Maria Montessori
Physician and Educational Innovator
This may sound strange, but Maria Montessori reminds me of Taylor Swift. Stay with me on this… T-Swift’s parents moved from New Jersey to Nashville to support their daughter’s dreams of becoming a musician. Similarly, Maria’s family moved from their home in Chiaravalle, Italy to Rome so that she could get a better education. Montessori grew up in the late 1800s, born to parents that fully supported her desire to learn and felt that it was important, even for girls. In 1896, she became one of the first female doctors in Italy.
Nowadays, we consider the Montessori method to be among the best ways for children to learn. She applied user-centered principles and the scientific method of hypothesis, observation, and iteration to design learning materials and a classroom environment that fostered children’s natural desire to learn and provided them with the freedom to choose their own materials and progress at their own pace. She discovered that children who were placed in an environment where activities were designed to support their natural development had the power to educate themselves.
Maria lectured widely, wrote articles and books, and saw the Montessori method be adopted worldwide. She also campaigned vigorously on behalf of women’s rights, writing and speaking frequently on the need for greater opportunities for women. A world traveler, Montessori continued to refine her teachings until late in her life, including developing her Cosmic Education philosophy while being stuck in India for 7 years during world war II. Cosmic Education describes education as comprehensive, holistic, and purposeful and suggests that humanity might have a “cosmic task” to better the world for future generations.
Powerful Quotes by a Powerful Woman
“Never help a child with a task at which he feels he can succeed.”
“Early childhood education is the key to the betterment of society.”
“The child who concentrates is immensely happy.”
“Children are human beings to whom respect is due, superior to us by reason of their innocence and of the greater possibilities of their future… Let us treat them with all the kindness which we would wish to help to develop in them.”
“Education is a natural process carried out by the child and is not acquired by listening to words but by experiences in the environment.”
