Early Life:
Maria Montessori was born in Chiaravalle, Italy on August
31, 1870. Her family moved to Rome in 1875 because of her father’s work and she
was enrolled in elementary school at six years old in 1876. Later on, at the
age of 13, she enrolled in secondary school and continued on to a institute
called Regio Istituto Tecnico Leonardo da Vinci
at age 16 to study the modern languages and natural sciences. When she
graduated in 1890, Montessori decided to study medicine after she received a
certificate in physics and mathematics. Around this time, it was not the social
norm for a woman to want to pursue a career in medicine and she was discouraged
by the professor of clinical medicine at the University of Rome. However, she
still enrolled in the school and earned her diploma di licenza in 1892. She
qualified for the medical program at the university, yet she received
discrimination because she was a woman. For example, she had to take some
classes alone instead of with the rest of the men. Montessori proved herself by
winning an academic prize in her first year of the medical program, she gained
early clinical experience as she earned a position as a hospital assistant, and
in her last two years, she studied pediatrics and psychiatry. Finally, in 1896,
she graduated as the first Italian woman who became a doctor of medicine from
the University of Rome. In 1901, she went back to the University to study philosophy.
Montessori later died in Noordwijk, Netherlands on May 6, 1952.
Professional Life:
Montessori is known as a physician and an educator,
recognized for the Montessori Method of education. After graduation, she
continued her research at the University’s psychiatric clinic and was accepted
as a voluntary assistant there. She visited asylums in Rome and worked with
children facing forms of mental retardation, illness, or disability. In 1897,
she spoke at a conference at the National Congress of Medicine in Turin and in
1898, she wrote articles about creating special programs and schools for
mentally disabled children. In 1899, she became a councilor for the National
League for the Protection of Retarded Children and was invited to lecture on
special methods of education for such disabled children. While she was studied
theoretical and moral philosophy along with anthropology, she thought of
methods that could educate mentally disabled children, so they could be on the
same level as children without disabilities. She started to develop the “Scientific
Pedagogy.” She published several articles on pedagogy in 1903 and 1904. She was
chosen to lecture in the Pedagogic
School at the University of Rome and her lectures were published as a book
titled Pedagogical Anthropology in
1910.
In 1906, Montessori was offered to care for and educate a
group of children of low-income families
in Rome. The Children’s House actually called Casa dei Bambini began with
enrollment of 50-60 young children between the ages of 2-7. She observed the classroom
work and practices, teaching and care was provided under her guidance, and she began
to form her educational methods. She learned that children who worked
independently reached new levels of autonomy and became self-motivated. A
second Casa dei Bambini was opened in 1907 and in 1909, Montessori held the
first teacher training course using the methods she formed. She described her
observations and published her methods in a book called The Method of Scientific Pedagogy Applied to the
Education of Children in the Children's Houses. Soon she gave up her
medical practice to spend more time in her education work as she developed her notions
and trained more teachers. By 1911, “Montessori education” had been officially
adopted in public schools in Italy, Switzerland, and was planned to spread
towards countries in Asia (China and India), other parts of Europe (Paris and
New Zealand), and to other parts of the world including the United States. The
Montessori Method: Scientific Pedagogy as Applied to Child Education in the
Children's Houses was published and
it was translated to Gujarati and Hindi in India, had Russian, Polish, German,
Spanish, and other editions. In 1913, she supported Alexander Graham and
Mable Bell in founding the Montessori Educational Association, in 1929, she
founded the Association Montessori International and the Montessori Training
Center, both in Holland. In 1939, she opened a center for the Montessori
teaching method in India and in 1947, founded the Montessori Center in London.
She also gave numerous lectures in other parts of the world across 1915 –
1939.
Relevance:
Montessori’s work is known
to be connected to “psychopedagogy,” which is a combination of pedagogy and
psychology. She created educational methods for young children who were
mentally disabled, which linked to developmental psychology. Her observations
expressed her ideas and what she believed to be the major methods on how to
help children get the most out of education. Her major concepts are Auto
Education with Didactic Material, Control of Error, Individualized Education,
and the Montessori environment. The first idea explains that a child develops through
experiences in their environment. The second idea explains that the child has a
chance to be in contact with the materials of learning independently and is
encouraged to learn at his or her own pace. The third concept shows that
Montessori believed that a child’s potential should be the sole concern rather
than the method used to teach the child. Finally, in the last concept, the
child is allowed freedom to interact with his or her environment in any way
they please. Specific exercises and motor training are provided and teachers
are not trained to involve themselves within the activities, rather should allow
the child to become involved on their own. Montessori has established many more
concepts in her theory, but her main point remains the same. She wanted
children to learn individually, she promoted the desire to learn instead of
forcing children to learn, and she believed in a sense of freedom and free
will. A disabled child should not feel like they are incapable of doing what every
other child can.
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