first Casa Dei Bambini and Montessori method

Write a note on the first Casa Dei Bambini. Also, explain how the Montessori method developed there?

Ans. INTRODUCTION: Casa Dei Bambini means The house of children, it was first inaugurated on June 06, 1907, in San Lorenzo. San Lorenzo was one of the worst slums of Rome and the place was established as a daycare center for the children of working-class families, who were too young to attend public schools. Though Dr. Maria Montessori was offered the position of a medical officer there after accomplishing miracles with children of special need she was eager to test her method of teaching on normal children and was sure that it would be a huge success if tried on normal children.

First Casa Dei Bambini was actually an open area for around 50-60 children from extremely underprivileged families with one untrained teacher. Coming from such backgrounds they were like untamed animals who lacked civility in any sense. Dr. Maria also had no experience dealing with such children.

Pedagogical Development: Dr. Maria Montessori started her journey in first Casa Dei Bambini with no pre-set curriculum or set up but simply observed the children and catered to their needs.

Maintaining Discipline Since it was extended day school and meals were served twice a day and kids were bathed regularly so she started to teach older children to help with daily routine tasks.  Once the children start taking interest in everyday chores, like helping staff to serve food, cleaning, dressing, gardening, etc. They start behaving well and become disciplined. EPL (Exercises of Practical life) proved to be of great use in disciplining students at first.

Sensorial Exercises: Later she introduced the hand on the material of sensorial development, motor skills, and eye-hand coordination. Children were immensely interested and unlike special needs children who need some push to get involved in those things, normal children are naturally inclined and have longer spans of constructive activity.

Formal Education: After around six months only the children from slums who lack decency became the model of grace and courtesy. Mothers of these children then requested formal education, though Maria Montessori did not favor teaching children alphabets or bookish things at such a young age, yet she agreed, and to her great surprise, their learning curve with formal education was exponential. She observed closely what interested the children more and developed material accordingly.

She continued with her work, after alphabets she started developing material to teach numbers and mathematics and geometry basic core concepts like long rods, pink tower, 2D shape trays, and surprisingly children indirectly learned and mastered more complex concepts easily and quickly like four-digit multiplication and addition, etc.

As she found great potential for learning in children, she kept on developing methods and materials to teach them geometry, geography, history, and even cosmos.

The ideology of the Montessori Method: Some people criticized her method of teaching as very strict to which she responded “ I followed these children, studying them, studied them closely and they taught me how to teach them.”

Students coming from Montessori ace advanced mathematics because she believed that children should not be forced to learn in the typical way schools had been teaching but if children are given correct settings and opportunities and the right guidance at an early age they can do wonders.

Soon the first Casa Dei Bambini attracted visitors from all walks of life, like doctors, mothers, educationists, and even journalists. Within a short span of time, many casa Dei Bambini were opened across Western Europe and even in America.