Profile Maria Montessori

Born On: August 31, 1870
Born In: Chiaravalle (Ancona), Italy
Died On: May 6, 1952
Career: Physician, Educator
Nationality: Italian



Educational Philosophy:
Maria Montessori was profoundly influenced by Fredrich Froebel, the inventor of kindergarten, and by Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi, who believed that children learned through activity. She also drew inspiration from Itard, Seguin and Rousseau. She enhanced their approaches by adding her own deeply felt belief that we must follow the child. One does not teach children, but rather creates a nurturing climate in which children can teach themselves through creative activity and exploration.

Methodology:
Maria Montessori wrote over a dozen books.The most well known are the Montessori Method (1916) and The Absorbent Mind (1949). Dr. Montessori taught that placing children in a stimulating environment, e.g., the Children's House, will encourage learning. She saw the traditional teacher as a 'keeper of the environment' who was there mainly to facilitate the children's self-conducted learning process. She did not permit any form of corporal punishment or demeaning behavior in her class rooms.

Death
Maria Montessori died in e Noordwijk aan Zee in Holland in 1952 at the age of eighty-one. Dr. Maria Montessori left us but her work continues to lives on through the Association Montessori Internationale (AMI), the organization founded by her in Amsterdam, Netherlands, in 1929.

Timeline
1870: Born in Chiaravalle (Ancona), Italy
1886: Graduated from technical school
1886: Studied modern languages and natural sciences in the Regio Institute Tecnio Leonardo da Vinci
1896: Became Doctor of Medicine
1896-1906:    Held a chair in Hygiene at a Women's College in Rome
1898: Addressed a Pedagogical Conference in Turin - stressed on the benefits of Education to defective children
1901: Enrollment in the University of Rome as a student of Psychology and Philosophy
1904: Professor of Anthropology in the University of Rome. Her first major publication -"Pedagogical Anthropology"
1919: The first official visit to London. She was given a royal reception.
1922: Dr. Montessori appointed the Inspector of schools by the Italian Government.
1929: Founded the Association Montessori International in Amsterdam
1932: International Montessori Congress in Europe
1947: Reestablishment of the Opera Montessori in Rome, Italy
1952: Dr. Montessori passes away. Interred at Noordwijk-aan-Zee in The Netherlands