Dr. Maria Montessori was the first woman to graduate from medical school in Italy. She completed her medical degree in 1896 and began working with mentally-disabled children. She wanted to see how much they were capable of learning, and she was so astounded with her results that she began to wonder how the same methods of teaching would work on normal children.

She had the chance to test these methods in 1907 when she was asked to create a school for the children of working parents in a low-income housing complex. This became the first Montessori school, and she named it Casa dei Bambini or Children's House. Her methods were even more astounding when used on normal children. She found that the children had a natural love of work and a natural curiosity. She observed that every child had a natural path of development that he was drawn to pursue unless he was blocked by some obstacle to his learning. She said that our job as parents and teachers was to give the child an environment rich in materials that would stimulate learning and then get out of the child's way, so that we wouldn't become that obstacle.

In 1913 Montessori came to the United States on a lecture tour. She was invited to set up a classroom at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco. A classroom with glass walls was built and twenty-one children were enrolled. The children attended for four months and were observed each day by the visitors to the exposition. The class was awarded two gold medals for education at the exposition.

Montessori began training teachers in her method all over the world. Living through two world wars, she felt that the true way to peace would come as children were educated in the ways of peace. She was twice nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. She died in 1952, but her work was carried on by her son, Mario.

Today Dr. Montessori's methods of education are being used all over the world. There are Montessori schools on every continent except Antarctica; and in many places the public schools have started to use her methods and the teaching materials that she designed. Dr. Montessori's respect for the child and her deep love and caring for each person have borne fruit in today's world. Her method is renowned for turning out graduates who know who they are and what their places are in the world