Maria Montessori
Maria Montessori was born in Italy on August 31, 1870. She was born to a well-respected family and was expected to grow up to fulfill one of the traditional roles of an Italian woman. Instead, she pursued an advanced degree at the University of Rome and became the first woman physician to graduate in Italy. Her interests drew her to work with children, initially those who were disadvantaged and had special needs.
Because she was a scientist, Montessori’s decisions about working with children were made by observing them first. She was not trained as an educator and thus her decisions were based upon watching children’s actions and what they were attracted to. Through her observations and trial and error, she developed what became known as the Montessori Method of education. It was a radical departure from the norm in Montessori’s own time. She did not place children in restricting environments, but instead designed the environment to meet children’s needs. Tables and chairs were child-sized, and materials were placed on low shelves to be readily accessible to the students. In addition, many of the skills were designed to teach children how to become more independent and do things for themselves.
Montessori continued throughout her life to work for the betterment of the lives of children, founding training centers for teachers and dispersing this method of education throughout the world. During her later years her focus became centered on educating children to promote the principles of peace. Her legacy has been the establishment of Montessori schools around the world, which promote the cause of the child as a citizen of the world.
The Theory of Montessori Education
Montessori philosophy is based on the work of Maria Montessori, who, in the early 20th century, set about to educate children by meeting their developmental needs. Montessori’s experience showed her that children would educate themselves when placed in a beautiful and rich environment that would entice them to manipulate and explore. We call this the Prepared Environment. Through scientific observations she saw that when children are completely focused and learning most easily, they are active.
“Never give more to the eye than to the hand”, she wrote. From this understanding, Maria Montessori created sensorial materials that help the child comprehend the qualities of the universe: varying dimensions, shapes, colors, sounds, etc. She devised math materials to be counted: beads, bars, squares and cubes, among others, and language materials also calling to be touched: letters made of rough sandpaper to be traced, cutout letters to be used in writing. Similarly, she made materials for the active exploration of music, geography, botany, and geometry. The Montessori classrooms are overflowing with beautifully crafted exercises that call to the child and meet the inner needs of the child. The trained adults in the class are called “guides”, as they present lessons to the children, and then let the child take over the learning process.
The Absorbent Mind and Sensitive Periods
Maria Montessori also gave developmental guideposts for working with children. She noted that all children from the ages of 0-6 have an Absorbent Mind. From 0-3, children absorb everything in their environments unconsciously, without any filtering process. From the ages of 3-6, children still have an Absorbent Mind, but it works consciously, absorbing what the child is interested in. Montessori also wrote and taught about Sensitive Periods. Each child has times in the early years when he can learn in a certain way more perfectly and with greater ease than at any other time. There are Sensitive Periods we are aware of from observing them – movement (a baby learning to walk), and language (a toddler learning to talk). The Sensitive Periods of movement and language are extended to age 6, but there are also Sensitive Periods for order, touch, attention to small detail and learning social skills.
