Maria Montessori

Dr. Maria Montessori is the founder of the educational movement bearing her name and operating in schools throughout the world. Her life was dedicated to improving the education of children, starting with the observation that every child spontaneously wants to learn.

Maria Montessori was a true visionary. She became a doctor – in fact, the first female physician in Italy – at a time when most women did not even attend college. After much success as a doctor working with and educating mentally challenged children in a psychiatric clinic, Montessori was put in charge of a state supported school. In 1907 she started "Casa de Bambini", or Children's House, for 50 children, ages two through five, in the slums of Rome.

Through this work, she tested her theory of “spontaneous self-development,” which allows children to develop skills at their own pace through self-directed learning. The function of the teacher in this environment is to provide materials, such as counting beads or geometric puzzles, and act as an adviser and guide. 

Since the school only had one teacher, Dr. Montessori began by showing the older children how to help out with everyday tasks that need to be done to run a classroom. She found even very small children were drawn to the work. Before long, the older children were taking care of the school, assisting their teacher with the preparation and serving of meals and maintaining a spotless environment. Children who had wandered the streets aimlessly began to settle down to long periods of constructive activity. As a group, they changed from street urchins running wild to models of grace and courtesy.

Dr. Montessori's philosophy, which forms the basis for the Montessori method of education, is that children go through a series of "sensitive periods" with "creative moments" when they show spontaneous interest in learning. Rather than force all children to work at a teacher-determined pace, education should capitalize on these natural rhythms, when children have the greatest ability to learn.

The Montessori system is based on a belief in children's creative potential, their natural drive to learn, and their right to be treated as individuals with unique talents and interests. The following are key tenets of the Montessori philosophy:

• Instruction of children in three-year mixed age groups. These groups correspond to the sensitive periods of development (birth to age 3, ages 3-6, ages 6-9, ages 9-12, and ages 12-15).
• Children as competent beings. Children are encouraged to make important decisions for themselves – a key tenet of today’s social/emotional intelligence movement.
• Teacher as Observer. The Montessori teacher’s observation of the child in the prepared environment serves as the basis for ongoing curriculum development and progression.
• Importance of a child-sized, yet realistic, environment. Small, child-sized furniture and “real life” materials create an environment in which children feel competent to produce a self-running children's world.
• Sensitive periods of development. Making the most of naturally occurring periods when children are most receptive to learning provides a focus for class work that is appropriate, stimulating, and motivating to the child. There are sensitive periods for language development, sensorial experimentation and refinement, and social interaction.
• The "absorbent mind.” This refers to the limitless motivation of young children to perfect their skills and understandings as they occur within each sensitive period.
• Hands-on learning. Dr. Montessori’s belief that children learn best by doing was revolutionary at the time but has emerged as one of the most accepted tenets of an effective education today.
• Education of the “whole child.” - Motor abilities are developed along with sensory, emotional, and intellectual capacities.
• The importance of emotions in learning. The link between children's emotional development and their ability to learn is another Montessori concept that is now widely recognized as critical to an effective education.