History of Montessori

Montessori Education is a an approach to learning developed by Dr. Maria Montessori and practiced today in thousands of schools on six continents. Montessori education recognizes the unique potential in each child and awakens a child's natural ability to learn and to teach himself.

Maria Montessori

Maria Montessori was herself a unique and remarkable person. Born in rural Italy in 1870, she challenged the medical and educational establishment and became Italy's first woman M.D. in 1896. She began to work with mentally handicapped children, as well as championing the causes of working women and children, and researching human development and education. In 1904, she became the Chair of Anthropology at the University of Rome. During this time, she developed her methods of teaching and observation that became the foundation of her philosophy.

The Secret of Childhood

In 1907, Dr. Montessori was invited to direct a prototype day-care program for 50 impoverished children in a tenement house in Rome. Using materials she had developed in her studies, and a few untrained assistants, she began her work. Here, in the first Casa dei Bambini, or Children's House, she discovered what she later called "the secret of childhood".She found in the children a spontaneous drive to choose freely the work that seemed to meet their needs and an unanticipated ability to concentrate on and repeat their choices. She discovered that they had a wellspring of internal discipline and self-motivation, an innate sense of order, and spontaneous interest in writing, reading, mathematics, and other academic subjects. So remarkable were the changes in these children's behavior and demeanor, that she herself at first did not believe it. But soon it was impossible to deny and the world took notice.