Maria Montessori: Learning by Doing

In a classroom in Rome, children worked with objects they could touch and move. Some practiced everyday tasks, while others explored materials designed for learning. Their teacher, Maria Montessori, paid close attention to what they did. She believed that careful observation could reveal what children needed in order to learn.

Maria Montessori was born on August 31, 1870, in Chiaravalle, Italy. At a time when many women had few opportunities to enter certain professions, she studied medicine at the University of Rome. In 1896, she became one of the first women in Italy to earn a medical degree. Her medical training taught her to observe carefully, a habit that would later shape her work in education.

As a doctor, Montessori worked with children who had disabilities. She studied the work of earlier educators and became interested in materials that children could handle as they learned. She also came to believe that children who had been considered unable to learn deserved better educational opportunities. Her work led her to study education more broadly.

In 1907, Montessori opened the first Casa dei Bambini, or Children's House, in a neighborhood of Rome called San Lorenzo. It served young children whose families had limited income. Montessori used the classroom to put her ideas into practice and to keep observing how children responded.