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ASSIGNMENT MODULE 1

INTRODUCTION TO MONTESSORI

Prepared by:

Name: Rama Ali

Roll No: DK-2059
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Question 1:

Discuss the life and works of Dr. Maria Montessori and why is she
referred to as a lady much ahead of her time?

Answer 1:

M
aria Tecla Artemisia Montessori was an
Italian physicist and educator, who is well
known for the philosophy of education
and her scientific writing on pedagogy, was born on
31 August 1870 in an educated middle class family
in Ancona, Italy. She was the only child of her
parents. At an early age she broke the stereotypes
and enrolled in an all-boys technical school aiming
to become an engineer, however, her mind
changed and she adopted for medical school at the
Sapienza University of Rome from where she
completed her honors in 1896. Her educational
method is still being used in many public and
private schools globally even in recent times.

Coming towards her family, it is known that her

father’s name was Alessandro Montessori who was
a conservative military man and her mother named
Renidle Montessori was a liberal lady who supported Maria with her educational pursuit.
As her father was a military man he frequently had transfers that gave Maria an
opportunity to acquire education in big cities of Italy.

In those days, Europe was said to be conservative and did not support the idea of
women empowerment; Italy too followed the same attitude, however, Montessori
pursued her education in medical as well as scientific education regardless of the fact
that her father, teachers and male fellow students always opposed her. Not only she
pursued her education but also got the highest honors from the medical school of
university of Rome. She was the first woman physician in Italy in 1896 and holds the
title of being the first lady doctor in the Italian history.

Work with special children:

Although Montessori never liked the idea of choosing education as a career as it was
considered to be the traditional and the stereotypical career for women but ironically she
has become the most well-known person in the field of education. She specialized in
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pediatrics and psychiatry and this helped her to have scientific approach rather than the
familiar philosophical approach regarding education. While teaching at the medical
school of university of Rome, Maria came in frequent contact with the children of
working class and poor. Her experience made her realize that intelligence can be
present in different forms other than form that was generally recognized by the
traditional schools.

Montessori was appointed as the director of new Orthophrenic school that was attached
with to the University of Rome that was formerly a municipal asylum for special children.
On inquiry she came to know that those children fought for food and got dirty, this lead
to the wave of reform started by her and her colleagues. She discovered that children
need to be treated with love and affection and her young patients needed purposeful
activities that could help boost their self-esteem.

For almost a year she did research in the medical libraries of Western Europe in order
to find previous successful work regarding the education of disabled children. She got
inspired by two French doctors of the 18 th and 19th century respectively. From Itard and
Seguin she took the idea of scientific approach that was based on observation and
experimentation.

The Orthophrenic School

She kept on trying Seguin’s educational method and observe the response and the
progress of her disabled students in becoming independent and verbal. After two years
of hard work on the mentally disabled children she was able to surprise the world as
those children cleared the standardized exams given by the Italian public schools.

When Montessori’s work got recognition another question arose that what kept the
normal students back. She suggested that the schools didn’t work on developing the
intellectual potential of the students and that’s why they lacked behind. She said that if
she can attain such good results with mentally challenged students then there would be
better results with normal children. Her work strengthened the humanistic ideals and
she was regarded as a reformer.

Casa Dei Bambini

In 1907, Montessori became the medical director for a day care centre that was
organized for working class children who were not old enough to go to school. The
condition of the day care known as the Casa dei Bambini were terrible, however she
continued her experiment with the older children by teaching them how to help with the
everyday tasks. She also introduced hand-on materials of perceptual discrimination and
puzzles and eye-hand manipulative exercises that she had used with mentally disabled
children.
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Montessori introduced practical day to

day exercises that include cleaning,
dressing, gardening etc and to her
surprise children aged 3 to 4 took more
interest in learning practical everyday
living skills. The older children began to
take care of the school. They also
assisted their teachers with the
preparation and serving of meals and the
maintenance of clean environment.

Montessori observed the children’s

inclination and developed manipulative
accordingly. The other area of children’s
fascination was numbers and so series
of concrete math learning materials was developed. They further progressed on to
multiplication, division, skip counting and increasingly advanced and abstract concepts.

Montessori was a lady ahead of her time

Montessori Method wasn’t so perfect yet she improved it with trial and error. Maria was
ahead of her time because she did not believe in the traditional method of education of
that era that did not focus on early education. She gave importance to early education
and wellbeing of students. Breaking stereotypes since early age it was no surprise that
she was a reformer in the field of education.
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Question 2:

Which are the main requirements to be considered to start a House of

Children? How do you implement them?

Answer 2:

C
asa Dei Bambini (House of children) is the very first Montessori school in Italy
which was established by Dr. Maria Montessori in 1907 based on her study,
observation and experience of learning and discovering the nature of children.
Casa Dei Bambini was based on such a comprehensive and effective modern
Montessori system which then become the standard for every house of children in every
part of the world even as of today.

Actually, Montessori House of Children is

name of place which helps children to learn
through observation and experiments as per
their inner needs for development so, it is
very necessary that such place i.e. House of
Children should be designed considering
some basic requirements necessary for
learning of children.

In order to start a House of Children, one

should considered at least following main
requirements;

1. It is extremely necessary that all the things in the house of children should be of
children’s size so that it will be easy for them to touch and use everything including
but not limited to seats, wash basins, chairs, toilet seats etc.

2. As there are lots of children from different age groups and background in every
Montessori house with obviously different inner needs for development, it is
necessary that Montessori house of children should have adequate activities through
different materials to satisfy the need of each and every children and they should
also be placed in the shelves which can easily be accessible to children.

3. The floor space of the House of Children should be adequate to accommodate all of
the enrolled children along with all the development materials and the Montessori
furniture. There should also some floor space be available for children who like
movement and want to work on floor instead of chairs. The least recommended
space for each student enrolled at early childhood is 20 square feet which should be
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increased to 30 square feet per student at elementary level and then 40 square feet
per student for secondary level students.

4. Montessori House of Children should have a homelike environment for a student

instead of a large institution and for that, classrooms at elementary level and
secondary level should have childlike kitchen, science lab, art room, library and an
individual bathroom for each level.

5. In a classroom there should be some windows for good ventilation and a perfect
view of garden and nature. This will give children some natural and pleasant
environment. There should also a door to outside so that they will spend some time
in a garden close to nature and to learn plantation, observe plants, trees and birds
and either they can just paint pots and walls to get themselves busy in
developmental activities.

It will not be wrong if we say that all the requirements for opening a Montessori House
of Children mentioned above will prove worthless if there are no plans and strategies for
implementation. Fortunately, Dr. Maria Montessori didn’t let us unguided in this area
also. Her detailed study and quest for understanding the nature of children helps in
devising such an amazing implementation strategies and ideas which even as of today
are compulsory for every House of Children. Some of the most important
implementation strategies are mentioned below;

1. Respect for Children:

It is very basic principle of Montessori that we should give respect to children. Giving
respect to children means that we give importance to their inner needs on the basis of
which they select activities for them. If we impose our will on the children without
considering their special needs in a rude manner, how can we expect them to be well-
behaved and obedient? In Montessori classrooms, children should be allowed to select
activities of their own choice and to work with that until they become easy for them.

2. Independence to Work:

Independence to work simply means to avoid the unnecessary help for children in doing
their activities. Main purpose of the House of Children is to make children independent
enough to perform their day to day activities without any help of parents. For this, it is
very necessary that in order to grow and develop child should be encouraged to do the
things by himself. It is pertinent to mention here that freedom too has some limits and
children should be redirected promptly and firmly if they want to do anything which is
inappropriate for them or for community.
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3. Prepared Environment:

Children of age group from 3 to 6 years have strong ability naturally to absorb from their
environment so it is very necessary that environment should be prepared in such a way
that will be beneficial for their learning and to design it to meet their special needs,
abilities skills and interest. Teachers should adapt the environment according to the needs
of students and rapidly modify the selection of activities, tone of class and physical layout as
children needs are constantly changing.

4. Focus of Individual Progress and Development:

Instead of assessing the community of children as it is a practice in conventional schooling

system, in a Montessori program, every child is considered as a separate entity. Latest
researches have proved that learning curve of every child is unique and it could not be
standardized. As Montessori House of Children is based on the modern education system,
progress of each child is viewed separately and the child will not be moved to next phase of
learning until he get ready for that.

5. Role of the Adult

Teachers in Montessori system are commonly called guide whose role is just like a
facilitator in the classroom. They arrange activities and Montessori materials according to
the needs and age group of student on shelves which can be easily accessible by students
and allow them select activities of their own choice. Children learn a lot first from their
mothers and then from their teachers so, the teachers behavior and attitude towards
students should be polite, reasonable and helpful.

6. Mix Age Group:

The most important feature of Montessori Schooling system is “Mixed Age Group”. It means
that when working in a room children of different age group work together without being
separated into divisions. This Mixed age group class has many advantages. In such a class,
older students help younger children and in turn become better and stronger individuals with
a greater sense of responsibility in them while the younger children also learn to help each
other. It also help new younger children to settle down more easily in classroom. Mixed age
group classrooms become like a Family setting where older children accept the role to help
and take care of their young fellow students. It also helps in discouraging competition and
encouraging cooperation and coordination within community of students. Another important
advantage of mixed age group class is that young children easily learn code of behavior
from older children in their classroom and teachers need not to remind them regularly about
the code of conduct.
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7. Sensitive Period:

Dr. Maria Montessori discovered that children can learn and develop in specific areas more
easily in some specific times. In that sensitive period of learning, specific task and abilities
can be developed in children in less period of time with less efforts. It is the responsibility of
teacher in Montessori house to observe behavior and activities of children to discover the
sensitive period of every children and provide the relevant activities for best results.

Question 3:

What are the discoveries made by Dr. Maria Montessori by observing the
child? 

Answer: 

D
r. Maria Montessori was a keen
observer of children. She observe
them scientifically. She was on a
quest to discover the true nature of children.
Whenever she saw any unusual activity
from a child, she observe them whether the
child repeat the activity and not only this,
she also studied the conditions under which
the child performed that activity. After years
of her research through scientific
observations and experience gained
through her research on children, she
designed a unique method of learning called
Montessori Schooling System and make
various discoveries about the nature of
children. Some of these discoveries are
listed below;

1. Dr. Montessori observed that children

have natural ability for deep
concentration and love towards work. She came to this conclusion after observing
the 3 years old child in Casa Dei Bambini who worked with deep concentration with
the wooden cylinders and their containers. She also try to distract the child by
making noises and performing different activities around her but to her amazement,
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that child didn’t get distracted by any type of activity. Another observation which she
made from this experiment is that the child seemed quite happy and satisfied when
she finished her work. This sense of satisfaction and happiness is because of the
inner need of the child to do and master on that activity for their learning and
development.

2. Another important point which Dr. Maria Montessori observed from that child was
that the child repeat the task almost 42 times with same concentration level. She
discovered that every child has natural love for repetition and the child keeps on
repeating the task to assist his personal development. She also taught some
children to wash their hands and then she noticed that the children keep on washing
their hands sometimes even when their hands are clean. These observations lead to
the discovery of giving freedom to children to select and complete their task.

3. Dr. Maria Montessori also observed that children love to place things in order. She
noticed that children learn from their teachers to put back all the Montessori
materials and activities back in shelves after using them. Children have natural
sense to keep things and their environment in order. She obliged this natural sense
of children to keep things in order and give them freedom to place all activity
materials back in open shelves. When visitors came to visit Casa Dei Bambini, they
were also get impressed from the obedience and discipline of students. Montessori
discovered that the real discipline in children came from the freedom we give them
instead of forcing them to behave in a particular manner.

4. Another surprising discovery which Maria Montessori came across was when one
day she forgot to lock the cupboards and next day, all the children help themselves
with materials and activities of their need. She noticed that children didn’t have any
intention of stealing anything instead, they put back all the materials on their place
after usage. This made Montessori realized that children have ability to select the
materials as per their inner needs of development which then developed the
principle of Freedom of Choice of Activity.

5. While observing the children in the House of Children, Maria Montessori observed
that children were more interested in developmental activities instead of showing
interest in expensive toys. She noticed that children like to work instead of playing
especially in their school timings and the attention of children towards toys were very
short lived after which they get back to their Montessori materials and activities.
Maria Montessori discovered that children have their sense of priorities and they
give priority to the activities which help them in learning different skills and abilities.
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6. Another incident occurred which lead to the discovery by Maria Montessori that
children are indifferent to rewards and punishments and they can only be motivated
through their inner needs and freedom. Once she entered the classroom and
observed that one child is sitting on the chair in the center of class as a punishment
by teacher. At the same time one student is rewarded by the teacher with a badge
due to his good behavior. She noticed that with all her surprise, the rewarded
children was indifferent to that badge and it was worthless for him. Instead, he gave
that badge to the child who was punished by the teacher. The punishment also didn’t
mean anything to the child who was punished and after receiving the badge from
other child, he didn’t get any excited or happy. This leads to the discovery that
rewards and punishments hindered the children’s choice of activity and then she
restricts the teacher from this practice.

7. Maria Montessori once taught children to clean their nose as most of children in
Cass Dei Bambini were poor and dirty. She was surprised when she noticed that
children showed great interest in keeping themselves clean when Maria
demonstrated them clearly how to keep their nose clean. From this experience,
Maria discovered that like adults, children also have sense of dignity and they also
like to be respected.

8. Dr. Maria also discovered that in the early age, children have naturally very strong
observation power and they can learn almost everything at their early age more
easily than them get older. This discovery form the basis of the conclusion about the
sensitive period of children which ranges from 0-6 years.

9. She also observed that children are more comfortable with the things of their own
size. In their house, almost everything are designed for the use of adults so children
find it very difficult to use them. Also adults restricts them from using the perishable
goods. In House of children, everything should be of children sized including, chairs,
tables, basins, washrooms etc. so they can use them easily. Moreover, they should
not be restricted to use anything for their personal development.

10. She also observed that in order to build complete personality of the child, teachers
should follow PILES concept. Which means that children should do physical,
Intellectual, lingual, emotional and social activities. Montessori schools should help
them in all types of activities like math, art, culture etc.

These discoveries by Maria Montessori bought revolution in conventional education

system and then form the basis of all the modern Montessori Schools all over the world.
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Q4) what does ‘PILES’ stand for when we talk of human development?
Discuss the physical, lingual and intellectual development taking place
during 3 to 6 years of age?

Answer:

PILES:

The acronym PILES stands for:

P= Physical

Intellectual
I=

Language
L=

Emotional
E=

Social
S=
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These are the keys areas of human development. In PILES, each category represents
group of activities which a child learn during the process of his / her development.
Researchers find PILES model very useful for the development of children as teachers
can easily monitor the growth of their students and can help them their developmental
phase using activities that can prove helpful in growing specific skills in students.
However, every child have their own abilities and time span for development so, PILES
table cannot be standardized for all students. Some students can learn some skills quite
early than other students so, children should not be compared with other students.

Every child starts learning right from his / her birth. We can divide them into
Development Stages. We are discussing here only sub-phase of first development
stage which is from 3 years to 6 years of age. In this phase, child brings all the activities
in to practical format which he learned or observed in his early life. For this, he needs a
freedom to select and physical perform all the activities by himself. At this stage,
restriction on this need of children could prove disasters for the development of children.

Let’s discuss in detail each area of development separately during 3 to 6 years of age of
child;

Physical Development:

Physical development is very important area of child development. It focuses on the

development of child’s body which include size, strength and physical maturity. It also
include gross and fine motor skills of child. This will build ability to control the muscles of
their bodies. Following are the major physical developments observed in children during
3 to 6 years;

During 3 to 4 Year During 4 to 5 Year During 5 to 6 year

Runs around obstacles Pick up toys easily by Dance while watching
bending with straight legs television
Put two feet on one step Climb up ladders Can easily play all ball
while coming downstairs games
Pickup heavy toys Climb upstairs easily Improves in balancing
himself
Love to play outdoor Better with ball games Can walks on thin line
games
Can walk on tiptoes Stand on one foot for longer Touches toes with straight
time legs
Can moves pedals Can sit cross legged Expert in all outdoor
activities including
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swimming, climbing and

sliding.

Intellectual Development:

Intellectual development is also called the cognitive development. It focuses on skills of

children to observe and analyze their environment and surrounding and their abilities to
solve their day to day problems. It is relevant to the mental abilities of children which
includes solving math problems, imagination power, creativity, relating and judging
things etc. Following are the major intellectual developments observed in children
during 3 to 6 years;

During 3 to 4 Year During 4 to 5 Year During 5 to 6 year

Learn to name colors but Recognize primary colors Love detailing in drawing
confuses in blue and
green
Hold pencil easily Recognize what is painting Can copy a model of up to
before it is complete 10 bricks
Make a small tower from Can make a tower of 10 Can draw figures with all
blocks blocks easily features
Start painting but cannot Can draw house and people Able to count fingers
make recognizable with head body, legs and
pictures arms
Can draw head of people Skilled in holding and using Skilled in coloring and
pencil playing Jigsaw puzzle
Can copy a circle Can copies some alphabets Can recognize more colors
like X, T, H, V and O and match them easily

Lingual Development:

This domain focuses on child’s abilities of speaking and reading and their vocabulary
power. This is the most common academic domain which forms the basis of child’s
reading and writing skills. Children learn lots of new words from their siblings and
parents at home and from their teachers at school which increases their vocabulary.
Following are the major lingual developments observed in children during 3 to 6 years;

During 3 to 4 Year During 4 to 5 Year During 5 to 6 year

Recount numbers till 10 Recount up to 20 and can Become more fluent and
but can count only 3 count up to 4 or 5 things expressive
objects
Love to ask lots of Become more questioning Doesn’t understand
questions mind intangible words and
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asking about their meaning

Can rephrase name, age Can recognize their name, Can tell their name, age
and sex age and address and address and
sometimes knows their
birthday
Can able to complete Confuses reality with Taking more interest in
sentences but they are imagination funny stories and jokes
still childish
Can have simple Can remember latest Still love stories and also
conversations with adults conversations with others use them while playing
Love to listen to their Likes long stories and also Remember more songs
favorite stories again and tells stories. and poems and love to
again sing them
Can repeat nursery Can sing more songs and
poems and can sing poems
some songs
Understand and can use Loves jokes and humor
pronouns such as you,
me, I etc.
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Question 5:

Write a comprehensive note on role of teacher in the Montessori classroom.

Answer:

The teacher in a Montessori education system is considered as a guide, a facilitator or a

directress. Her role is very different from that of a teacher in a conventional schooling
system. The teacher is considered as an artist who uses his / her art for the
development of her students. In order to understand her art, first we need to understand
the types of art.

There are two types of arts:

 Productive Art
 Cooperative Art

Productive Art:

It is an art where the activity of the artist is necessary for things to be done or
completed. Here the activity of the artist is the main cause of production. For example, a
carpenter or a painter. Carpenter uses his skills to make cupboards, chairs tables and
many more things from woods. Similarly, Painter uses his skill to draw a painting by
using paints and brushes.

Cooperative Art:

It refers to an art where the activity is not the only cause of production. Moreover, the
end product is also not predefined. Here, the artist only facilitates in the process of
production. There are three main cooperative arts. Farming, Healing and Teaching.
Here, we only discuss about teaching in detail.

Role of Teacher in Montessori Classroom:

Children learns first from their mothers at home

and then from their teachers in school. So
teacher should be a role model for students as
they imitate her actions. There are many roles
of teacher in Montessori classroom. Main roles
are defined below;
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1. Provide Appropriate Materials:

Every Montessori student in the classroom has different interest for development
activities according to their inner needs. It is the role of directress in the classroom to
identify that interest on individual basis and provide the relevant Montessori
materials to facilitate the development of student.

2. Prepared Environment:

It is the responsibility of the guide in the classroom to provide the environment which
is best suitable of learning of the students. Environment should be prepared in such
a way that student could easily select the activities of their interest from the shelves
and can put the materials back after using them.

3. Observing the Children:

Every child in the Montessori classroom is a separate entity. The teacher in a

classroom should be able to observe each child individually and she can be able to
identify his need of development. There should be a strong bond between teacher
and student on individual basis so that the teacher can understand the
developmental needs of her students and can provide them with the relevant
Montessori materials.

4. Giving Lessons:

Teachers should give lessons to their students which are brief and interesting so that
children don’t feel burden on their mind. Teachers should elaborate the work to
students and them let them do their work at their own pace according to their needs.

5. Evaluate Students:

It is the role of a directress to evaluate the students on individual basis in such a way
that she should be able to understand the developmental needs of her students and
also about their skills and abilities so that those skills can be used in a better way for
their learning and development.

6. Good Communicator:

As children imitate their teacher and consider them as their mentor and role model,
teachers in a Montessori classroom should be a good communicator. This will help
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the student to learn communication skills from their teachers and will convey their
needs and thoughts more easily to their teachers and parents.

7. Development of Moral Values:

It is also a role of a teacher to develop a sense of moral values in students including

the sense of respect, discipline, dignity etc. These students will be the major part of
the society in future so it is very necessary for them to develop such values in them
by teacher.

8. Diagnostician:

As the Montessori teacher can observe and notice the growth, development and
behaviors of her students more precisely, she can also be called as a diagnostician
for students. She also help the parents in guiding about the habits and behaviors of
their children.

9. Protect Independence and Freedom:

Teacher should allow her student to select activates for them according to their own
needs and interest and also protect their independence and freedom of work by
letting them does their work on their own pace.

10. Supportive:

Last but not the least that teacher should be a great support to their students who
not only offering them sense of security and support by helping them in doing their
work and listening about their problems, but also support them in generating new
ideas.

We can conclude that as a teacher is a cooperative artist who help students in their
learning and developmental process. Her role is more than a teacher in a conventional
schools who expects children to just follow them without considering their individual
needs and abilities. Montessori teacher works as a guide, mentor, directress, facilitator,
role model, advisor or a counselor in order to develop learning abilities and skills in
children.