About Maria Montessori:
“The child is both a hope and a promise for mankind.”
Maria Montessori
She was born in 1870 in Ancona, Italy to an educated middle class family. She grew up in a country considered most conservative in its attitude towards women, yet even against the considerable opposition she faced she became the first female pysician in Italy.
When Montessori was appointed Director of the new orthophrenic school attached to the University of Rome, she began her study of children and teaching methods. She set up a program to teach the children how to care for themselves and their environment.
While working in this school Maria Montessori studied the work of two scientists and her discovery led to the cornerstone of her teaching method that we use today. She ignored bad behaviour and rewarded the good. By using their five senses, children were able to build up a picture of the concept of the reality of the world.
She studied her youngsters and slowly she began to get a sense of who they really were and what methods worked best. Two years after she began; many of Montessori’s “deficient” adolescents were able to pass the standard sixth grade tests of the Italian public schools. She was acclaimed for this “miracle”.
She set up more montessori schools around the country and the results surprised her, the children were drawn to the work she introduced. Children who had wandered aimlessly the week before began to settle down to long periods of constructive activity. They were fascinated with the puzzles and perceptual training devices.
Montessori’s children exploded into academics. ‘Children read and do advanced Mathematics in Montessori schools not because we push them, but because this is what they do when given the correct setting and opportunity. To deny them the right to learn because we, as adults, think that they shouldn’t is illogical and typical of the way schools have been run before.
Montessori evolved her method through trial and error, one discovery followed another, giving Montessori an increasingly clear view of the inner mind of the child.
Through the years, many of the puzzles and educational devices now in use at the pre-school and elementary levels are direct copies of Montessori’s original ideas.
During her lifetime, Dr. Montessori was acknowledged as one of the world’s leading educators.
She was born in 1870 in Ancona, Italy to an educated middle class family. She grew up in a country considered most conservative in its attitude towards women, yet even against the considerable opposition she faced she became the first female pysician in Italy.
When Montessori was appointed Director of the new orthophrenic school attached to the University of Rome, she began her study of children and teaching methods. She set up a program to teach the children how to care for themselves and their environment.
While working in this school Maria Montessori studied the work of two scientists and her discovery led to the cornerstone of her teaching method that we use today. She ignored bad behaviour and rewarded the good. By using their five senses, children were able to build up a picture of the concept of the reality of the world.
She studied her youngsters and slowly she began to get a sense of who they really were and what methods worked best. Two years after she began; many of Montessori’s “deficient” adolescents were able to pass the standard sixth grade tests of the Italian public schools. She was acclaimed for this “miracle”.
She set up more montessori schools around the country and the results surprised her, the children were drawn to the work she introduced. Children who had wandered aimlessly the week before began to settle down to long periods of constructive activity. They were fascinated with the puzzles and perceptual training devices.
Montessori’s children exploded into academics. ‘Children read and do advanced Mathematics in Montessori schools not because we push them, but because this is what they do when given the correct setting and opportunity. To deny them the right to learn because we, as adults, think that they shouldn’t is illogical and typical of the way schools have been run before.
Montessori evolved her method through trial and error, one discovery followed another, giving Montessori an increasingly clear view of the inner mind of the child.
Through the years, many of the puzzles and educational devices now in use at the pre-school and elementary levels are direct copies of Montessori’s original ideas.
During her lifetime, Dr. Montessori was acknowledged as one of the world’s leading educators.