Dr. Maria Montessori (1870-1952)
Presented by: Catharina Gräbe
From “The Founder of The Montessori Method.” North Garland
Montessori School. Retrieved from http://www.northgarlandmontessorischool.com/whatismontessori/drmaria-montessori.htm

Who was Maria
Montessori, and how did her ideas influence education?
Note. From “Maria Montessori,”
2013, Inspire Kids Montessori.
Retrieved from http://www.inspirekidsmontessori.co
m/maria-montessori/

• Born in Italy on August 31, 1870
• Lived in Rome for much of her childhood
• Father – financial manager for a government owned company
• Mother – raised to value education
(American Montessori Society, 2013, Maria Montessori)

• Wished to become an engineer
• Attended a formerly all-boys technical school from the age of 13
• Decided to go to medical school
• Attended the medical program at the
University of Rome
• Graduated in 1896, one of the very first Italian female physicians
(American Montessori Society, 2013, Breaking Barriers)

• Faced great adversity as a female doctor
• Became a voluntary assistant doctor at the
University of Rome Psychiatric Clinic
• Began caring for children in the asylum
• Tried to find ways to educate them by using principles of science
• Studied Jean-Marc-Gaspard Itard (1775-1838) and
Edouard Séguin’s (1812-1880) methods for teaching deaf children
(Thayer-Bacon, 2012, pp. 5-6)

• Appointed as the codirector of the State Orthophrenic School
• Allowed to house children from the asylum in a separate ward
• Used Itard and Séguin’s work to create new teaching methods
• Designed teaching tools that allow children to learn through experiencing the world and using their senses
• Some of the children from the asylum gained literacy skills and scored above average on state exams
(Thayer-Bacon, 2012, p. 6)

• Left the Orthophrenic School in 1901 to further her understanding of learning
• Focused on studying Séguin’s work
• Elected to oversee project to provide daycare for sixty preschool age children from indigent families
(Thayer-Bacon, 2012, pp. 6-7)

• Opened her first school in 1907 to provide a place for the children to spend the day
• Appointed a “directress” instead of a teacher
• Carefully observed children’s behavior
• Children pursued their own interests
• Moved around freely, not forced to sit behind desks
• The children were provided with Montessori’s teaching tools
(Thayer-Bacon, 2012, p. 7)

Note. From “What is Montessori Education?” Beautiful Sun Montessori School, Retrieved from http://www.montessoriaruba.com/montessori

Note. From “Montessori.”
Headstart School. Retrieved from http://headstart.edu.pk/academics/ montessori

Note. From “Having the Right Tools.” Near North Montessori School, 2014, Retrieved from http://www.nnms.org/having-the-right-tools/

• Children elected to play with teaching tools instead of toys
• Continued creating more tools and activities
• Children learned literacy and self-care skills
• Correct environment is essential for learning
• Achieved great success and public admiration
(Thayer-Bacon, 2012, p. 7)

• Teacher education
• Founded schools for indigent children
• Wrote books to document her methods
• The Montessori Method (1909)
• Translated into eleven languages
• Sold out in four days
(Thayer-Bacon, 2012, pp. 7-8)

• 1913 - Began teaching educators from around the world
• 1911 - First American Montessori school
• Anne George
• 12 students
• Wealthy family home in New York
(Thayer-Bacon, 2012, p. 8)

• Mabel Hubbard Bell founded the Montessori
Educational Association in 1913
• Margaret Woodrow Wilson, daughter of
President Woodrow Wilson, served on the board.
• By 1914, nearly 100 schools had adopted the
Montessori method
(Thayer-Bacon, 2012, p. 8)

• At least 22, 000 Montessori schools exist currently
• These schools are found in 110 countries
(American Montessori Society, 2013, Maria Montessori)

Note. From “Freedom of Movement – Liberty within Limits,” montessori4autism, Retrieved from http://montessori4autism.org/iii-ingenuity-of-montessori/montessori-benefits-for-asdstudents/freedom-of-movement-liberty-within-limits/

“So we found that education is not what the teacher gives: education is a natural process spontaneously carried out by the human individual. It is acquired not by listening to words, but by experiences upon the environment. The task of the teacher then becomes not one of talking, but one of preparing a series of motives of cultural activity spread in a specially prepared environment.…and so we found that individual activity is the only means of development: that this is true for the preschool child as well as for the young people in primary and other schools.” (Montessori, 1949, pp. 7-8)

Should all schools implement the selfcorrecting, sensory based methods designed by Dr.
Montessori or are these techniques only applicable in certain situations?
Note. From “The Montessori Classroom - A
Very Montessori Poem,” August 20, 2010,
North American Montessori Center,
Retrieved from http://montessoritraining.blogspot.co
m/2010/08/montessoripoem.html#.UuahjBw8Iy5

Maria Montessori. (2013). American Montessori Society. Retrieved
January 26, 2014, from http://amshq.org/Montessori-
Education/History-of-Montessori-Education/Biography-of-Maria-
Montessori.aspx
Montessori, M. (1949). The absorbent mind. Adyar, Madras, India: The
Theosophical Publishing House. Retrieved from http://www.scribd.com/doc/28033439/The-Absorbent-Mind-
Montessori
Link to Electronic Book: The Absorbent Mind
Thayer-Bacon, B. (2012). Maria Montessori, John Dewey, and William
H. Kilpatrick. Education & Culture, 28(1), 3-20.
Link to Article: “Maria Montessori, John Dewey, and William H. Kilpatrick”