The Pedagogical Museum of the Niccolò Tommaseo Institute, is an original and extensive collection of educational materials devised by some of the best known and most important pedagogists of modern and contemporary times.
It was set up on the initiative of Sister Vincenza Puggioni, a Sister of the Congregation of the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent De’ Paoli, a teacher for many years at the kindergarten of the Sacred Heart Institute.
The collection, built up over several decades, starting in 1924, contemplates about a hundred authentic pieces designed for children’s education by Federico Frobel, Rosa and Carolina Agazzi, Ovide Decroly, Maria Montessori, Jean Piaget and Diners.
The oldest material is part of the educational kit designed and tested by Federico Frobel for his Gardens of Childhood.
It consists of the gifts with which, according to the German educator’s pedagogical ideal, children would learn about the changing forms of reality.
From cubes to balls to cylinders.
Also of notable importance are all of Maria Montessori’s pieces: buttoning and lacing looms, noise boxes, silk patches and ribbons, smooth- or rough-surfaced tablets, colored spools, and so on.
From the Agazzi sisters in the Museum are preserved markers, bingo boxes and knick-knacks, from Piaget some of the tools (marbles, language materials) used by the great Swiss psychologist and pedagogue to investigate the cognitive development of the child.
The collection is also enriched with other materials produced over the years by aspiring teachers.
Taken as a whole, the collection offers a valuable overview of the various methodologies and underlying pedagogical conceptions that have guided educational action in schools over the past century.
