ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY: MARIA MONTESSORI 1
Annotated Bibliography: Maria Montessori
Pamela Shealy
School of Education, Liberty University
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY: MARIA MONTESSORI 2
Maria Montessori
Annotated Journal Articles on Maria Montessori
Baligadoo, P. D. (2014). Peace Profile: Maria Montessori—Peace Through Education. Peace
Review, 26(3), 427-433. https://doi-
org.exproxy.liberty.edu/10.1080/10402659.2014.938003
Dr. Maria Montessori was born in Italy during a time when the normal regime was
undergoing a paradigm shift. The governmental structure was being overhauled and
social changes were underway in an attempt to unify Italy. This was a period in time in
which women were the property of their fathers and husbands. To have a doctoral degree
in medicine was a first not only for her family, but also for the country of Italy. She later
went on to study different philosophical ideals and using what she learned from those
ideals and thinkers and what she had experienced working with the poor in her youth, she
discovered that the world would not know peace until it got rid of the negative peace that
surrounded it. Negative peace is a peace that comes from war. The thought process in
which only through suppression can peace be achieved. She used this ideal to work on
positive peace, a peace that is built on harmony, which she believed to start in children.
She believed that children could be taught how to use silence to listen and learn. She
taught that children needed to be listened to and to be encouraged in learning what
positive peace was so that the world could end its dependance on negative peace. Paulo
Freire in Brazil was a follower of Dr. Montessori and advocates for education to the poor
and peace. For all her work she was nominated twice for the Nobel Peace Prize, once in
1949 and again in 1950.
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Scarpini, M. (2020). Possible Connections between the Montessori Method and Philosophy for
Children. Childhood & Philosophy, 16, 1-21. https://doi-
org.ezproxy.liberty.edu/10.12957/childphilo.2020.46784
This article focused on how Maria Montessori influenced Matthew Lipman at the end of
the 20th century. She addressed the UNESCO about the lack of human rights that were
afforded to men, but not to women or children in 1951. Lipman in the article is seen as
someone who is following on the curtails of Maria Montessori. Both Montessori and
Lipman, state that the modern education systems are more focused on the product and not
on the growth of the child. The author contends that a a combination of both The
Montessori Method and the Philosophy of Children are worthy components in the
successful education of a child. Both Montessori and Lipman state the children are
willing and active participants in their own learning, but adults in general are not willing
to listen. All children have the capacity of active and insightful thought. Both argue that
an active classroom with the correct exercise with help the student learn. This is done
with a warm, caring, and safe environment. To this end Maria Montessori created a
Children’s House, a place where children from the low-income area could come and play
and learn in a safe place. Finding errors and recognizing what needs to be changed so that
the error is corrected is how perfection is achieved. Lipman went a bit further than
Montessori and state that even the decorations in the classroom need to be conducive to
making to helping the children feeling safe and secure.
Carnes, N. (2015). We in Our Turmoil: Theological Anthropology through Maria Montessori
and the Lives of Children. Journal of Religion, 95(3), 318–336. https://doi-
org.ezproxy.liberty.edu/10.1086/681109
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This article brings to light how Maria Montessori and her philosophy of educating
children has not been recognized by the world at large. The theory of Maria
Montessori—Montessori Method— is not one that is based on scientific fact like many
educational secular philosophers, it is based on children and what she had learned
through her many years of working with children, especially from a low income area. The
author highlights several reasons that Maria Montessori’s methods have not received the
attention that it deserves. First there is the theological part of her method. She believed
the people of any faith should be able to attend school together and learn. Though a
deeply Catholic woman, she did not believe that schools should be only for the people of
one faith. The second reason given is that Maria focuses her research on the children
themselves. This also plays into the third reason, that the Montessori method plays too
much into the humanity of the children and that it is overly sentimental not in line with
scientific research. Her habit of using examples of the natural world to understand
children is not a favorable outlook to past and current philosophers. Through the natural
ability for children to absorb information in their early years, learning comes by just
living in their environment. The overall philosophy of Maria Montessori is that children
are more Christ like than many adults would like to admit to. The author does recognize
this and likens Montessori’s method to have more Catholic undertones, but one that is
also welcoming to all people and all faiths.
Synthesis of Articles on Maria Montessori
Having taught for 6 years in a Montessori and Montessori/Traditional preschool, I have
grown to love the Montessori Method for teaching younger students and a more blended
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approach of Montessori and Traditional for the older grades. The more that I learn about
Montessori and her philosophy of education and how it came about, the more that I am
determined to bring her theories into my classroom no matter what I teach. Her approach to
peace, and the delineation of the two types of peace is fascinating to me. It is something that as I
have gotten older and more experienced in teaching, I agree with more and more. Positive Peace
is the way to help students understand that they are the way for this world to become peaceful
through ways other than war.
Preliminary Thesis Statement: Maria Montessori
How has Maria Montessori’s techniques been “ignored” and yet embraced by current
educational leaders?
Montessori Methods Around the World
Annotated Journal Articles on Montessori Method Around the World
Frierson, P. R. (2016). Making Room for Children’s Autonomy: Maria Montessori’s Case for
Seeing Children’s Incapacity for Autonomy as an External Failing. Journal of Philosophy
of Education, 50(3), 332-350. https://doi-org.ezproxy.liberty.edu/10.1111/1467-
9752.12134
This article talks about the comparison of Martha Nussbaum and Maria Montessori. In
this comparison the author talks about how Nussbaum’s theory conflicts and agrees with
Montessori’s. Each student has a capacity to learn, Nussbaum and Montessori differ in
what the word capacity means. Nussbaum says that is a difference in basic, internal and
external, where Montessori calls for a normalization of release so that the child has
autonomy in their learning. The author talks about the two main capabilities that
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Nussbaum talks about are: innate and developed, but there are cross-overs on these two
types of capabilities. The innateness of seeing colors and hearing sounds but having the
capability to say the name of the color in multiple languages and hearing/recognizing the
notes of music that is played. Montessori, on the other hand, insists that all children have
the capability to choose the way that will get them into a readiness frame of mind to
learn. Children will choose objects that relate to their preference and work to make sure
that they become perfect at that one exercise/skill. Montessori does contend that children
will work based off of impulses, but those impulses can be redirected into the exercise at
hand that will help them with normalization...normalization into concentration that is
deliberate and discipline of self.
Hyde, B. (2011). Montessori and Jerome W. Berryman: Work, Play, Religious Education and the
Art of Using the Christian Language System. British Journal of Religious Education,
33(3), 341-353. https://doi-org.ezproxy.liberty.edu/10.1080/01416200.2011.595925
In this article the author attempts to compare and contrast the work of Maria Montessori
and Jerome Berryman, two theorists who were at opposite ends of the 20th century. Both
are concerned with the education of children, in both a secular environment and a
Christian environment. In the case of Berryman, he is a 1972 graduate of the Centre for
Advanced Montessori Studies. This article does verify that Berryman is a follower of
Montessori, but just like other theorists that claim to follow a specific person, he does
with his own twist to the foundations that Montessori set up. The author found that
Berryman does agree that in the setting up of the sensory works and environment that
these Montessori works are a way to bring in the liturgical actions, the parables, and the
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sacred stories of the “Christian language”. Though this is again put into a different spin
than what Mari Montessori had originally stated in their writings. In all the article puts to
the reader things about how the Montessori method is used around the world and how it
is used to address teaching the Catholic church’s sacraments to young children. Though.
Berryman considers himself a true Montessorian—in reality he is really a hodgepodge of
different, yet similar theories that have popped up over the years. Though he may not be a
Montessorian in the truest notion, he does incorporate a great deal of what Montessori
said on how students could best learn and learn with intent.
Romano, A., & Fox Lee, S. (2020). Maria Montessori: A Complex and Multifaceted
Historiographical Subject. History of Psychology, 23(2), 203–207. https://doi-
org.ezproxy.liberty.edu/10.1037/hop0000150
In this article the author conveys to the reader information about Maria Montessori as
being a feminist, a fascist, a theosophist, and a Catholic. The author brings to light some
of the information that other researchers have gathered about Maria Montessori and have
plucked information that seems to support their theories that Maria Montessori was all
these things. He also states that this information extremely selective. Though she has
been linked with fascism through some selective reading, many others have proven that
she is a woman of great talent and was ahead of her time. Foschi is one that brought to
light her transition from neuropsychiatry to pedagogy. Much of what Montessori set out
to do was to help the church help educate the children from low income families. Her
life’s work has been interpreted in two way: a secular viewpoint and a Catholic one.
Though she was a pacifist, her connections with the fascist regime brought her under
scrutiny in Spain in 1932. The author purports that Maria Montessori was a woman of
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opposites. She did not like getting into politics, but yet was constantly being connected to
politicians; she was a devote Catholic yet was deeply into the secular movement. The
author states that it is nearly impossible to consider Montessori one thing and not another.
Synthesis of Articles on Montessori Method Around the World
Maria Montessori is seen by many people as being a dichotomy of interests. She is both
ridiculed and admired around the world by many theologians. I have seen the Montessori’s
method being used in good ways and in bad ways over my years of teaching. The more I learn
about Maria Montessori the more I understand why people want to make her out to be villain.
Women of power and women who speak their mind are often cast as being a villain. Considering
that she was the first women in Italy to get her doctorate, her ideas were twisted to state that she
was in collusion with the fascist regime, that more hasn’t been done to tarnish her name and the
work that she set out to do with the Catholic church and with education children from low
income families.
Preliminary Thesis Statement: Montessori Method Around the World
Using historical context, what were the impact has Maria Montessori and her method
made in countries around the world?
