Maria Montessori

Maria Montessori was born in Chiaravalle, Italy in 1870 and died in 1952. Maria Montessori is famous for her ideas in education. At age thirteen Maria enrolled in a technical high school for engineering but later changed her mind when she began to study biology at the University of Rome. She went on the university's medical school, where she was not allowed to take a couple of courses with her fellow male students. She even had to dissect her first cadaver by herself.

Maria became the first woman to graduate from the University's medical school. When she graduated she specialized in pediatrics.

She became the director of a school for mentally retarded children. She developed a new program for teaching young children. She found that if children were not force fed information they learn happily and naturally.

Her ideas are used today in open classrooms, hands-on learning and reading readiness programs. She was a pioneer in education who believed in individualized learning.

For more information:
http://www.montessoriconnections.com/aboutmontessorieducation/montessori_ed1.html

1998, by Eric, third grade

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