montessori ed

Dr. Maria Montessori developed auto-didactic materials, or materials that teach when manipulated by a learner.  She was born in the 1870’s and passed on the 1950’s.

Think about the technology that was introduced within her lifetime (automobiles, radio, television, airplanes, telephones) and the technology introduced after her death (computers, cell phones, the internet, space travel, satellite communication, GPS).

Dr. Montessori never saw photographs of the earth from space.  She never saw a computer in action or marveled at the information available on the internet.

What kind of auto-didactic materials would she create if she were alive today?

These thoughts were inspired by a TED talk by Will Wright, the developer of the SIMS computer games which he says were inspired by the Montessori materials of his youth.

Do you suppose that Larry Page & Sergei Brin (Google founders) Will Wright (Game designer) Jeff Bezos (founder of Amazon) and others might be interested in endowing an annual prize for the development of new, developmentally appropriate auto-didactic materials?

The Montessori Prize could be like a Nobel Prize for material design, maybe with age categories 0-3, 3-6, 6-12, 12-18, adult.

This would be an interesting way to raise awareness of Montessori education principles within the “toy” and education industry.

Donorschoose.org is an interesting way for Public Montessori Schools to make it easy for families to donate online for specific school projects while also reaching out to a larger internet community of possible donors.

Here is a brief description of How it Works

onorsChoose.org is a simple way to provide students in need with resources that our public schools often lack. At this not-for-profit web site, teachers submit project proposals for materials or experiences their students need to learn. These ideas become classroom reality when concerned individuals, whom we call Citizen Philanthropists, choose projects to fund.

This type of donation could be especially useful when a public school classroom is transitioning to Montessori and needs many auto-didactic materials.  A Montessori alumnus might be donating to the site and choose your school.