Introduction to Montessori EducationMontessori (pronounced MON- ••...:.,'tuh-SORE-ee) is acomprehensive educationalapproach from birth toadulthood based on theobservation of children's needsin a variety of cultures allaround the world.

Beginning her work almost acentury ago, Dr. Maria Montessori developed this educational approachbased on her understanding of children's natural. learning tendencies asthey unfold in "prepared environments" for multi-age groups (0-3, 3-6,6-9, 9-12, and 12-14).

The Montessori environment contains specially designed, manipulative "materials fordevelopment" that invite children to engage in learning activities of their own individualchoice. Under the guidance of a trained teacher, children in a Montessori classroom learn bymaking discoveries with the materials, cultivating co ce tra ion, motiva ion, self-discipline,and a love of learning.

Today, Montessori schools are found worldwide, serving children fr m irt t ro ghadolescence. In the United States, there are more than 4,00 priva e Montessori schoolsand more than 200 public schools with Montessori-styled progra s. The Associa ionMontessori Internationale (AMI), founded by Maria Montessori in 1929, maintainsMontessori educational principles and disseminates Montessori education throughout theworld. The American Montessori Society shares these principles as well as the Americanperspective.

Maria Montessori· A Brief BiographyMaria Montessori was, in many ways, ahead of her time. Born in thetown of Chiaravalle, in the province of Ancona, Italy, in 1870, shebecame the first female physician in Italy upon her graduation frommedical school in 1896. Shortly afterwards, she was chosen torepresent Italy at two different women's conferences, in Berlin in 1896and in London in 1900.

In her medical practice, her clinical observations led her to analyzehow children learn, and she concluded that they build themselves fromwhat they find in their environment. Shifting her focus from the body

to the mind, she returned to the university in 1901, this time to study psychology andphilosophy. In 1904, she was made a professor of anthropology atthe University of Rome.

Her desire to help children was so strong, however, that in 1906 shegave up both her university chair and her medical practice to workwith a group of sixty young children of working parents in the SanLorenzo district of Rome. It was there that she founded the first Casadei Bambini, or "Children's House." What ultimately became the

Montessori method of education developed there, based upon Montessori's scientificobservations of these children's almost effortless ability to absorb knowledge from theirsurroundings, as well as their tireless interest in manipulating materials. Every piece ofequipment, every exercise, every method Montessori developed was based on what sheobserved children to do "naturally," by themselves, unassisted by adults.

Children teach themselves. This simple but profound truth inspired Montessori's lifelongpursuit of educational reform, methodology, psychology, teaching, and teacher training-allbased on her dedication to furthering the self-creating process of the child.

Maria Montessori made her first visit to the United States in 1913, the same year thatAlexander Graham Bell and his wife Mabel founded the Montessori Educational Associationat their Washington, DC, home. Among her other strong American supporters were ThomasEdison and Helen Keller.

In 1915, she attracted world attention with her "glass house"schoolroom exhibit at the Panama-Pacific InternationalExhibition in San Francisco. On this second U.S. visit, she alsoconducted a teacher training course and addressed the annualconventions of both the National Education Association and theInternational Kindergarten Union. The committee that broughther to San Francisco included Margaret Wilson, daughter ofU.S. President Woodrow Wilson.

The Spanish government invited her to open a research institute in 1917. In 1919, shebegan a series of teacher training courses in London. In 1922, she was appointed agovernment inspector of schools in her native Italy, but because of her opposition toMussolini's fascism, she was forced to leave Italy in 1934. She traveled to Barcelona, Spain,and was rescued there by a British cruiser in 1936, during the Spanish Civil War. Sheopened the Montessori Training Centre in Laren, Netherlands, in 1938, and founded a seriesof teacher training courses in India in 1939.

In 1940, when India entered World War II, she and her son, Mario Montessori,were interned as enemy aliens, but she was still permitted to conduct trainingcourses. Later, she founded the Montessori Center in London (1947). She wasnominated for the Nobel PeacePrize three times-in 1949, 1950, and 1951.

Maria Montessori died in Noordwijk, Holland, in 1952, but her work lives onthrough the Association Montessori Internationale (AMI), the organization shefounded in Amsterdam, Netherlands, in 1929 to carryon her work.

The Montessori DevelopmentalContinuum

"My vision of the future is no longer people taking exams andproceeding then on that certification ... but of individuals passingfrom one stage of independence to a higher [one], by means oftheir own activity through their own effort of will, whichconstitutes the inner evolution of the individual. "-Maria Montessori, From Childhood to Adolescence

Montessori education is a flow experience; it builds on the continuing self-construction ofthe child-daily, weekly, yearly-for the duration of the program. Although Montessorischools are divided into multi-age classrooms-parent infant (ages 0 to 3), preschool (ages3 to 6), lower and upper elementary (ages 6 to 9 and 9 to 12), and middle school (ages 12to 14)-the prepared environments introduce an uninterrupted series of learning passages,a continuum.

The prepared environments and the role of the teacher in theclassroom distinguish Montessori from other educational approaches.For example, independent activity constitutes about 80% of the workwhile teacher-directed activity accounts for the remaining 20%. Thereverse percentages are generally true for traditional education. Thespecial environments enable children to perform various tasks which

~ induce thinking about relationships. The prepared environment alsooffers practical occasions for introducing social relationships through free interaction. Thelogical, sequential nature of the environment provides orderly structures that gUidediscovery: Theorems are discovered, not presented; spelling rules are derived throughrecognition of patterns, not merely memorized. Every aspect of the curriculum involvescreative invention and careful, thoughtful analysis. In viewing learning outcomes at eachMontessori level, it must be emphasized that why and how students arrive at what theyknow is just as important as what they know.

;., The prepared environments described in this section, along with theirphysical dimensions, desired outcomes, and documented results,carefully reflect the natural learning characteristics of the child ateach stage of development. In Maria Montessori's metaphoricallanguage, "the successive levels of education must conform to thesuccessive personalities of the child."

Common Misconceptions aboutMontessori Education1. Montessori is just for preschool children.

While the majority of Montessori schools in the United States arepreschools, Montessori programs exist at age levels from birth tofourteen.

2. Montessori is just for special learners-the gifted or the learning-disabled.

The methods used in Montessori schools are highly effective withboth learning-disabled and gifted leam~rs; the reason for theireffectiveness, however, is that the learning environments have beendesigned to ensure success for all children.

3. Montessori schools are religious.

Many private American Montessori schools do have a religious orientation because it is sucha common practice in America for private schools to have religious support. But Montessoriitself is not religiously oriented and finds itself quite at home in public settings wherereligious instruction is inappropriate.

4. Montessori is only for the rich.

This misconception is due to the fact that the American Montessori movement that began inthe 1950s was primarily a private preschool movement, supported by tuition. Now,however, Montessori education is available at approximately 200 public schools in the U.S.in addition to about 4,000 private schools.

5. Children in Montessori classrooms are relativelyunsupervised and can "do whatever they want."

Montessori is based on the principle of free choice of purposeful activity. If the child is beingdestructive or is using materials in an aimless way, the teacher will intervene and gently re-direct the child either to more appropriate materials or to a more appropriate use of thematerial.

Montessori is part of the educational mainstream, as evidenced by growing numbers ofgraduate-level programs in Montessori education (such as those at Cleveland StateUniversity and New York University) and the increasing popularity of Montessori in thepublic schools.

Although the teacher is careful to make clear the specific purpose ofeach material and to present activities in a clear, step-by-step order,the child is free to choose from a vast array of activities and todiscover new possibilities.

8. Montessori is against fantasy; therefore, itstifles creativity.

The fact is that the freedom of the prepared environment encouragescreative approaches to problem-solving. And while teacher-directedfantasy is discouraged, fantasy play initiated by the child is viewed as healthy and purposeful.

In addition, art and music activities are integral parts of theMontessori classroom.

9. Montessori classrooms push childrentoo far too fast.

Central to the Montessori philosophy is the idea of allowingeach child to develop at his or her own, individual pace. The"miracle" stories of Montessori children far ahead of

'~ traditional expectations for their age level reflect not artificial, .~~ acceleration but the possibilities open when children are

allowed to learn at their own pace in a scientifically prepared environment.

While appropriate changes have been made to the original Montessori curriculum (includingthe introduction of computers and modifications to the Practical Life exercises to keep themculturally relevant), the basic pedagogy has not changed much since Dr. Montessori'slifetime. Contemporary research and evaluation, however, seem to be confirmingMontessori's insights.