About Dr. Montessori

Maria Montessori, born in 1870, was the first woman in Italy to receive a medical degree. She worked in the fields of psychiatry, education and anthropology. She believed that each child is born with a unique potential to be revealed, rather than as a "blank slate" waiting to be written upon. Her main contributions to the field of education are in these three areas:

• Preparing a natural life-supporting environment for the child
• Observing the child living freely within this environment
• Continually adapting the environment so each child may fulfill his or her greatest potential—physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.  

Maria Montessori based her educational methods on scientific observation of children’s learning processes.  She designed a “prepared environment” in which children could freely choose from a number of developmentally appropriate activities.  Now, nearly a century after Maria Montessori's first casa dei bambini ("children's house") in Rome, Montessori education is found all over the world, spanning ages from birth to adolescence. 

“Within the child lies the fate of the future” 

--Maria Montessori