Dr. Montessori 1870-1952

Association Montessori Internationale

<http://www.montessori-ami.org/>

Dr. Maria Montessori

Born in Italy in 1870, Dr. Maria Montessori was the first woman to practise medicine in Italy, and have graduated from the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Rome in 1896. During her practices, she was in touch with young children and was greatly interested in their development. Through extensive and observant study, she found that children develop their own personalities as they interact with their environment. She also observed the manner in which children learned as they naturally chose and worked with the auto didactic materials she provided.

Her approach to education established on a solid grounding in biology, psychiatry and anthropology. She studied children of all races and cultures in many countries around the world, and later discovered the universality of the laws of human development. She continued her observations throughout her life, widening and deepening her understanding until her death in 1952. Her intense scientific observation of the human beings from birth to maturity allowed her to form a body of philosophical, psychological and pedagogical principles. These, together with a vast range of auto-didactic materials, came to be known as The Montessori Method of Education.

The aims of the Montessori Method of Education:

?              To provide help and support that enables the child to develop a unique personality.

?              To nurture and help him grow up to be a physically-fit and happy child, and become socially and emotionally well adapted.

?              To provide help and support that enables him to develop to his full intellectual capacity.