EN
In 1907, Dr. Maria Montessori, Italy’s first female physician, opened a child-care center in San Leandro, Rome. She had observed the children of the migrant workers who were left to work alone during the daytime; children with very little support or stimulation. Drawing on her previous work experiences, including scientific observations of behaviors and tendencies, Dr. Montessori designed a unique learning environment and materials that fostered the students’ natural desire to learn. She was profoundly influenced by Fredrich Froebel, the inventor of kindergarten, and by Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi, who believed children learned through activity. She also drew inspiration from Itard, Seguin, and Rousseau. The children made gains that exceeded all expectations as well as the learning outcomes of children from affluent backgrounds and learning environments.
Her philosophical approach to the development of young children was very different than the normal perspective of time. Under Mussolini’s reign, she was eventually exiled from her country due to the liberal allowance she gave to the child and moved to India where she began training educators in Montessori Methodology.
News of the success of the Montessori Method sparked the interest of educators worldwide and in the following decades, Montessori schools, for children of all ages, opened on every continent except Antarctica. There are now thousands of Montessori programs dotting the globe, with a philosophy that stems from toddler age to middle school.
The innovative premises that guided Dr. Montessori’s work over 100 years ago are still embraced by Montessori educators today and are continually confirmed by contemporary research: Her insight was far beyond her time.
