Maria Montessori challenged and changed how kids are taught, and remains influential today
- Written by Catherine McTamaney, Associate Professor of Teaching and Learning, Vanderbilt University
The education innovator, in London, in the late 1940s.AP PhotoOne hundred and fifty years after Maria Montessori’s birth, tens of thousands of teachers around the world still hail her innovations and educational philosophy.
One of Italy’s first female doctors, Montessori applied her training as a scientist to teaching children in new...

