Waldorf Methods/Sciences 1
Introduction
" ... ancient wisdom contained no contradiction between body and soul or between nature and spirit; because one knew: Spirit is in man in its archetypal form; the soul is none other than the message transmitted by spirit; the body is the image of spirit. Likewise, no contract was felt between man and surrounding nature because one bore an image of spirit in one's own body, and the same was true of every body in external nature. Hence, an inner kinship was experienced between one's own body and those in outer nature, and nature was not felt to be different from oneself. Man felt himself at one with the whole world. He could feel this because he could behold the archetype of spirit and because the cosmic expanses spoke to him. In consequence of the universe speaking to man, science simply could not exist. Just as we today cannot build a science of external nature out of what lives in our memory, ancient man could not develop one because, whether he looked into himself or outward at nature, he beheld the same image of spirit. No contrast existed between man himself and nature, and there was none between soul and body. The correspondence of soul and body was such that, in a manner of speaking, the body was only the vessel, the artistic reproduction, of the spiritual archetype, while the soul was the mediating messenger between the two. Everything as in a state of intimate union. There could be no question of comprehending anything. We grasp and comprehend what is outside our own life. Anything that we carry within ourselves is directly experienced and need not be first comprehended. ... Precisely because man had lost the connection with nature, he now sought a science of nature from outside." - Rudolf Steiner in "The Origins of Natural Science."
In Waldorf education, the science subjects do not start with nor are built from theories and formulas. Rather they start with the phenomena and develop in an experiential way, by first presenting the phenomenon, having the students make detailed observations, then guiding the students to derive the concepts that arise from the phenomena, and finally deriving the scientific formulas and laws behind the phenomena.This methodology reflects the way basic science actually has been developed by scientists and trains the pupils stepwise in basic scientific thinking and reflection on the basis of personal experience and observation of the phenomena of nature and the history of science. In kindergarten and the lower grades, the experience of nature through the seasons is brought to the children through nature walks, nature tables and observation of nature around. In later grades, there are specific main lesson blocks dealing with Man and Animal, and other themes. In grade 5, scientific ideas may be taught historically through the study of the Greeks, for example, Aristotle, Archimedes and Pythagoras. In grades 6-8 the science curriculum becomes more focused with blocks on physics (optics, acoustics, mechanics, magnetism and electricity), botany, chemistry (inorganic and organic), and anatomy. In high school, science is taught by specialists who have received college level training in biology, chemistry and physics and these three subjects are taught in each of the 4 years of high school. Course Outlines
Waldorf Methods/Sciences 1
Lesson 1: Chemistry/Kindergarten/Grades Lesson 2: Chemistry/Classes 9 - 12 Lesson 3: Physics/Introduction Lesson 4: Physics/Classes 6 - 8 Lesson 5: Physics/Classes 9 - 12 Waldorf Methods/Sciences 2 Lesson 1: Life Sciences/Introduction Lesson 2: Life Sciences/Classes 4 - 5 Lesson 3: Life Sciences/Classes 6 -8 Lesson 4: Life Sciences/Classes 9 -10 Lesson 5: Life Sciences/Classes 11 -12 Waldorf Methods/Sciences 3 Lesson 1: Geography/Introduction Lesson 2: Geography/Classes 1 - 8 Lesson 3: Geography/Classes 9 - 12 Lesson 4: Gardening and Sustainable Living Lesson 5: Technology |
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Tasks and Assignments for Waldorf Methods/Sciences 1.3.
Please study and work with the study material provided for this lesson. Then please turn to the following tasks and assignments listed below.
1. Study the material provided and look up other resources as needed and appropriate.
2. Create examples of curriculum that addresses the learning method and content appropriate for the young child in Kindergarten and grades 1 - 6. Curriculum examples should include outlines and goals, activities, circle/games, stories, and illustrations/drawings:
Create 2 examples for this age group.
3. Additionally submit comments and questions, if any.
Please send your completed assignment via the online form or via email.
1. Study the material provided and look up other resources as needed and appropriate.
2. Create examples of curriculum that addresses the learning method and content appropriate for the young child in Kindergarten and grades 1 - 6. Curriculum examples should include outlines and goals, activities, circle/games, stories, and illustrations/drawings:
Create 2 examples for this age group.
3. Additionally submit comments and questions, if any.
Please send your completed assignment via the online form or via email.
Study Material for Waldorf Methods/Sciences Lesson 1.3.
Physics/Introduction/Kindergarten/Lower Grades
The main aim of science teaching is to grasp the core of science that is relevant to the human being as well as presenting it in an imaginative way to appeal to the emotions. This means developing a faculty of observation for the real gestures of nature. Indeed science lessons begin at the age when the child gains an ability to see the world causally and they must serve to cultivate this thinking faculty. Indeed this can occur in such a way that a qualitative thinking is developed that continually considers the changing connection between the human being and the world.
Through the limiting of science to size, number and weight (as Galileo did), that is, to the purely quantitative, the question of the being of natural phenomena has been lost. During the rise of the modern age, man began to ask how he could control nature, and finally to see this control as what is essential. This trend has been connected with the development of causal and theoretical model views, because it is only possible to have absolute mastery over natural processes when you can explain them causally. If this is not initially possible, phenomena are reduced conceptually to explainable processes.
The danger is that these concepts of imposed quantitative and particle-like models of nature are taken up by pupils as objective reality. From this experience for example a curriculum formulated in 1977 already has this warning:
It is essential to use models which are not too perfect when beginning teaching. There must be elementary phenomena which cannot be explained by the models used. Only by this means do the pupils altogether gain the insight into the principle of the insufficiency of models.
What is more valuable from a pedagogical point of view are however the following principles:
* 1. In place of models which cannot be experienced, should be thought processes which have their basis in real perception.
* 2. Initially an emotional connection to the phenomena must be awakened in the child. This must then be raised from the subjective level in order that the intrinsic qualities can be grasped in cognitive activity.
* 3. Thereby science teaching in the Waldorf school takes its departure from the sense qualities. Indeed it can in this respect even be described as an extremely sense-orientated method. This plays an important role and has a hygienic-pedagogical aspect. The lively joy in cognition is healing for the student aged between twelve and fourteen years, and can even possibly lighten the tendency towards all- too-strong self-pre-occupation.
The phenomenological world view, the creative forming of thought connections with natural events requires, however, even more. It should not only be done out of an honest pedagogical endeavour towards a human-centred acquisition of knowledge. Rather it involves a epistemological discussion of the basic ideas of the empirical method of science.
The active participation of the individual person in the world characterises Rudolf Steiner's theory of knowledge. In his basic books on this subject A Theory of Knowledge and The Philosophy of Freedom', Rudolf Steiner described the connection between sense impression and thinking.
Our whole being functions in such a way, that it flows in reality towards the elements of each thing observed from two sides; from the side of perception and from that of thinking.
Science teaching in the Waldorf school seeks to do justice to this basic rule.
Through the limiting of science to size, number and weight (as Galileo did), that is, to the purely quantitative, the question of the being of natural phenomena has been lost. During the rise of the modern age, man began to ask how he could control nature, and finally to see this control as what is essential. This trend has been connected with the development of causal and theoretical model views, because it is only possible to have absolute mastery over natural processes when you can explain them causally. If this is not initially possible, phenomena are reduced conceptually to explainable processes.
The danger is that these concepts of imposed quantitative and particle-like models of nature are taken up by pupils as objective reality. From this experience for example a curriculum formulated in 1977 already has this warning:
It is essential to use models which are not too perfect when beginning teaching. There must be elementary phenomena which cannot be explained by the models used. Only by this means do the pupils altogether gain the insight into the principle of the insufficiency of models.
What is more valuable from a pedagogical point of view are however the following principles:
* 1. In place of models which cannot be experienced, should be thought processes which have their basis in real perception.
* 2. Initially an emotional connection to the phenomena must be awakened in the child. This must then be raised from the subjective level in order that the intrinsic qualities can be grasped in cognitive activity.
* 3. Thereby science teaching in the Waldorf school takes its departure from the sense qualities. Indeed it can in this respect even be described as an extremely sense-orientated method. This plays an important role and has a hygienic-pedagogical aspect. The lively joy in cognition is healing for the student aged between twelve and fourteen years, and can even possibly lighten the tendency towards all- too-strong self-pre-occupation.
The phenomenological world view, the creative forming of thought connections with natural events requires, however, even more. It should not only be done out of an honest pedagogical endeavour towards a human-centred acquisition of knowledge. Rather it involves a epistemological discussion of the basic ideas of the empirical method of science.
The active participation of the individual person in the world characterises Rudolf Steiner's theory of knowledge. In his basic books on this subject A Theory of Knowledge and The Philosophy of Freedom', Rudolf Steiner described the connection between sense impression and thinking.
Our whole being functions in such a way, that it flows in reality towards the elements of each thing observed from two sides; from the side of perception and from that of thinking.
Science teaching in the Waldorf school seeks to do justice to this basic rule.