Maria Montessori
Born in Chiaravelle, Italy, 1870
Graduated from medical school from the University of Rome in 1896, as the first woman in Italy to do so.
Montessori treated many poor and working class children, where she observed that intrinsic intelligence was present in children of all socio-economic backgrounds.
Educational legacy:
In 1907, she opened the first casa dei bambini (children’s house) where she would apply her methods on children.
She scorned conventional classrooms where “children, like butterflies mounted on pins, are fastened each to his place”, she instead taught children by supplying concrete materials and organizing situations in which children would learn with these materials.