ECE 215

MONTESSORI APPROACH TO EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION

PROFESSOR (MRS) R.O OLUBOR

AFE ORITSEMUWAGBEMI TREASURE: EDU2102313

KOLAWOLE PETERS: EDU2102327
Topic 1:BIOGRAPHY OF MARIA MONTESSORI
WHO IS MARIA MONTESSORI?
Maria Tecla Artemisia Montessori was an Italian physician and educator best known for her philosophy
of education and her writing on scientific pedagogy. At an early age, Montessori enrolled in classes at an
all-boys technical school, with hopes of becoming an engineer. She was born on the 31st of August 1870
and died on may 6th 1952
What Is Montessori?
Montessori education is an educational philosophy developed by Italian physician Dr. Maria Montessori
in the early 1900s. It is characterized by multi-age classrooms, specially designed learning materials,
child-led learning, collaboration, the absence of grades and tests, and small group or individual
instructions.
After graduating in medicine from the University of Rome in 1896—the first woman in Italy to do
so—Montessori was appointed assistant doctor at the psychiatric clinic of the University of Rome,
where she became interested in the educational problems of intellectually disabled children in other
words she worked with students who were selected from the asylums or who had been unable to keep up
at state schools.
What is Maria Montessori known for?
Maria Montessori is known for her work as an Italian physician, psychiatrist, and educational reformer.
She is best known for her educational theories of auto-education and for being the first woman to attend
the medical program at the University of Rome.
In 1907, she founded the first Montessori Children’s House (Casa dei Bambini) and served
preschool-aged children in a housing project in Rome.
Within five years, classrooms based on this educational theory sprung up all over the world. Montessori
gave up her career as a doctor and spent the next fifty years developing and refining the system. She also
extended it to children in a higher age group in middle schools. Her methods for adolescents were still in
development when she passed away in 1952 in Noordw.