Montessori Philosophy
MSC supports and implements the principles of learning developed by renowned 20th century educator Maria Montessori.
Dr. Montessori, born in 1870, was an Italian physician and educator. She was the first woman to receive a medical degree in Italy. It was through her work and interest as a physician that she came to care for developmentally delayed children. Working with these children, Dr. Montessori brought them to a higher developmental level, enabling them to enter regular schools.
After achieving such startling results, Dr. Montessori concluded that a “normal” child’s potential was also being overlooked by the existing education system. Through scientific research and observation, Dr. Montessori sought to understand what guided children’s psychological structure and how that growth could be supported. As a result, she developed a child-centered philosophy of education. She devoted her life to this work and was honored and respected throughout the world by the time of her death in 1952.
Her studies were the first to recognize that children have different learning styles and vary widely in their preferences for visual, auditory, verbal, and tactile techniques. Dr. Montessori used her insight to develop an instructional method that balances group and individual sessions, supports self-instruction and student-driven experimentation after brief periods of teacher instruction or demonstration.
This student-centered methodology builds confidence by recognizing children’s individual differences and nourishing individual talents. Classroom tools and activities balance the freedom of openness to new ideas and exploration of new concepts with academic discipline and development of intellectual problem-solving skills. Exercises develop skills from memorization and timed testing to free-form composition and cultural appreciation.
In today’s world, these principles are the foundation of education and training methods used in military training, adult education, computer-aided instruction and design of computer software user interfaces. With millions of students ranging from pre-kindergarten through high school, Montessori schools are excelling all over the world.