The Impact of Maria Montessori
Who was Maria Montessori?
Maria Montessori was many things throughout her life. She was a pioneer, an educator, a physician, and most importantly a creative. She is known for her educational method that explores how children learn naturally. She opened the first Montessori school—or Children’s House in Rome on January 6, 1907. The opening of this center changed early childhood education forever.
Maria Montessori was born August 31, 1870 in Italy. Maria grew up in Rome where she enjoyed libraries, museums, and fine schools. She was an excellent student: confident, ambitious and unwilling to be limited by traditional expectations for women. When Maria was 13 she entered an all-boys school to learn about engineering. She went on to graduate from medical school. She was one of Italy’s first female physicians.
In 1907 Maria opened a childcare center for children aged 3-7 in the poor inner-city district of Rome. The children did not have structure at first but Maria observed that they loved working with puzzles, preparing meals, and using the materials Maria had designed. She noticed that the children loved learning and soaked up ideas from their environments. This experience fueled Maria’s passion to improve education. Maria’s designed learning materials and created classroom environments that encourage children’s natural desire to learn. She also gave children the freedom to choose their materials. Her programs thrived which led to Montessori schools thriving.
What is the Maria Montessori educational theory?
Maria Montessori’s educational theory relies on 6 principles: Independence, Observation, Following the Child, Correcting the Child, Prepared Environment and Absorbent Mind.
Independence: The belief is that if a child can do it, they should. Give the child opportunities to complete tasks on their own.
Observation: Watching the child is a way that adults can learn about the child’s needs.
Follow the Child: Do not tell the child what they need to do rather provide them with different choices of materials. There is no need to intervene unless the child becomes destructive and is about to hurt himself or others.
Correcting the Child: When a child makes a mistake, calmly notice the mistake and ask the child to do some practical work with you. For example, if a child spills their milk calmly say “You spilled your milk why don’t we get a cloth and clean it up.”
Prepared Environment: The environment needs to be ready and beautiful, inviting children to do work (some may look at this as play). Rooms should be safe, allow movement, and choice and have child sized materials set up for success.
Absorbent Mind: Children absorb everything in the environment by experiencing it, being part of it.
I feel that this philosophy goes hand in hand with growth mindset and STEM education. Two of the pillars of my practice. Growth mindset is all about children feeling safe so they will take risks and not be afraid to make mistakes. It is important that the teacher becomes the observer and determines what the students’ need based on their actions. The environment is important so students are able to move around and explore. When introduced to a problem in STEM they need to be provided with choices so they can dictate their own learning and provide a strong solution..
How is Maria Montessori impacting early childhood education?
Maria Montessori’s way of teaching is impacting early childhood education in traditional classrooms in 3 major ways. Education is now focusing on whole child development, individualized learning, and integrated instruction. Whole child development is exactly that, addressing the needs of the whole child. We no longer just address academic needs, we also focus on the social-emotional needs of the child. When a child’s emotional needs are being met it is much easier to address their academic needs. Traditional classrooms are now realizing that there is no “one size fits all” curriculum. Instead it is important to take into account learning styles and to embrace student-led learning. Finally, integrated instruction combines subjects and approaches them in a more real-world manner. This increases student confidence and will help to create independent thinkers.
I plan to embrace Maria’s idea of student choice. In my STEM room I feel it is important that students are able to build with materials they are drawn to and come up with unique solutions they are proud of. I will introduce the challenge or activities to my students and then allow them to explore with various resources that will be best suited for them. For example, if my younger elementary students are exploring the idea of height. It is important that they are able to build using resources such as sticks and then compare them to building with blocks, and finally cardboard. These varied observations will give them a solid understanding of materials that are easy to build with and those that might be more of a struggle. My STEM classroom is in a traditional elementary school however I incorporate many of Maria’s ideas into my own practice.
