Nurturing Your Childs Mind, Body and Spirit
Reservoir West Early Education Centre
Montessori History
Maria Montessori was a truly remarkable woman. Born in 1870, she was the first woman to be granted a medical degree from an Italian university.
On January 6th, 1902, the first Casa dei Bambini opened in Rome. Prior to this, Dr Montessori had been developing her educational theories while working with abandoned children from the Asylum for the Insane in conjunction with the Orthophrenic Institute, attached to Rome University. Most of these children were considered to be retarded, yet Dr. Montessori had great success with them; expanding on principles and materials used by Jean Itard and Eduard Seguin during the 19th Century.
intelligence, so she quickly accepted the proposal of a group of bankers, who wanted to create a centre
to serve the needs of children living in a new apartment tenement they had financed in a poor area of
Rome. Their motivation was material, rather than altruistic; as the unsupervised children of parents who
worked 12 – 15 hour days in the factories were seen as a physical threat to the apartment building.
“The children were collected there so that the walls should remain intact and the tenement have less
frequent need of renovation.” [1]
Maria Montessori was a truly remarkable woman. Born in 1870, she was the first woman to be granted a medical degree from an Italian university.
On January 6th, 1902, the first Casa dei Bambini opened in Rome. Prior to this, Dr Montessori had been developing her educational theories while working with abandoned children from the Asylum for the Insane in conjunction with the Orthophrenic Institute, attached to Rome University. Most of these children were considered to be retarded, yet Dr. Montessori had great success with them; expanding on principles and materials used by Jean Itard and Eduard Seguin during the 19th Century.
intelligence, so she quickly accepted the proposal of a group of bankers, who wanted to create a centre
to serve the needs of children living in a new apartment tenement they had financed in a poor area of
Rome. Their motivation was material, rather than altruistic; as the unsupervised children of parents who
worked 12 – 15 hour days in the factories were seen as a physical threat to the apartment building.
“The children were collected there so that the walls should remain intact and the tenement have less
frequent need of renovation.” [1]
The first Casa dei Bambini was therefore a very different place
to the beautifully maintained and presented Children’s Houses of today.
Dr Montessori was provided with a large room, and invited to equip it as
best she could. She did this by approaching friends and charitable
institutions, and managed to collect some specially made furniture,
mainly small tables and chairs as well as a teacher’s desk, and some
of the scientific materials she had used with the children from the
asylum. The teacher was a young, untrained woman given free reign by Dr.
Montessori, after being shown how to present the sensorial materials and
with the addition of about 50 young children, the first Casa dei
Bambini was born. Through her observations and work with these
children she discovered their astonishing, almost effortless ability
to learn. Children taught themselves! This simple but profound
truth formed the cornerstone of her life-long pursuit of educational
reform.
[1] Secret of Childhood, p122.
[1] Secret of Childhood, p122.