Laura Flores Shaw's interesting piece in today's Huffington Post Montessori - The Missing Voice in the Education Reform Debate reminded me of Donald Clark's 2006 Brin, Page, Bezos and Wales? which pointed out that all four of them and - but NB! the 16 February 2012 comment from David Jennings on Donald's 2006 post - (and Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Mahatma Gandhi, Sigmund Freud, Buckminster Fuller, Leo Tolstoy, Bertrand Russell, Jean Piaget and Hilary and Bill Clinton before them) had early Montessori schooling.
Shaw writes:
"Over a century ago, Dr. Maria Montessori discovered through scientific observations of children that they are not empty vessels to be filled -- they are intrinsically motivated doers. She saw that providing a hands-on learning environment that valued choice, concentration, collaboration, community, curiosity, and real-world application produced lifelong learners who viewed "work" as something interesting and fulfilling instead of drudgery to be avoided. Now, research in psychology and neuroscience continually validates Dr. Montessori's conclusions about children and learning, and Montessori schools are flourishing -- not just preschools but, increasingly, elementary, middle and secondary schools."
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