ACT English Practice Test 23

The following paragraphs may or may not be in the most logical order. You may be asked questions about the logical order of the paragraphs, as well as where to place sentences logically within any given paragraph.

Maria Montessori’s Method

[1]

At the end of the 19th century, Maria Montessori became Italys’ Q1 first modern woman physician. Early in her career, she struggled to advance by the Q2 male-dominated profession. As a member of the University of Rome faculty, she was assigned to the city’s insane asylums to experiment with the patients’ capacity to learn: a Q3 task considered menial by medical professionals at the time. Although her education was in the science of the human body, Q4 her interaction with mentally-disabled children drew her to study the processes of the mind and, specifically, how children learn. Q5 By 1906, she had resigned from the university to pursue a career in child education.

[2]

[1] Her observation of these children inspired her life’s work in teaching and the pursuit of progressive educational restructuring. [2] With the first children that were working class, numbering sixty, Q6 Montessori established a “children’s house” in Rome to foster an environment ideally suited for child development. [3] Her efforts led her students—even those with supposed learning disabilities—to excel at standardized examinations. [4] In the children’s house, Montessori realized how ready children Q7 learn from their environment. Q8

[3]

At its core, the Montessori Method is a theory of child development.Q9 Comparison of a child’s development Q10 to universal standards and norms is discouraged, since it is believed that children naturally develop in different ways, and acquire skills, Q11 at different times. Acknowledging this, a Montessori educator closely observed Q12 the child and provides him or her with the tools necessary for independent learning. Adults avoid giving criticism for mistakes and rewards for successes. The goal of these steps is to ease the child into an environment of learning without fear. Self-learning and self-correction are the fundamental processes of the Montessori Method, considering Q13 Maria Montessori showed will foster a lifelong love of learning and joy in the pursuit of one’s goals.

[4]

Today, children are taught with the Montessori Method in schools both public and private Q14 in the United States and many countries around the world. With increasing pressure on schools to provide quality education to a growing population, Montessori’s visionary ideas of teaching self-reliance and love of learning continue to gain popularity. Q15