100 years ago, Italy's first female physician, Dr. Maria Montessori, inspired the birth of a worldwide educational movement. She combined sensory-rich environments and hands-on experiential techniques in the hopes of reaching underprivileged children. Within two years, the children were able to pass Italy’s standardized public school tests. More importantly, Montessori’s innovative practices had elicited positive learning behaviors from children previously left behind by society.
Dr. Montessori continued shaping her learning model by opening a “children’s house” for pre-school children living in the slums of San Lorenzo. She observed how young people learned best when engaged in purposeful activity rather than simply being fed information. Dr. Montessori’s pioneering work created a blueprint for nurturing all children –learning disabled to gifted—to become the self-motivated, independent and life-long learners. Since that time, Dr. Montessori’s philosophy, materials and practices have spread around the globe and have been implemented in a variety of cultural settings.
Today, Dr. Montessori’s visionary ideas flourish as the cornerstone of a thriving educational practice. There are thousands of Montessori schools in the U.S. alone, including programs in public and charter schools, where the interest in enrollment often results in long waiting lists.
As more and more schools incorporated core elements of her model—multi-age classrooms, early childhood education— Montessori became widely recognized as being ahead of her time. Remarkably, her visionary ideas remain viable concepts that have profoundly influenced the entire educational landscape.
This information was furnished by The American Montessori Society, and has been shortened. The American Montessori Society (AMS) is a non-profit education society founded in 1960, whose purpose is to help children develop their potential through the educational principles of Dr. Maria Montessori. Read the full text at http://www.amshq.org/montessori_history.htm.
Multi-age Groupings:
Classes consist of children ages 3-6.
Community learning; older children re-enforce their own skills by helping the younger children.
Younger children are less reliant on teachers.
Teachers have more time to give lessons on new materials.
Self-directed Activities:
Children are free to choose their own activities.
Materials are self-correcting; children must find the correct answer by using a different approach.
Children may choose new work when they are ready.
3-Hour Work Period:
Children work uninterrupted, spending as much or as little time on an activity as they wish.
Children become very involved in activities when they experience success, or when they are challenged. They are not drawn away from their tasks by the changing of group activities.
Continuity of Program:
Students attend school 5 mornings per week, establishing routine and structure to their lives.
20 hours per week allows for maximum benefit of classroom work and greater retention of what is being learned.
Materials are designed specifically for the Montessori classroom. These include manipulatives in math, language, practical life and sensorial discoveries, as well as geography, nature and cultural activities.
100 years ago, Italy's first female physician, Dr. Maria Montessori, inspired the birth of a worldwide educational movement. She combined sensory-rich environments and hands-on experiential techniques in the hopes of reaching underprivileged children. Within two years, the children were able to pass Italy’s standardized public school tests. More importantly, Montessori’s innovative practices had elicited positive learning behaviors from children previously left behind by society.
