Maria wanted to become an engineer; and at thirteen, despite her father’s protests, she became a student in a technical school. After completing technical school she refused to become a teacher, which was the only acceptable profession for young ladies at that time. She started studying mathematics, physics, and natural science at the University of Rome. Biology became one her favorite subjects, and she decided to study medicine. Although her father disapproved of her career choices, he accompanied her to and from her classes. “It was then considered neither proper nor safe for an attractive young lady to appear alone in public.” (Hainstock, p. 10)

Maria encountered and overcame many obstacles in an all-male field. “Propriety dictated that she dissect a cadaver alone, rather than with her male peers, and she often worked in isolation from the rest of her class.” (Hainstock, p.10). In the last two years she studied pediatrics. She was one of the highest-ranking students in her class and became the first female doctor in Italy in 1886.

She started working as a “children’s” doctor at the University of Rome and later as professor. She was invited to the International Women’s Congress held in Berlin, where she spoke on behalf of the Italian women. “This was the first of many international lectures given by Montessori: speaking about women’s rights, social and political concerns, child development and about educational philosophy.” (Highland Manor Montessori Academy web site)

Dr. Montessori visited Rome’s hospitals for “defective” children to assess if the university clinic could help some of them. She observed these mentally ill children and reflected upon their condition. This made her more determined to help these children. Montessori was more and more convinced that mental deficiency was not a medical problem but a pedagogical problem. “She came to believe that, with special educational treatment, their mental condition could be immensely ameliorated, a view she found to be shared by the French doctors Jean Itard and Edouard Seguin, and few others.” (Standing, p. 10)

Jean-Marc-Itard (1775-1838), who was a physician at the institution for deaf mutes, had become famous for his work with “Victor,” the “Wild boy of Aveyron.” Many thought that Victor was uneducable, but Itard started to teach him language and manners. “He believed that observation was just as important in education as in the treatment of the sick, and that the mind developed through the actions of the senses.” (Hainstock, p. 10)

Edouard Seguin (1812-1880), a student of Itard, had developed a series of exercises to help the retarded students’ motor skills. Both Sequin and Itard were influenced by the ideas of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, “who believed in training all the child’s senses as tools to be used for education. For Rousseau, the key to learning within each individual child, the concrete was always the best place to start.” (Hainstock, p. 10)

Johann Pestalozzi of Switzerland, who was a follower of Rousseau, believed that “the senses should be trained through successive stages of learning by formal exercises, progressing from the simple to the more complex.” (Hainstock, p. 11)

Friederich Froebel of Germany improved on Pestalozzi’s ideas and, based on Rousseau’s concepts, he added his own theories. In 1837, Froebel established “the school for very young known as a Kindergarten, the concept being that in it children grow like flowers.” (Hainstock) Froebel believed that play, as self-activity, was an important part of the development in early childhood.

Rousseau, Pestalozzi, and Froebel believed in the innate potential of children and their ability to develop along their natural lines through proper direction and guidance. Montessori studied their work “diligently and was deeply influenced, incorporating their ideas into her own developing and expanding theories.” (Hainstock).

Montessori was especially “interested in the idiot children.” She noted, “I became conversant with a special method of education devised for these unhappy little ones by Edward Seguin.” (Montessori, p. 31) She thoroughly studied the idea and gave lectures to her colleagues about the efficacy of “pedagogical treatment” of handicapped children.

In 1898, Dr. Montessori was appointed as the director of the State Orthophrenic School, where she was actively involved with the children. The classes were composed of twenty-two children. “I was more than an elementary teacher, for I was present, or directly taught the children, from eight in the morning to seven in the evening without interruption.” (Montessori, p. 32) In addition to using exercises devised by Seguin, Montessori was motivated to devise materials of her own to help her children. “To everyone’s astonishment many of these children not only learned to read and write but, in state examinations at least, equaled their peers in the regular school system.” (Lillard, p. 8) The same school system had labeled these students as “uneducable.”

The success with the children in Orthophrenic School inspired Montessori to continue her quest as an educator. She writes:

I became convinced that similar methods applied to normal children would develop or set free their personality in a marvelous and surprising way.

It was then that I began a genuine and thorough study of what is known as remedial pedagogy, and, then, wishing to undertake the study of normal pedagogy and of the principles upon which it is based, I registered as a student of philosophy at the University. A great faith animated me, and although I did not know that I should ever be able to test the truth of my idea, I gave up every other occupation to deepen and broaden its conception. It was almost as if I prepared myself for an unknown mission. (Montessori, p.32)

In 1901, Dr. Montessori resigned from the Orthophrenic School to continue her education in the area of psychology and philosophy at the University of Rome.

Casa dei Bambini - Home of Children
In 1907, Maria Montessori established the first Montessori school. She was in charge of caring for and educating fifty children, ages three to six years old who lived in the slum district of San Lorenzo. She used the methods and materials that she had previously used to treat and educate the mentally ill children at the Orthophrenic School. She allowed the children to work and play with the materials. The fundamental principle of her pedagogy was the “liberty of the pupil; – such liberty as shall permit a development of individual, spontaneous manifestations of the child's nature.” (Montessori, p.28) Montessori believed that education could not be given to students, but that the students will learn when given the liberty to learn as she is quoted on the International Montessori Index web site:

Scientific observation has established that education is not what the teacher gives; education is a natural process spontaneously carried out by the human individual, and is acquired not by listening to words but by experiences upon the environment. The task of the teacher becomes that of preparing a series of motives of cultural activity, spread over a specially prepared environment, and then refraining from obtrusive interference. Human teachers can only help the great work that is being done, as servants help the master. Doing so, they will be witnesses to the unfolding of the human soul and to the rising of a New Man who will not be a victim of events, but will have the clarity of vision to direct and shape the future of human society.

The fundamental premises of Montessori education are:
• Respect for the child. Children are different from adults and are different from each other. “The educator must be as one inspired by a deep worship of life, and must, through this reverence, respect, while he observes with human interest, the development of the child life.” (Montessori, p. 104)
• The unusual sensitivity of children allows them to learn from the environment.
• The fist six years are the most important years of a child’s life, when unconscious learning is gradually brought to the conscious level.

The main aspiration of a Montessori school is to accommodate a thoroughly planned, stimulating environment, which will help the child form a solid foundation for creative learning. (MontessoriConnections web site) The specific goals are:

• Developing a positive attitude toward school: Learning activities are student-centered and individualized. Each child picks and chooses a learning task that appeals to him and works at his own pace. A task could be repeated until success is achieved, which builds a positive attitude towards learning.

• Helping each child to develop self-confidence: Tasks are designed so that each new step is built on the previous step and on what the child has learned. This ensures the success of completion, which in turn builds a child’s self-confidence.

• Assisting each child in building a habit of concentration: Through carefully designed individualized activities children stay focused and learn to extend their attention.

• Foster lasting curiosity: Children are provided with opportunities to discover new situations and things. Curiosity is one of the most important elements in learning.

• Developing habits of initiative and persistence: The materials are carefully chosen and designed for activities, which are geared towards a child’s inner needs. The child learns to initiate an activity, which in turn is an essential quality of leadership.

• Fostering inner security and sense of order in the child: Montessori classes are decorated and designed in such a way that it instills a sense of security and neatness in the child. Everything has its place and things are picked up and put in their own places.
Some characteristics of Montessori education:
• The Montessori method always starts with the concrete and moves towards the abstract.

• Never do for a child what he is capable of doing for himself.

• All children learn at a different pace.

• From the ages of three to six, the child feels and shows preferences for the type of stimuli needed to refine and integrate the basic abilities created from ages birth to three.
• The materials are geared to the child's need to learn through movement -because it is movement that starts the intellect working.

• Each child will approach activities differently, and the children are allowed to proceed at their own pace.

• In the Montessori method, the teacher does not "teach" as such. Of course the children learn facts, but also, more importantly, the teacher helps them to learn how to learn.

• Education does not need to be imposed on a child. Given a learning environment, he will be free to act and develop himself along the lines of his own inner direction.

The news about the success of the Casa dei Bambini (Home of Children) traveled fast around the world. In 1912, in America, writer Dorothy Canfield publishes A Montessori Mother, which simplified the philosophy and appealed to parents. The first international teacher-training classes were held in Italy in 1913. (Hainstock) Many of these students became Montessori’s followers and established Montessori schools in their respective countries. In 1913, there were over one hundred Montessori schools in the United States and the Montessori Educational Association (MEA) was established in the United Sates.

The Montessori Educational Association invited Dr. Montessori to the United States. In 1915, she set up a model classroom to conduct her third international training course in the Panama Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco. Montessori’s success far surpassed her sponsors’ expectations. “Not only was vandalism prevented, but these children, three to seven years old, became avid pupils … they learned cleanliness, manners, … became acquainted with animals and plants and with the manual art.” (Hunt, p. xi)

There was a sudden explosion of interest in Montessori schools in America. But this interest subsided as quickly. In 1916, Mrs. Alexander Graham Bell, who was the founder of Montessori Educational Association, with Margaret Woodrow Wilson, (President Woodrow Wilson’s daughter) the trustee of MEA, dissolved the Association. “Interest in the method had waned, due to differing educational philosophies in the United States and to the inability to accept changes and the Dottoressa [Female doctor in Italian. She was often referred to as Dottoressa] herself left the United States in 1918, never to return.” (Hainstock, p. 16)

Why did the interest subside so rapidly?

Unfortunately, Montessori had Professor William Heard Kilpatrick as an opponent. Kilpatrick was one of most renowned professors at Columbia University’s Teacher College; where he was known as “million-dollar professor”. In 1913, he delivered a lecture before the International Kindergarten Union. He argued that, except for her House of Children, Montessori’s ideas were not new. He also stressed that she belonged to Rousseau-Pestalozzi-Froebel “tradition with beliefs in the educational process as an unfolding of what was present at birth, and in liberty as a necessary condition for this unfolding in faculties of the mind and in sense-training.” (Hunt, p. xviii) He contrasted this idea with the one of Dewey, who “believed in developing the intellect late in childhood, for fear that it might stifle other aspects of development.” (Enright, online document)

One can make this comparison in another way. Montessori was reforming pedagogy and basing her innovations on her own clinical observations of children, first those mentally retarded and then those culturally deprived who participated in the House of Children. Dewey (1897), on the other hand, was attempting to foster social reform in the schools, and he based his attempt, … on the reformed Darwinism of Lester F. Ward and Albion Small, to be contrasted with the conservative Darwinism of Herbert Spencer and Herbert Graham Sumner. Dewey’s approach was part that progressive movement in post-Civil War America that reached its peak during the 1890’s. (Hunt, xix)

In 1914, Kilpatrick published The Montessori System Examined, a small but widely circulated book, which delivered the decisive blows to the enthusiasm for Montessori’s work in the United States.

Montessori schools continued to flourish in Europe, India, and South America. Dr. Montessori enjoyed the support of Sigmund and Anna Freud, Gandhi, Piaget. Hitler and Mussolini were interested in the method “as adaptable to mass education, a means of creating a new social order through the education of infants.” (Hainstock) Dr. Montessori and her followers refused to accept fascist doctrine, which resulted in closure of Montessori schools in Germany in 1935, and in Italy in 1936. All Montessori materials were burned in Germany and in Italy. Dr. Montessori fled to Spain, until Franco came to power and she had to flee to England. Dr. Montessori died on May 6, 1952, in Holland.

Montessori Today
In the United Sates the views of Kilpatrick and John Dewey dominated the educational community. Montessori’s name was a historical fact. Nancy McCormick Rambusch is responsible for Montessori’s revival and its subsequent flourishing. In early 1950s, Mrs. Rambusch took a Montessori training course in London, England. When she returned to the United States, she established a Montessori school in her home. In 1958 she opened the Whitby School in Connecticut, and with the ensuing publicity and devotion, the Montessori movement was reborn. (Hainstock) The second Montessori movement started with a number of private schools which were serving mainly the middle-class population. There was a shortage of Montessori teachers. Private, independent Montessori teacher-training schools were opened. “In the late 1960s, parents in several school districts began to appeal to public schools to offer the Montessori model for elementary school children who had graduated from private Montessori preschools.” (Chattin-McNichols, 1992) In the early 1990s, there were over 100 U.S. school districts that had some type of Montessori program.

There is no doubt that the Montessori method is one of the best educational methods because it leads to “the development of autonomous, competent, responsible, adaptive citizens – life-long learners and problems-solvers.” (Barron, p.268) So, why are the Montessori schools scarce? Chattin-McNichols (1992) points to two major problems: 1) admission criteria in public schools, and 2) scarcity of teachers.

The admission requirements for some of the public schools that implement Montessori programs are that children must have a Montessori preschool experience.

According to Chattin-McNichols’ research (1992), 16 of 57 schools charged tuition for some of the program. Two-thirds of the districts had hired additional staff in the Montessori magnet schools, which adds to the overall costs of the Montessori programs.
Barron (1992) indicates that educating teachers in this comprehensive, integrated approach is resource and time intensive. The pre-service and in-service workshops are not extensive enough. The American Montessori Society teacher education program requires more than 300 academic (contact) hours and a full year internship, where the teachers will:
1. Learn how to design and work with a wide array of materials. Some of these materials are available commercially, but it is important that they know how to design some of the materials themselves depending on the situation.
2. Learn about development.
3. Complete detailed, extensive resource manuals.
Extreme attention is paid to the internship phase, where the student teacher works under the guidance of a master teacher to learn how to assess children’s knowledge, how children construe information, and how to conform instruction to students’ individual needs. “This teacher training model empowers teachers as true facilitators in the teaching/learning experience, and it is costly. I wonder if we as a society are willing to pay this cost. Do we have a choice?” (Barron, p. 277)

Regardless of these difficulties with the implementation, “research indicates that Montessori is a popular alternative to traditional public school education and is successful in terms of achievement.” (Chattin-McNichols, 1992)

Montessori and Constructivism
This is a topic of an elaborate discussion, going beyond the intent of this paper, but it is important to note that constructivists support Montessori for the following reasons.

Traditional education involves the simple transmission of knowledge. Its aim is to disseminate a mass of predetermined knowledge and skills, to distribute it in small portions and chronologically ordered.
Constructivists argue that the aim of education should include the development of problem-solving and higher order thinking skills which are the essential tools in later life and form an important part of the student’s “knowledge construct.” To put it differently both the Montessorian school of thought and constructivism believe that formal education should also contribute to the personal development of students, rather than solely focusing on the intellectual development, important though this may be. (Dobozy, 1999)

Piaget admired Montessori’s early work. “He praised her understanding of the use of concrete materials as an element in fostering children’s intellectual development.” (Barron, p. 103) Later, Piaget criticized her followers in how they used the didactic material in prescribed ways.

Margaret Loeffler suggests that there are many well-defined and implemented educational practices in the Montessori method that also can be labeled as constructivist methods. However, a discussion of these must be addressed in future papers.

Montessori Schools and Computers
Davina Armstrong reveals that computers are used in a variety of ways in Montessori classrooms. Her research has produced arguments that are for and against using computers. She cites one of the articles advocating the use of the Internet in Montessori classrooms, which states that “the World Wide Web can support the constructivist learning process as a research tool, allowing children to formulate and then find the answers.” (Armstrong, 1999) Newsgroups are another source of information. Yet another advantage of the Internet technology is that Montessori students can communicate with a much larger variety of people than before the Internet. Video conferencing gives the students the ability to interact with their peers across the world and to exchange ideas.

Some articles oppose the use of computers in Montessori classrooms. “Turner wonders whether computers in the classroom are to learn about, through, or by way of. She sees computer-assisted instruction as an attempt to have computers program the child.” (Armstrong, 1999)

Armstrong divides the use of computers in Montessori classrooms into three categories: “those that work well in the Montessori environment, those that have some redeeming value, and those that have none.” She lists some computers programs that have “no place” in Montessori classrooms. MathBlaster is the most frequent game that appears in this category, for it advocates violence. The majority of computer applications that are used in Montessori classrooms fall in the mediocre category – drill programs and phonics application. “Word processing, drawing programs are great, and students are using them to create stories and pictures.” Excellent utilization of computers in Montessori classrooms is the use of Logo/MicroWorlds, “Kid’s Space” and research.

Theodore Frick, of Indiana University Bloomington, has taught computer technology in education for over 25 years. He believes that “technology is a means, not an end in education.” He also believes that technology is best used in education for teaching and learning activities that are not possible without it.

My wife, Kathy, is a Montessori teacher of young children, ages 3 to 6 years. As you may know, Montessori learning materials and methods have been available for nearly a century, and consist of many simple, cost-effective instructional technologies which existed long before, computers were invented. For example, when students build the pink tower or do the graduated cylinder work, they learn mathematical concepts of volume and cardinal order. Kathy does not use computers for these kinds of learning activities which are done much more cost-effectively with simpler instructional technology (wooden objects). However, she does use computers for students to learn elementary programming concepts with Logo, or to do music composition. These learning activities would be difficult and impractical without a computer to mediate them. (Frick, 1997)

As for traditional classroom students, it is equally important for Montessori students to learn not from technology, but with technology.

Conclusion

Children learn best by constructing their own knowledge. They learn better from each other. Learning best occurs when the teacher does not “teach,” but guides the students and facilitates the learning process by creating a productive environment in which the students can discover, explore, and build an artifact. David Jonassen argues that meaningful learning will occur when technologies engage learners in:
• Knowledge construction, not reproduction
• Conversation, not reception
• Articulation, not repetition
• Collaboration, not competition
• Reflection, not prescription
(Jonassen, p. 15)

The above five points are true not only when technology is used but they are true in general. Montessori had said the same thing over one hundred years ago. Montessori’s carefully prepared learning environment, and the freedom of the child, “coupled with interesting manipulable objects as stimulation for activity, and a three-year age span for social and intellectual collaboration and challenge - provides and ideal setting the for child’s self-construction process.” (Barron, p. 102)

Armstrong, D., (1999). Integration of Computers into Montessori Curriculum.
Retrieved on 5/2/2003, from:
http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~jfc/hcc/courseF99/projects/armstrong.pdf

Barron, M., (1992). Montessori in Contemporary American Culture, Heinemann, Portsmouth, NH

Chattin-McNichols, J., (1992). Montessori Programs in Public Schools, ERIC Clearinghouse on Elementary and Early Childhood Education, Urbana, IL

Corem, R. C. (1974) Montessori: Her Method and the Movement, Capricorn Books, G. P. Putnam’s Sons, New York

Dobozy, Eva. (1999). Constructivist and Montessorian persectives on student autonomy and freedom. Paper submitted to Western Australian Institute for Educational Research Forum 1999. Retrieved 5/10/2003, from
http://education.curtin.edu.au/waier/forums/1999/dobozy.html

Enright, M. F., Cox, D. (1997). Foundations Study Guide: Montessori Education, The Objectivist Center web site. Retrieved 5/10/03, from
http://www.objectivistcenter.org/articles/foundations_montessori-education.asp

Frick, W. F., (1997). Criteria for Evaluating Use of Information Technology in K-12 Education. School of Education, Indiana University at Bloomington, Indiana. Retrieve on May 10, 2003 from:
http://education.indiana.edu/nsse.html

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Highland Manor Montessori Academy, Dr. Maria Montessori, Retrieved on May 10, 2003, from:
http://www.hmma.org/montessori/

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Jonassen, H. D., (2003). Learning to Solve Problems with Technology, Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, New Jersey

Lillard, P. P. (1996), Montessori Today, Schocken Books, New York

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Montessori Connections website
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Montessori, M. (1964). The Montessori Method, Schocken Books, New York

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Standing, E. M. (1957) Maria Montessori: Her life and work, Academy Library Guild, Fresno, California