Maria Montessori’s thought and work between past and present

Tiziana Pironi and Manuela Gallerani begin the Special Issue with introductions to the articles that follow. Pironi considers the relationship between nature and culture in the Montessori approach that developed between the 19th and 20th centuries. She highlights how it distanced itself from positivistic determinism, and analyzes the innovative results of Montessori theory and practice in schools, which have significantly impacted today’s approaches in the educational and neuroscientific fields. Gallerani notes how Maria Montessori’s work was met with a good deal of resistance and criticism during the post-WWI and post-WWII years from Italian academics who tended to interpret her innovative educational approach rather simplistically, like a mere teaching system endowed with a certain degree of effectiveness. However, the criticism did not prevent the spread of the Mon-tessori approach in many other countries, where it was appreciated, adopted and leveraged for its effectiveness and originality. As a matter of fact, its key principles can still be found today, revised and applied in such new methods as Universal Design for Learning and Embodied Education.

Tiziana Pironi e Manuela Gallerani aprono lo Special Issue con un’introduzione che presenta e anticipa i conte-nuti dei successivi contributi. Pironi prende in considerazione il rapporto tra natura e cultura nella prospettiva montessoriana che si sviluppa a partire tra Otto e Novecento; mette in luce la sua presa di distanza rispetto al determinismo di matrice positivistica, fino ad analizzare i riscontri innovativi della sua teoria e prassi in campo scolastico, con esiti significativi nelle prospettive attuali nel campo pedagogico e neuro-scientifico. Gallerani rileva come la ricezione dell’innovativa proposta educativa di Maria Montessori abbia incontrato non poche resistenze e critiche, nel primo e secondo dopoguerra, da parte degli accademici italiani inclini a interpretarla, riduttivamente, come un apparato didattico piuttosto efficace. Critiche che non hanno impedito all’approccio montessoriano di diffondersi nel mondo, per la sua originalità e validità. Alcuni dei suoi principi-cardine si ritrovano, infatti, declinati e rivisitati in recenti metodologie, tra cui l’Universal Design for Learning e l’Embodied Education.