Dr. Maria Montessori, the creator of what is called “The Montessori Method of Education”, based this new education on her scientific observations of young children’s behavior. Born in Ancona, Italy in 1870, Maria Montessori was to become the first woman to graduate from the University of Rome Medical School. Upon her graduation in 1896, she became involved with education as a doctor treating children. Basing her educational methods on the insights she had gained from Itard and Seguin, she spent the following two years teaching children, preparing materials, taking notes, and reflecting on her observations and work.
In 1907 Dr. Maria Montessori was invited to open a childcare center for the children of desperately poor families in the San Lorenzo slums of Rome. She called it” A Children’s House”. Montessori based the program on her observations that young children learn best in an environment filled with developmentally appropriate materials that provide experiences that contribute to the growth of self-motivated, independent learners. As a result of her intensive studies, and her discovery that children could learn many things that seemed impossible, Maria Montessori devoted her energies to the field of education for the rest of her life.
Montessori’s dynamic theories included such revolutionary premises as:
- Children are to be respected as different from adults and as individuals who are different from one another.
- Children create themselves through purposeful activity.
- Children possess unusual sensitivity and mental powers for absorbing and learning from their environment, which includes people as well as materials.
Dr. Montessori carried her message throughout the world, including the United States. After an enthusiastic first response, interest in the u.s. waned until a reintroduction of the method in the mid-1950’s, followed by the organization of the American Montessori Society in 1960.
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