This is, quite simply, one of the landmark books in the history of education. Written by influential Italian educator Maria Montessori (1870and#8211;1952), it describes a new system for educating young children based on materials and methods she originally developed to teach retarded students. The techniques proved highly effective with normal children as well. Her system, based on a radical conception of liberty for the pupil and a highly formal training of separate sensory, motor, and mental capacities, led to rapid and substantial mastery of reading, writing, and arithmetic. In The Montessori Method (1912), her first book, Dr. Montessori outlines her techniques in discussions of such topics as scientific pedagogy; discipline; diet; gymnastics; manual labor; education of the senses; methods for teaching reading, writing, and arithmetic; and many other topics. The Dover edition is the least expensive edition available, making this seminal classic widely accessible to teachers, principals, parents and#8212; anyone interested in the education of young children.
One of the landmark books in the history of education, this volume describes a new system for educating youngsters. Based on a radical concept of liberty for the pupil and highly formal training of separate sensory, motor, and mental capacities, the system enabled youngsters to master reading, writing, and arithmetic rapidly and substantially.
and#160; ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
and#160; PREFACE
and#160; INTRODUCTION
and#160; CHAPTER I
and#160;and#160;and#160; A CRITICAL CONSIDERATION OF THE NEW PEDAGOGY IN ITS RELATION TO MODERN SCIENCE
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Influence of Modern Science upon Pedagogy
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Italy's part in the development of Scientific Pedagogy
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Difference between scientific technique and the scientific spirit
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Direction of the preparation should be toward the spirit rather than toward the mechanism
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; The master to study man in the awakening of his intellectual life
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Attitude of the teacher in the light of another example
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; The school must permit the free natural manifestations of the child if in the school Scientific Pedagogy is to be born
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Stationary desk and chairs proof that the principle of slavery still informs the school
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; "Conquest of liberty, what the school needs"
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; What may happen to the spirit
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; "Prizes and punishments, the bench of the soul"
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; "All human victories, all human progress, stand upon the inner force"
and#160; CHAPTER II
and#160;and#160;and#160; HISTORY OF METHODS
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Necessity of establishing the method peculiar to Scientific Pedagogy
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; "Origin of educational system in the use in the "Children's Houses"
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Practical application ofhte methods of Itard and Sand#233;guin in the Orthophrenic School at Rome
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Origin of the methods for the education of deficients
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Application of the methods in Germany and France
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Sand#233;guin's first didactic material was spiritual
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Methods for deficients applied to the education of normal children
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; "Social and pedagogic importance of the "Children's Houses"
and#160; CHAPTER III
and#160;and#160;and#160; "INAUGURAL ADDRESS DELIVERED ON THE OCCASION OF THE OPENING OF ONE OF THE "CHILDREN'S HOUSES"
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; "The Quarter of San Lorenzo before and since the establishment of the "Childrens' Houses"
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Evil of subletting the most cruel form of usury
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; The problem of life more profound than that of the intellectual elevation of the poor
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; "Isolation of the masses of the poor, unknown to past venturies"
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Work of the Roman Association of Good Building and the moral importance of their reforms
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; "The "Children's House" earned by the parents through their care of the building"
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; "Pedagogical organization of the "Children's House"
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; "The "Children's House" the first step toward the socialisation of the house"
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; The communised house in its relation to the home and to the spiritual evolution of women
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; "Rules and regulations of th e"Children's Houses"
and#160; CHAPTER IV
and#160;and#160;and#160; "PEDAGOGICAL METHODS USED IN THE "CHILDREN'S HOUSES"
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Child psychology can be established only through the method of external observation
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Anthropological consideration
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Anthropological notes
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Environment and schoolroom furnishings
and#160; CHAPTER V
and#160;and#160;and#160; DISCIPLINE
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Discipline through liberty
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Independence
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Abolition of prizes and external forms of punishment
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Biological concept of liberty in pedagogy
and#160; CHAPTER VI
and#160;and#160;and#160; HOW THE LESSON SHOULD BE GIVEN
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Characteristics of the individual lessons
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Method of observation the fundamental guide
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Difference between the scientific and unscientific methods illustrated
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; "First task of educators to stimulate life, leaving it then free to develop"
and#160; CHAPTER VII
and#160;and#160;and#160; EXERCISES OF PRACTICAL LIFE
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; "Suggested schedule for the "Children's Houses"
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; The child must be prepared for the forms of social life and his attention attracted to these forms
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; "Cleanliness, order, poise, conversation"
and#160; CHAPTER VIII
and#160;and#160;and#160; REFECTION-THE CHILD'S DIET
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Diet must be adapted to the child's physical nature
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Foods and their preparation
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Drinks
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Distribution of meals
and#160; CHAPTER IX
and#160;and#160;and#160; MUSCULAR EDUCATION-GYMNASTICS
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Generally accepted idea of gymnastics is inadequate
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; The special gymnastics necessary for little children
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Other pieces of gymnastic apparatus
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Free gymnastics
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Educational gymnastics
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; "Respiratory gymnastics, and labial, dental, lingual gymnastics"
and#160; CHAPTER X
and#160;and#160;and#160; NATURE IN EDUCATION-AGRICULTURAL LABOUR: CULTURE OF PLANTS AND ANIMALS
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; The savage of the Aveyron
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Itard's educative drama repeated it the education of little children
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Gardening and horitculture basis of a method for education of children
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; The child initiated into observation of the phenomena of life and into foresight by way of auto-education
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; "Children are initiated into the virtue of patience and into confident expectation, and are inspired with a feeling for nature"
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; The child follows the natural way of development of the human race
and#160; CHAPTER XI
and#160;and#160;and#160; "MANUAL LABOUR-THE POTTER'S ART, AND BUILDING"
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Difference between manual labour and manual gymnastics
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; The School of Educative Art
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; "Archand#230;ological, historica, and artistic importance of the vase"
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Manufacture of diminutive bricks and construction of diminutive walls and houses
and#160; CHAPTER XII
and#160;and#160;and#160; EDUCATION OF THE SENSES
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Aim of education to develop the energies
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Difference in the reaction between deficient and normal children in the presentation of didatic material made up of graded stimuli
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Education of the senses has as its aim the refinement of the differential perception of stimuli by means of repeated exercises
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Three Periods of Sand#233;guin
and#160; CHAPTER XIII
and#160;and#160;and#160; "EDUCATION OF THE SENSES AND ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE DIDACTIC MATERIAL: GENERAL SENSIBILITY: THE TACTILE, THERMIC, BARIC AND STEREOGNOSTIC SENSES"
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; "Education of the tactile, thermic and baric senses"
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Education of the stereognostic sense
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Education of the senses of taste and smell
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Education of the sense of vision
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Exercises with the three series of cards
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Education of the chromatic sense
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Exercise for the discrimination of sounds
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Musical education
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Tests for acuteness of hearing
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; A lesson in silence
and#160; C
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Originof aphabets in present use
and#160; CHAPTER XVII
and#160;and#160;and#160; DESCRIPTION OF THE METHOD AND DIDACTIC MATERIAL USED
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Exercise tending to develop the muscular mechanism necessary in holding and using the instrument in writing
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Didactic material for writing
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; "Exercise tending to establish the visual-muscular image of the alphabetical signs, and to establish the muscular memory of the movements necessary to writing"
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Exercises for the composition of words
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; "Reading, the interpretation of an idea from written signs"
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Games for the reading of phrases
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; "Point education has reached in the "Children's Houses"
and#160; CHAPTER XVIII
and#160;and#160;and#160; LANGUAGE IN CHILDHOOD
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Physiological importance of graphic language
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Two periods in the development of language
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Analysis of speech necessary
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Defects of language due to education
and#160; CHAPTER XIX
and#160;and#160;and#160; TEACHING OF NUMERATION: INTRODUCTION TO ARITHMETIC
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Numbers as represented by graphic signs
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Exercises for the memory of numbers
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Addition and subtraction from one to twenty: multiplication and division
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Lessons on decimals: arithmetical calculations beyond ten
and#160; CHAPTER XX
and#160;and#160;and#160; SEQUENCE OF EXERCISES
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Sequence and grades in the presentation of material and in the exercises
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; First grade
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Second grade
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Third grade
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Fourth grade
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Fifth grade
and#160; CHAPTER XXI
and#160;and#160;and#160; GENERAL REVIEW OF DISCIPLINE
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Discipline better than in ordinary schools
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; First dawning of discipline comes through work
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Orderly action is the true rest for muscles intended by nature for action
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; "The exercise that develops life consists in the repetition, not in the mere grasp of the idea"
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; "Aim of repetition that the child shall refine his senses through the exercise of attention, of comparison, of judgment"
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Obedience is naturally sacrifice
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Obedience develops will-power and the capacity to perform the act it becomes necessary to obey
and#160; CHAPTER XXII
and#160;and#160;and#160; CONCLUSIONS AND IMPRESSIONS
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; "The Teacher has become the director of spontaneous work in the "Children's Houses"
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; The problems of religious education should be solved by positive pedagogy
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; "Spiritual influence of the "Children's Houses"