Who was Maria Montessori?

0:00 Welcome to Histories Not Boring by Kidopoly.com. I'm Mira. And I'm Finn! Before we start, a big hello to Sisters B, Elia and Livia in Minnesota.

0:12 We also want to say a huge happy 7th birthday to Nell in Fort Smith, Arkansas, who is listening with her brother Owen. And a very happy, belated 10th birthday to Davin in Toronto. If you haven't already, tap follow wherever you're listening, so you never miss an episode.

0:31 Okay Finn. Imagine walking into a school, but there are no desks. Instead, kids are slicing their own apples with real knives, pouring juice from heavy glass pitchers, and deciding exactly what they want to learn that day.

0:46 Wait, real glass and knives? For little kids? That sounds like a disaster waiting to happen.

0:53 You'd think so. But more than a hundred years ago, a brilliant Italian doctor named Maria Montessori proved that if you give kids real tools and freedom, they can do absolutely amazing things. A doctor? I thought we were talking about school. Exactly! She wasn't even a teacher at first. She changed the world just by watching how kids actually learn.

1:18 You know, B. Elia and Livia asked us how children learn, which is perfectly timed for this amazing story. Oh yeah! Awesome question, guys! So where does this story start? It starts in Italy, in the year 1870. Back then, schools were super strict. Kids were expected to sit frozen at giant wooden desks, memorize facts, and never speak unless spoken to.

1:45 Oh, that sounds so boring. I'd fall asleep in five minutes.

1:50 Most kids did, but Maria Montessori was different. Growing up, she loved math and science, and she decided she wanted to be an engineer. Then she changed her mind to something even harder.

2:04 What was harder than being an engineer in the 1800s?

2:08 She wanted to be a doctor. She went to university for science in 1890, but was rejected from medical school a couple years later. Women weren't allowed. Ugh, that rule again. So what did she do? She refused to take no for an answer. She eventually got special permission to attend. But she was treated terribly.

2:31 She even had to do her anatomy lessons alone, at night.

2:35 Wait, anatomy? You mean dissecting dead bodies? Alone? At night? Ew!

2:43 Why? Because the men thought it was inappropriate to have a woman in the room while looking at naked bodies. So she had to work in the freezing, smelly lab completely by herself.

2:55 That is horrifying. But also incredibly brave.

3:00 Exactly! And in 1896, against all odds, she graduated with excellent marks and became one of Italy's first female doctors. But her biggest adventure was still to come.

3:13 Okay, so she's a doctor now. How does she end up changing schools?

3:18 As a doctor, she started working with kids who were shoved into asylums because people thought they couldn't learn. Maria proved them wrong by giving them things to touch and hold.

3:28 Wait, she just gave them stuff to play with?

3:31 Yes, and they passed the same exams as normal school kids. Word spread, and in 1906, she got a very strange job offer in Rome, in a very poor neighbourhood called San Lorenzo. What kind of job offer? Some wealthy bankers were building new apartments in San Lorenzo. But while the parents were at work, about 50 little kids aged 3 to 7 were left totally unsupervised.

3:58 50 little kids running loose? Oh no, that's like 50 tiny tornadoes.

4:05 Exactly! They were drawing on the walls, breaking things, causing absolute chaos. The building owners were desperate. They told Maria, we'll give you one room, just keep them from destroying the building.

4:19 So she was basically hired as a security guard for toddlers?

4:23 Pretty much. On January 6, 1907, she opened the Casa dei Bambini, which means the children's house. But the room was dingy and it only had a big heavy table and some standard adult-sized chairs. How are three-year-olds supposed to use giant heavy chairs? They couldn't! So Maria did something no one had ever done before.

4:47 She hired a carpenter to build tiny tables and lightweight chairs that the kids could move themselves.

4:55 Wait, you mean Maria Montessori invented kid-sized school furniture?

5:00 She absolutely did! But that wasn't all. She brought in real glass pictures, tiny brooms, and real tools, not plastic toys.

5:10 But if a four-year-old drops a glass pitcher, it shatters.

5:14 That was her point. She said if you give a kid a tin cup and they drop it, it just bounces. They don't learn anything. But if they drop glass, it breaks.

5:25 Oh, so they naturally learn to be super careful. That's genius!

5:30 Yes, she called it practical life. She showed them how to use the tools just once, and then she stepped back and just watched them. What happened? Did they run wild? The exact opposite. These wild 50 kids became incredibly focused. They loved cleaning, sweeping, and serving meals. They found real work more fun than playing with toys.

5:55 You clearly haven't seen my room. But wait, did they learn to read?

6:00 This is the best part. Maria cut out the letters of the alphabet from rough sandpaper and glued them to smooth wood.

6:07 Sandpaper? So they could feel the shape of the letters with their fingers.

6:12 Exactly. The kids traced the letters over and over, and then, one day, something she called the explosion of writing happened. What was the explosion? Did a giant pencil blow up? No. It meant that suddenly four and five-year-olds realised that the shapes they were tracing made sounds, and sounds made words.

6:34 They grabbed chalk and started writing all over the floor, the walls, everything.

6:39 They taught themselves to read and write without anyone lecturing them. That's incredible. It really was.

6:45 People couldn't believe it. Reporters, scientists, and politicians from all over the world started travelling to this poor neighbourhood in Rome to see the miracle children.

6:58 So her idea spread to other places?

7:00 Did it ever? Today, there are over 20,000 Montessori schools all over the world. From the United States to India to Japan. 20,000? From just one little room in Rome? Yep, and get ready for some fun facts. Did you know she became so famous that her face was printed on money?

7:24 Real money? No way.

7:27 Way? Before Italy started using the Euro, Maria Montessori's face was on the 1,000 lira banknote for 12 years. Also, she was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize three times.

7:40 That is seriously awesome. Do any famous people go to these schools?

7:45 Oh, just a few. How about Taylor Swift? All the two guys who invented Google, Larry Page and Sergey Brynn. Even Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, went to a Montessori school.

7:59 Wait, Taylor Swift learned to read with sandpaper letters?

8:03 Probably. The Montessori method teaches kids to be independent and follow what they are passionate about, which clearly works out pretty well for pop stars and inventors. Alright, Finn, it is time for the quiz. Are you ready?

8:17 Okay, I'm ready. Let's do this.

8:20 Okay, first question. What year did Maria Montessori open her first school in Rome? Next one, this is tricky. What was the name of that very first school? Question three. What specific type of furniture did Maria invent for her classroom? Alright, here's number four. What rough material did she use to help kids feel the shapes of the alphabet?

9:02 Last question. Name one famous person who attended a Montessori school. Great Great job! Let's go through the answers. The answer to question one is she opened it in 1907. For question two, it was called Casa de Bambini or the children's house. Number three, the answer is child size tables and chairs.

9:34 Question four, she used sunpaper. And the final answer is Taylor Swift, the Google Founders, or Jeff Bezos.

9:44 Wow, I still can't believe she was dissecting bodies alone in the freezing cold before she went on to invent kid-sized chairs.

9:53 Right? She proved that kids don't need to be bossed around all day. If you just give them the right tools, they'll learn on their own.

10:00 Hey, if you listeners want a classroom full of fun tools instead of giant boring desks, give us a five-star review right now. Just scroll down and tap the stars.

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10:35 See you next time on History's Not Boring. Bye.