. As a physician, her heart went out to children considered to be deficient and uneducable. She worked with them using hands-on materials and within one school year, they passed the state exams and surpassed many of their so called normal peers.
The application of these same techniques to normal children proved to unlock previously unseen and unrecognized potential. She saw that children have sponge-like absorbent minds in the first six years and need to be always active. She saw that there were powerful “sensitive periods” in development when certain kinds of learning are easy and natural.
Montessori experimented and created learning materials to facilitate the child’s spontaneous learning. She observed that when left free to choose materials in a carefully prepared environment, each child will select what he needs when he needs it.
She designed an early childhood education program that engages all facets of each child’s development. Her classrooms contain four major avenues of work:
- Practical Life
- Sensorial Development
- Development of Language
- Early Preparation of the Mathematical Mind
