UNIVERSITY OF CASTILLA-LA MANCHA

Albacetes Faculty of Education

Subject: Contemporary trends in education
Teacher: Antonio Cebrin Martnez
Academic year: 2017-2018

MARIA MONTESSORI

Students:
Eva lvarez Lorente
Jos Francisco Campos Martnez
Antonio Morcillo Martnez
Javier Ruiz Izquierdo
Master degree in Primary Education
2nd course group B
Date of submission: 01/12/2017

CONTENTS

1. Article: Maria Montessori UNESCO

 1.1. The ongoing debate.
1.2. The key experience.
1.3. Montessori and the new education.
1.4. The childrens houses.
1.5. The didactic materials.
1.6. The scientific basis of her work.
1.7. Perception.
1.8. Self-realization through independent activity.

2. Video: The Montessori Method

3. Questions

1. Article: Maria Montessori UNESCO

1.1 THE ONGOING DEBATE

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Maria Montessori was involved in the New education movement. Firstly, she focused on
very young children and only later, he extended her investigation to include older
children and the family.

She considered infancy as a critical phase to individuals evolution. From this approach,
she established the basis for the further development. Montessori was an exemplary
figure in that she related theory and practice in the form of the Childrens Houses and
her didactic materials.

Today the struggle to understand this phenomenonthe relationship between theory

and practice, individual and work, what was borrowed and what was originalis as
intense as ever. This discussion is motivated by a spirit of investigation. This is for two
reasons: Montessoris personality and the intentions behind her work (provide education
of children with a scientifically valid basis and to re-evaluate it constantly through
practical experiments).

1.2 THE KEY EXPERIENCE

Maria Montessori (1870-1952) became the first woman in Italy with medical school
with a study on neuropathology (1896). During two years she worked in a Psychiatric
Clinic of the University of Rome, being responsible for the care of mentally
handicapped children. From this experience, she was interested in the investigation of
possibilities to educate them.

She was influenced by: Rosseau, Diderot and Itard (who had tried to educate wild boys
found in the forests of Aveyron by stimulating and developing his senses).

Then, Montessori decided to devote herself to educational problems, so she had a

position in the Scuola Magistrale Ortofrenica (responsible of the training of teachers in
schools for handicapped and mentally retarded children). Afterwards, she became
involved in the modifying of Roman slum quarter (San Lorenzo) assuming the
responsibility of the children. Her answer to the situation was the establishment of a
Childrens House (children could learn about the world and develop the ability to plan
their own lives).

1.3 MONTESSORI AND THE NEW EDUCATION

Firstly, her work in San Lorenzo was successful. Then, Montesorri and Talamo
established a youth centre to get the children of working parents off the streets. She
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created the miracle of the new children, who could influence in their parents because
of heightened child-like qualities.

Maria Montessori was a true proponent of New Education. She did want to replace old
methods with better ones; she wanted a remodelling and renewal of life (reformatio).

Maria Montessori was influenced by Rousseau and she claimed that adults gave no
consideration to children at all, so her resultant conclusion was: It is essential to let
nature have its own way as far as possible; the more freedom children are allowed to
develop, the quicker and more perfectly they will attain higher forms and functions.

She was also inspired by Percy Nunn (who helped her arrived at her view of the
constructive function of the developing human mind, which determines the course of
life in constant interaction with the environment), Decroly (because of the similarity of
their lives and approaches), Sguin and Pereira (because of the role of the senses in the
development of the personality) and Diderot (who thought that it is possible to form and
alter human beings by means of manipulating their sensory input).

Montessoris ideas can only be grasped if we take into account the method developed by
Rosa and Carolina Agazzi. Both wanted to intensify and control the education of young
children by means of altering their living environment. Montessori used a set of
standardized learning materials and Rosa Agazzi considered that objects collected by
the children themselves carry out this function. In this way, the objects were to be
experienced more thoroughly and the process of abstraction only introduced after this
first stage had been absolved.

Montessori considered that it was necessary to take the inclinations and interest of the
children as well as to encourage responsibility and self-discipline on the part of the
children.

1.4 THE CHILDRENS HOUSES

The Childrens Houses were living environments specially adapted to children, in which
they could grow and develop in keeping with their individual sense of responsibility.

In the houses everything was adapted to the children and their specific attitudes and
perspectives: cupboards, tables and chairs but also colour, sound and architecture.

Maria Montessori wanted to promote freedom and discipline interaction to the children
(We call someone disciplined if he is his own master and can therefore command
himself to behave properly if a rule of life must be observed).
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The idea central to self-determination, namely that freedom is possible only if one
submits to laws that one has discovered and decided upon oneself.

In addition, Maria Montessori developed a logical sequel of their ideas, namely their
application and practice in real-life situations. For this purpose, she developed some
exercises in daily living that involved exercises in patience, exactness and repetition.
All of them were real task what could be applied in a real context.

As Rousseau, Montessori considered that help for the weak, the aged and the infirm
were important tasks to be carried out during the stage of personal development in
which moral relationships define the beginning of a new life as a moral individual.

Moreover, in the sensitive phase was important to encourage positive development

which could be achieved through social training.

The didactic materials are also useful in their growing to attain a highly developed sense
of responsibility. Constituting a part of the prepare environment in the Childrens
Houses, they were methodically planned and standardized so that a child who freely
chose to occupy himself with one of them.

1.5 THE DIDACTIC MATERIALS

A basic principle of the teaching materials is that the activities must be coordinated
methodically so that the children can easily judge the degree of their success while
participating in them.

An activity was proposed in which for each of the senses there was an exercise that
could be made even more effective by eliminating other senses. Montessori expressed it
as "practical and social life must be deeply combined in education, it sought to develop
the social aspects of education.
The didactic materials had to work "like a ladder", as Montessori put it many times,
which would allow the children to take the initiative themselves and move towards self-
realization. At the same time, the materials were impregnated with a particular spirit and
an intellectual attitude.

It really seems as if the little ones were involved in doing the best job of what their
minds are capable of: materials open new doors to their understanding that otherwise

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would remain blocked. The teacher's task would be to observe scientifically and use his
intuition to discover new possibilities and needs.

1.6 THE SCIENTIFIC BASIS OF HER WORK

The basic art of precise observation, which Rousseau had long recognized as the most
important qualification for educators, includes a precise perception and description.
Montessori imagined a "new kind of teacher": "Instead of talking, you must learn to
remain silent, instead of instructing, you must observe, instead of presenting the proud
dignity of someone who wishes to appear infallible, you should wear the tunic of
humility.

Montessori imagined a procedure that today would be described as hermeneutic-

empirical, but his experiments did not possess a solid theoretical framework nor were
they carried out and evaluated in a way that allowed them to be objectively confirmed.

However, his observations were carried out carefully and involved a series of scientific
procedures to ensure objectivity.

It is important to consider the sensitive openness of Montessori to the "mysteries of life"

along with its basically scientific approach. If both aspects are not taken into account, it
is likely to become entangled in contradictions and continue the still thriving
controversy over the value and meaning of their work.

Her influence was greatest where she personally appeared and gave lectures and courses
and won a dedicated group of followers willing to experience and continue the spirit of
her work.

1.7 PERCEPTION
Maria Montessori not only developed a systematic method to develop perceptual
faculties, but also developed a theory of perception that has much in common with
Pestalozzi's approach.

Therefore, in reference to the teaching materials, warns that "the attention of children
should not be linked to the objects in question after the delicate process of abstraction

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has begun" He considered it of fundamental importance that the apprentice "get the
cooperation of the internal attention".

For this reason, she sought to structure the motivational basis of the didactic materials in
such a way that they would make contact with the sphere of the child's consciousness.
There is no doubt that he managed to link this form of faith with internal knowledge and
improved vision with his concept of science.

1.8 SELF-REALIZATION THROUGH INDEPENDENT ACTIVITY

A person is what he is, not because of the teachers he has had, but as a result of what he
has done. "In another context, she even introduced the idea of" self-creation. "She
applied this not only to sensory perception and the intellect, but also the coordination of
all facets of humanity involved in the development of personality.

In most of the examples that Montessori added in this context, he spoke of the high
degree of satisfaction shown by children as a result of their independent self-realization.
He concluded that "this growing self-consciousness promotes maturity, first we must
renounce freedom and then recover it gradually through self-realization, and all
individuals are dependent on each other." This process is accompanied by full
awareness and requires that all of one's faculties are committed, strengthening them at
the same time.

This self-realization ultimately leads to self-education, self-education, which is the real

objective. The education of children must be conducted in a balanced way from the
beginning; otherwise, first impressions will produce distorted or skewed forms of
understanding, expectations and behaviors that are then perpetuated, they must learn
everything themselves: they have no objectives, but must seek them.
The important thing is that the impressions received and the mental openness coincide
with each other, so that the demands posed by the learning process correspond to the
sensitivities and natural tendencies of each development phase.

Sensitive phases are periods of greater receptivity in relation to learning through

interaction with the environment, therefore, there are sensitive phases to learn to speak,
dominate social interactions, etc. If due consideration is given to these phases, they can
be used to promote periods of intense and efficient learning.

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2. Video: MARIA MONTESSORIS METHOD

Maria Montessori was the first Italian female doctor whose approach was a tool for
changing society, and for helping people to have better lives. Her method was for
everyone and not just for people who could afford it.

While she was still a student, Montessori gained a position as a doctor treating
abandoned children in a mental asylum in one of the poorest areas of Rome, were she
looked at children to see how they developed.

One day, by observing their behaviors she noticed that children were playing with bread
making little dough balls, and she came to the conclusion that through manipulation
children might develop better skills. It was only at that moment when she started to
work with the children, developing the learning materials which are the kind of
foundation of the Montessori legacy today.

At that point, she designed sensory materials and developed an innovative teaching
methodology for children that left an unquestionable mark on education curricula
throughout the world. We can define Montessoris approach of education as a sensory-
based pedagogy based on the belief that children learn at their own pace through
manipulation of objects.

Through her research and study in the field, Montessori observed that effective teaching
styles required the establishment of a sensory rich environment that offered
interactive yet independent learning opportunities for children.

In this educational playground children could choose from a variety of developmental

activities that promoted learning by doing. Although her method was rigorously
scientific, Montessori would go on to become the leader of a worldwide movement
steeped in mysticism and spirituality.

In her own private life she was an unconventional and rebellious figure for her time, she
was forced to flee Italy when she came up against Mussolinis ideas, which was against
free thinking, independence, creativity... Montessori strongly believed that she had
found an infallible system that would revolutionize society, enabling the children of the
future to be self-reliant responsible citizens so she decided to leave Italy.

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Although it was integrated into some state schools in America and Europe, Montessoris
method was difficult to apply within the pressures of a modern state school system. The
Montessoris method was a radical philosophy at the time which contradicted and
challenged many of the existing beliefs about whole-class learning the acquisition of
knowledge and the development of early human cognition. But in 2005, in Manchester,
the Montessori approach was introduced to early years and key stage one.

Montessori was part of the progressive movement in education that was happening at
the time but she was the first to put the theories into practice. She believed very strongly
that children have got the capability of teaching themselves. By using this self-
directed individual learning approach we are empowering children to have skills that
will be transferable through the learning process through their lives, Montessoris
students were able to teach themselves through critical interaction in a prepared
environment.

She was so sure about her method that she entered some of the children into a local
government examination. Although her patients were diagnosed as mentally deficient
and unable to learn, within a short period of time working with them, the children were
able to successfully complete Italys standardized public school exams. So this make her
to ask a question: If they can do this, what could be achieved with other children?

Montessori was determined to apply her methods with children in mainstream education
and she finally got her wish when she was offered the chance to open a school for local
children living in one of the poorest areas of Rome (1907).

Montessoris method attracted global recognition as she travelled the world giving
lectures and opening new Montessori schools, but at home in Italy she found it more
difficult to convince Mussolinis thoughts, her idea of children being citizens of the
world was difficult to achieve completely due to the whole fascist view, which was to
promote the very strong national view of life.

Maria Montessori finally settled in Holland where her method would eventually become
integrated into the State School system in 1947.

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She came to London to lecture and helped to open the Gatehouse School, in which is
still a regular visitor but it no longer runs as a Montessori school.

At the beginning of the school, they kept individual daily hourly records of every single
child, they got scholarship so early because children were all above the standard by that
time, as they worked individually the various areas of the school. Children moved
around that areas when they wanted to, but at the end of the week they had to complete
a certain number of hours or time in each subject, something that worked very
effectively. All that changes makes her to feel very sad, as there was no individualized
teaching there at that moment.

The Montessori method has found success in the independent private sector, but it
wasnt to easy in the British state school system. Montessori based her thinking about
what needed to be offered to students and also, she defended children construct
knowledge by actual experience like great educators of the 20th century thought. So, her
method may be stuck in a pre-modern period of education and it is characterize by:

Not excluded knowledge.

All the equipment is in the classroom.

More interesting during classes.

Satisfaction of educational necessities.

Freedom of its responsibilities according to the age and abilities.

No set of periods for the lessons.

Purpose of achievement children need to do each week.

Mixed ages in the classes (more peer learning).

The interest drives the learning.

High level of engagement in the activities.

Concentration is the key of the learning.

Eye-opening system.

In the past century this education was within reach of the high social classes, but, this
method has been associated with the leafy suburbs and the middle classes.

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Montessori method is embedded on secondary level in some parts of the state school in
Holland and it is increasing more and more. The problem is that they are so much
misunderstandings about the method, like Montessori education is education for rich
kids.

It exists some centers like Gordon Mount where teacher receive training about
Montessori method, so in this center we can find Montessori teacher and trainers.

Gordon center change the way of instructing classes, they explain why you do, what
you do and how you are doing it. Also, they change the classroom and its disposition in
order to find neutral backgrounds, confidence places and unadulterated walls, so
children can focus all his attention on what he/she is doing, andnd teachers dont force
students to learn.

In conclusion, learning environment is in fact they key that has empowered the children
to feel that they are in control and they will believe that they can achieve things for
themselves

3. QUESTIONS:

TRUE/FALSE:

1. Maria Montessori wanted to replace old methods with better ones. FALSE

2. Maria Montessori considers of fundamental importance that the apprentice obtain the
cooperation of the internal attention. TRUE

3. We can define Montessoris approach of education as a sensory-based pedagogy

based on the belief that children learn at their own pace through manipulation of
objects. TRUE

4. Montessori method is considered one of the pre-modern educational system based on

the great educators of the 20th century. TRUE

MULTIPLE CHOICE:

1. Maria Montessori was responsible for the care of

a) children with learning disorders.

b) mentally handicapped children.
c) children with developmental disorders.
2. According to Maria Montessori one of the tasks of the teacher is:

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 a) To observe and use his intuition.
b) To film the children during the class.
c) Both are correct.
3. Maria Montessori started to work with children and designing sensory materials
when

a) she didnt agree with Mussolinis ideas, against free thinking,

independence and creativity.
b) she observed children playing with bread and thought that through
manipulation children might develop better skills.
c) she opened a school for local children living in one of the poorest areas
of Rome.
4. Three of the main characteristics of Maria Montessoris method are:

a) excluded knowledge, satisfaction of educational necessities and freedom

of its responsibilities according to the age and abilities.

b) no set of periods for the lessons, mixed ages in the classes and high
level of engagement in the activities.

c) all the equipment is in the classroom; the interest drives the learning and
not eye-opening system.

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