Montessori education is a philosophy with the fundamental tenet that a child learns best within a social environment which supports each child s unique development. Maria Montessori, M.D., the founder and developer of what is called The Montessori Method of Education, based this new education on her scientific observations of young children s behavior. As the first woman physician to graduate from the University of Rome, Montessori became involved with education as a doctor treating children. Then, in 1907, she was invited to open a child care center for the children of desperately poor families in the San Lorenzo slums of Rome.
Children are to be distinctly respected as individuals which differ from one another.
Children create themselves through purposeful activity. The most important years for learning are from birth to age six. 4. Children possess unusual sensitivity and mental powers for absorbing and learning from their environment, which includes people as well as materials. She carried her training throughout the world, including the United States as early as 1912. After an enthusiastic first response, interest in the U.S. waned until a reintroduction of the method in the mid-1950's.