Maria Montessori: From Marginal to Mainstream Essay

The three levels of obedience are explained by Dr. Maria Montessori after long observations of children of multiple ages in her classroom. She defines the three of obedience as first, an ability to obey, but not all the time. Secondly an ability to obey at all times after developing their own will. Finally being able to obey consistently, moreover to follow another person which the child has deemed superior to them self. Obedience is commonly defined as acting in accordance with the will of another person. She determined that children have an inherent force within them, termed Horme: a vital internal impulse to act upon ones

Maria Montessori was born in Chiaravalle, Italy in 1870. Montessori studied science maths and engineering and later went on to study medicine specializing in paediatrics in 1896, becoming the first female graduate doctor in Rome. Rudolf Steiner on the other hand was born in 1861, nine years before Montessori in Kraljevec, Croatia but later moved to Austria to facilitate Steiner’s father’s work. Steiner was a great thinker, an artist of many kinds, a philosopher and a scientist interested in humanity also known as anthroposophy (Miller, 2010).

He argued that the earliest years of a child’s life are the most important in a Childs education and lay the foundation for all later learning. Young children, he argued, learn best through self-activity, talk and play. (Tovey, 2012).

Education is very important especially in this day and age. What school one attends and how they perceive school to be is a huge factor in one’s life success. There has been research done in the past few years proving that students who receive a Montessori education will prosper academically more so than those who receive a traditional education (Ryniker and Shoho, 2001). Traditional schools typically follow teacher based philosophies and the Montessori education is student centered. On average, children enjoy student based philosophy classrooms. Therefore, they are much more in tuned to what they are learning and that benefits their educational career. Having fun while learning is the key to keeping children engaged.

Maria Montessori and Rudolf Steiner are both known as an educator in early childhood education. Their theories, principles, and beliefs share many similarities. But at the same time, show many differences.

The Montessori method began in the early 1900's by the first female doctor in Italy, Dr. Mary Montessori, as a way of educating mentally disabled children. Her ideas were so successful with these children that she began to apply her understanding of learning to study the potential of normally functioning children (Oalf, 2001). Dr. Montessori's approach to education stresses the importance of learning styles, independence and responsibility.

In Montessori education, the term “normalization” has a specialized meaning. “Normal” does not refer to what is considered to be “typical” or “average” or even “usual”. “Normalization” does not refer to a process of being forced to conform. Instead, Maria Montessori used the terms “normal” and “normalization” to describe a unique process she observed in child development.

“We discovered that education is not something which the teacher does, but that it is a natural process which develops spontaneously in the human being. It is not acquired by listening to words, but in virtue of experiences in which the child acts on his environment. The teacher 's task is not to talk, but to prepare and arrange a series of motives for cultural activity in a special environment made for the child.”

Watching a small child discover how to operate his or her favorite plaything is awe inspiring. The look of wonder at the item as it's carefully chosen from amongst their belongings and studied ever so carefully for each and every nuance. How that little face lights up with each new discovery no matter how large or small. The sounds of delight an even dismay at an unwanted result are beautiful. Consider an educational system that would continue to utilize a child’s natural curiosity, unyielding ingenuity and thirst for knowledge. Montessori education creates that environment for children by allowing them the freedom to not only gain knowledge in a natural progression, but also provide a basis on which to continue to grow no matter where

Maria Montessori was considered ahead of her time. She was born in Chiaravalle, in the province of Ancona, Italy in 1870 to an educated but not wealthy family. Despite her father's wishes and society's conservative ways at the time, she studied science. She was the first female physician in Italy when she graduated medical school in 1896. She worked mostly with the poor because she saw vast potential in them. She was an unselfish person and she traveled Italy speaking of women's rights and child labor law reforms. Not too long after graduating she was chosen to represent Italy in two different women's conferences. They were at Berlin in 1896 and also in London in 1900. Maria was appointed a professor of anthropology at the University of

Dr. Maria Montessori is the creator for the Montessori Education Method for a new world who devoted her life to improve children’s education excellence. Her educational method is widely used in schools or at home for children 3 t0 6 years old. Maria Montessori lived through one of the traumatic time eras of the world history, which changed everybody’s lives including children. It was the time of anxiety, cruelty, death, family separation and children facing starvation. Maria Montessori felt the best solution to overcome endless, war, violence and poverty is education. Therefore, Maria Montessori believed educating the next generation will improve children’s live and future of the

“The mathematic mind is a mind that is especially interested in mathematics. Rather than find them boring and absurd, they find them interesting and absorbing. It is a fact that most children in our Montessori schools manage to achieve great enthusiasm while working with mathematics. Is the preparation of their minds that allows them to reach this pleasure."

Since Florence and her sister did not go to school they were tutored by their father, he taught them mathematics, history, and many different languages, Latin, Greek, German,Italian, and French. He taught them because he could not find a tutor with logical skill and expertise which he demanded constantly. He let a governess teach them only music and drawing.

Maria Montessori, an Italian physician, was born on August 31, 1870, in Chiaravalle, Italy, and died on 6 May 1952, in Noordwijk aan Zee, Netherlands. She was one of the pioneers of theories in early childhood education and her theories are still applied in Montessori schools all over the world. At that time, when Montessori was growing up, Italy had conservative values about women’s role but she consistently broke out of those prescribed gender limitations as she grew younger. When her family moved to Rome, she attended boys’ technical institutions where she developed her mathematics and scientific interests. Despite her father’s resistance but with the support of her mother, Montessori went on to graduate with high honor from the medical

Dr. Maria Montessori was a keen observer of children. She used her observational and experimental proclivities from her medical background to develop, what we might today call, a Constructivist understanding of the process of learning. She studied them scientifically. If she saw some unusual behavior in a child, she would say,”I won’t believe it now, I shall if it happens again”. She studied the conditions in which the children would perform those actions.