How Did Maria Montessori Influence Early Education

The work of Maria Montessori greatly influenced the field of early education. This paper will include a brief summary of Maria Montessori 's life, a description of her major theories or ideas, and how those ideas impact early education today.

Summary of Her Life

Maria Montessori was born in 1870 in Chiaravalle, Italy and she died in 1952 in the Netherlands at the age of 81, but there were plenty of stops in the years between. Her mother, Renilde Stoppani, was "strong-willed and articulate"; and helped Maria pursue her education although her father, Alessandro Montessori, was "more conservative" and didn 't support that decision (Ashby and Ohrn). At age 13, Maria started at a tech school for engineering (Ashby and Ohrn) because she was something

So when she began thinking about how young children should learn, she had none of the fixed ideas that teachers had." (Pollard)

Schools at the time were not child friendly. Children were expected to not talk, sit up straight, and not ask questions. Maria had other ideas. First, Maria believed that a teacher 's first job was to "release the children 's natural individuality" (Pollard) instead of being "nailed to their seats" (Time). They should be free to use all their senses-sight, smell, taste, touch, and sound (Pollard). Next, teachers needed to peak a child 's interests. To do this, teachers needed to use games and fun, in conjunction with using all of their senses. Doing this would keep the children wanting to learn and also help them retain and recall the knowledge they obtain. Along with this idea, Maria said their learning environment should be more directed at children, " 'with little low windows, little tables, little armchairs, and low cupboards within reach... '" (Time).

Lastly, teachers needed to let children teach themselves. Her theory was that in such an environment, children could "train their senses" (Time). That children that aren 't "force-fed information" would learn "naturally and spontaneously, actually preferring work to play" (Ashby and

And in 1907, the "first official Montessori School" (Ashby and Ohrn) was opened in Rome and she began a "lecture tour, writing, speaking, and giving teacher-training courses" (Ashby and Ohrn). In 1910, Maria 's first book, The Montessori Method, was published and by 1925 there were hundreds of Montessori Schools all over Europe and the U.S. Although here schools were shut down for a while in Italy and Germany by Benito Mussolini "because of her anti-Facist leanings" (Time), Maria continued to travel and spread her idea that " 'You must fight for the rights of the child '"