Maria Montessori was 31 Born August 1870 in Italy. She grew up in middle-class family, the father was employed by the Ministry of Finance. already in the school she has high interest in Naturwisschenschaften. With the help of her father, she wrote in 1890 for the study of a medicine, which for women was possible only in Italy since 1875.
In 1896 she
wrote her doctoral thesis "Antagonistic hallucinations. She then began one of the first female doctors in Italy, with her doctoral research years. At that time, developed in anthropological and biological theory both their education and their practical work was based.
1907, she opened in Rome a day care center for children, the Casa dei Bambini. During this time she developed the Montessori method . The first version of "Il metodo della scientifica pedagogia" was released in 1909 and was steadily expanded. Today the Montessori method occurs worldwide, in Germany alone there are far mehr als tausend Montessori Schulen und Montessori Kindergärten .
Maria Montessori lebte während des zweiten Weltkrieges im Exil in Indien und verbrachte ihren Lebensabend in den Niederlanden, wo sie am 6. Mai 1952 verstarb.
Die Montessori Pädagogik beruht, im Gegensatz zur geschlossenen Bildungsmethode, auf offenem Unterricht. Dies unterstützt den Lehrenden dabei das Kind zu beobachten und die für den optimalen Lernerfolg passende didaktische Massnahme anzuwenden. 
