Waldorf Methods/Sciences 2
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 |
|
Tasks and Assignments for Waldorf Methods/Sciences 2.3.
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 age group in question. 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 age group in question. 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 2.3.
Life Sciences/Classes 6 - 8
Class 6
The study of minerals is at the heart of this class as they meet the 'threshold of causality' and the children's thinking seeks for how one thing affects another as a 'cause: The relationship between plant structure, environment and the seasonal life-cycles can be made explicit.
Geology provides the physical basis for soil types, mountain flora and fauna. Geography gives every opportunity of widening appreciation for climate, vegetation zones and the economic aspects of plant cultivation, while the beginning of woodwork brings them experience of the qualities of different woods.
From Class 6, a gardening curriculum needs to involve the children with the plant world in a direct and practical way. There need to be weekly or twice-weekly lessons which can continue right into the Upper School. The emphasis is on the care of the soil and the tending and harvesting of flowers and vegetables. The opportunities will vary according to the school's location and the resources available, but the primary need is to maintain and develop the children's connection with the plant world. The practical reality of the rotation of crops, composting, pest control and winter storage are met with over the years as well as long- term projects such as a tree nursery, where seeds germinated in the early years could be planted in the Upper School.
Zoology
Mammals
* Elephant - as highly intelligent social animal with specialised development of trunk (as hand) and ear - relationship to humans
* Dolphins and whales - as intelligent social animals of the ocean
* Seals - as specially adapted aquatic mammal (highly oxygenated blood formation)
* Kangaroo - as marsupial with highly developed foot form
Reptiles
* Snakes - dominant quality of the vertebral structure
* Tortoise - dominant quality of hardened skin plates
Fish
* Describe several typical fresh and saltwater fish * Migration of salmon and eel
* Problem of over-fishing
Molluscs, brachiopods and bivalves and gastropods
* Mussels, common sea shells
* Snails
* Worms - earthworm in connection with gardening
Insects
* In connection with botany studies - life cycle of the butterfly
* In connection with gardening - beetles, woodlice, etc.
* A threefold approach to insects; metabolic types - beetles, nerve sense types - butterflies, rhythmic types - bees
* Life cycle of bees - including care for and cultivation of bees - honey, wax, etc.
* Ants and their colonies
Botany
Flowering Plants
* Monocotyledons - lilies with their bulbs and rhizomes
* Cruciferous plants
* Grasses, unbellifers, papilionaceous flowers, chichoriaceae and the compositae groups
* Labiate flowers and other composites as examples of a concentration in the inflorescence
* Crowsfoot and roses and their many variants The progression of these flowering plants can be followed throughout the year. The seasonal 'waking' and 'sleeping' of the year can be discussed.
Class 7
At this age, the emphasis on the human being through Classes 4 and 5 becomes a conscious focus.
A main-lesson in health and nutrition provides what Rudolf Steiner described as the last opportunity to draw on a healthy instinct for what is 'good for you' both in food to eat and nourishment for the senses. The parental role and influence that has guided the younger children now needs consolidation before the more adolescent attitude takes a hold. There is also opportunity now for touching on areas of personal hygiene and sexuality before the adolescent stage of acute self- consciousness.
Nourishment through the senses, through the lungs and through food relates this main-lesson to the whole environment and to the developing responsibility of the young person for their own health.
Responsibility for oneself includes respect for the other. In a way appropriate to the particular class, conversation about the responsibilities involved in sexual relations and parenthood, and discussion around topics like contraception and love need to be cultivated during this time. This could begin simply through explaining the basis of menstruation or it could develop through a discussion about the media and teenage magazines.
If the class teacher has had conversations at parents' evenings through Classes 4, 5 and 6 so that there is an awareness, understanding and respect between parents of the different ways in which they all handle these topics in the home and the different levels of awareness that their individual children have, the classroom contribution can be a more fruitful one. Behind such issues lie the profound questions of freedom, instinct and the nature of the human being.
* The care of the senses: practical knowledge about eyesight (e.g. reading in good light), hearing (walkmans and discos), taste and smell (synthetic flavours and perfumes) touch (fabrics and allergies)
* The care of the lungs: basic knowledge of the heart and the circulation with enough detail to be practical (e.g. protection of the trachea by cilia; the intimate relationship of air and blood through the delicate membranes of the alveoli) but not with the goal of an anatomical study
* The care for diet: basic knowledge of the digestive system but, as above, emphasis on what is needed to appreciate factors for long term health (e.g. the need for roughage to stimulate the intestinal lining, the need for rhythms in eating, avoiding exercise and baths after a heavy meal): protein, carbohydrates, fats, minerals and vitamins but with the sense that the health of the whole body is more than the sum of these constituents in a numerical balance: other nutritional philosophies (e.g. vegetarian, macrobiotic, vegan); organic food; fast food: the issue of 'dieting': the role of regular exercise
* The need for sleep and a balanced day's activities
* Related illnesses (e.g. lung cancer, emphysema, obesity, anorexia, diabetes)
* Substance abuse: alcohol, nicotine and those that seem most relevant to the class and their experience (e.g. opiates, hallucinogens): the fundamental nature of addiction (whether to caffeine, chocolate and sugar or to bad habits like biting fingernails) and the steps to recognise it and change
* Healing plants (e.g. camomile, calendula); their uses in ointments, teas, etc.
* Personal health and hygiene: sweating, care of teeth and breath, skin, scalp (and the media manipulation around these): washing the hands, touching food and their connection with health (e.g. bacteria, headlice, roundworm infection)
Class 8
This age sees such a transformation within the whole being of the child that one can refer to the end of childhood. Rudolf Steiner describes this life phase as 'earth maturity' (Erdenreife). As well as new spurts of bodily growth and maturity, far- reaching new psychological dimensions open up, with a loss of orientation in relation to home, school and friendships. The dissonance between bodily and psychological processes raises the unconscious existential questions that lead young people across a threshold into Class 9.
The educational task is to accompany this important maturational step and the focus is the outer physical body.
Bringing attention to the 'deadness' of the mineral skeleton in an artistic and practical way, grounds the young people into their new bodily experiences. The details of the skeleton need not be pedantically correct anatomically; it is more important to show how bones confront gravity and resist it with uprightness or transform it into movement (e.g. the unique arch of the foot and curve of the spine, the mechanics of locomotion) and how mathematics (e.g. Golden Ratio) and physics (e.g. the role of lever principles) have relevance. The gesture of individual bones (e.g. femur) can be related to the whole architecture of the skeleton if drawing and modelling keep the artistic element alive through observation.
* The structure of the eye and/or the ear is another way to make conscious how the outer becomes inner, transformed through their form and function.
* The form and function of the spinal column and its relation to uprightness
* The shape of the foot, its arch and its relation to uprightness
* The Golden Mean and its relation to the skeleton
* The polarities and contrasts of form in head, chest and limb bones
* The relationship of bones and muscles in major joints and the lever principles involved
* A study of the forms of particular bones, e.g. contrasting vertebrae, femur
* The form and function of the human eye and/or ear
The study of minerals is at the heart of this class as they meet the 'threshold of causality' and the children's thinking seeks for how one thing affects another as a 'cause: The relationship between plant structure, environment and the seasonal life-cycles can be made explicit.
Geology provides the physical basis for soil types, mountain flora and fauna. Geography gives every opportunity of widening appreciation for climate, vegetation zones and the economic aspects of plant cultivation, while the beginning of woodwork brings them experience of the qualities of different woods.
From Class 6, a gardening curriculum needs to involve the children with the plant world in a direct and practical way. There need to be weekly or twice-weekly lessons which can continue right into the Upper School. The emphasis is on the care of the soil and the tending and harvesting of flowers and vegetables. The opportunities will vary according to the school's location and the resources available, but the primary need is to maintain and develop the children's connection with the plant world. The practical reality of the rotation of crops, composting, pest control and winter storage are met with over the years as well as long- term projects such as a tree nursery, where seeds germinated in the early years could be planted in the Upper School.
Zoology
Mammals
* Elephant - as highly intelligent social animal with specialised development of trunk (as hand) and ear - relationship to humans
* Dolphins and whales - as intelligent social animals of the ocean
* Seals - as specially adapted aquatic mammal (highly oxygenated blood formation)
* Kangaroo - as marsupial with highly developed foot form
Reptiles
* Snakes - dominant quality of the vertebral structure
* Tortoise - dominant quality of hardened skin plates
Fish
* Describe several typical fresh and saltwater fish * Migration of salmon and eel
* Problem of over-fishing
Molluscs, brachiopods and bivalves and gastropods
* Mussels, common sea shells
* Snails
* Worms - earthworm in connection with gardening
Insects
* In connection with botany studies - life cycle of the butterfly
* In connection with gardening - beetles, woodlice, etc.
* A threefold approach to insects; metabolic types - beetles, nerve sense types - butterflies, rhythmic types - bees
* Life cycle of bees - including care for and cultivation of bees - honey, wax, etc.
* Ants and their colonies
Botany
Flowering Plants
* Monocotyledons - lilies with their bulbs and rhizomes
* Cruciferous plants
* Grasses, unbellifers, papilionaceous flowers, chichoriaceae and the compositae groups
* Labiate flowers and other composites as examples of a concentration in the inflorescence
* Crowsfoot and roses and their many variants The progression of these flowering plants can be followed throughout the year. The seasonal 'waking' and 'sleeping' of the year can be discussed.
Class 7
At this age, the emphasis on the human being through Classes 4 and 5 becomes a conscious focus.
A main-lesson in health and nutrition provides what Rudolf Steiner described as the last opportunity to draw on a healthy instinct for what is 'good for you' both in food to eat and nourishment for the senses. The parental role and influence that has guided the younger children now needs consolidation before the more adolescent attitude takes a hold. There is also opportunity now for touching on areas of personal hygiene and sexuality before the adolescent stage of acute self- consciousness.
Nourishment through the senses, through the lungs and through food relates this main-lesson to the whole environment and to the developing responsibility of the young person for their own health.
Responsibility for oneself includes respect for the other. In a way appropriate to the particular class, conversation about the responsibilities involved in sexual relations and parenthood, and discussion around topics like contraception and love need to be cultivated during this time. This could begin simply through explaining the basis of menstruation or it could develop through a discussion about the media and teenage magazines.
If the class teacher has had conversations at parents' evenings through Classes 4, 5 and 6 so that there is an awareness, understanding and respect between parents of the different ways in which they all handle these topics in the home and the different levels of awareness that their individual children have, the classroom contribution can be a more fruitful one. Behind such issues lie the profound questions of freedom, instinct and the nature of the human being.
* The care of the senses: practical knowledge about eyesight (e.g. reading in good light), hearing (walkmans and discos), taste and smell (synthetic flavours and perfumes) touch (fabrics and allergies)
* The care of the lungs: basic knowledge of the heart and the circulation with enough detail to be practical (e.g. protection of the trachea by cilia; the intimate relationship of air and blood through the delicate membranes of the alveoli) but not with the goal of an anatomical study
* The care for diet: basic knowledge of the digestive system but, as above, emphasis on what is needed to appreciate factors for long term health (e.g. the need for roughage to stimulate the intestinal lining, the need for rhythms in eating, avoiding exercise and baths after a heavy meal): protein, carbohydrates, fats, minerals and vitamins but with the sense that the health of the whole body is more than the sum of these constituents in a numerical balance: other nutritional philosophies (e.g. vegetarian, macrobiotic, vegan); organic food; fast food: the issue of 'dieting': the role of regular exercise
* The need for sleep and a balanced day's activities
* Related illnesses (e.g. lung cancer, emphysema, obesity, anorexia, diabetes)
* Substance abuse: alcohol, nicotine and those that seem most relevant to the class and their experience (e.g. opiates, hallucinogens): the fundamental nature of addiction (whether to caffeine, chocolate and sugar or to bad habits like biting fingernails) and the steps to recognise it and change
* Healing plants (e.g. camomile, calendula); their uses in ointments, teas, etc.
* Personal health and hygiene: sweating, care of teeth and breath, skin, scalp (and the media manipulation around these): washing the hands, touching food and their connection with health (e.g. bacteria, headlice, roundworm infection)
Class 8
This age sees such a transformation within the whole being of the child that one can refer to the end of childhood. Rudolf Steiner describes this life phase as 'earth maturity' (Erdenreife). As well as new spurts of bodily growth and maturity, far- reaching new psychological dimensions open up, with a loss of orientation in relation to home, school and friendships. The dissonance between bodily and psychological processes raises the unconscious existential questions that lead young people across a threshold into Class 9.
The educational task is to accompany this important maturational step and the focus is the outer physical body.
Bringing attention to the 'deadness' of the mineral skeleton in an artistic and practical way, grounds the young people into their new bodily experiences. The details of the skeleton need not be pedantically correct anatomically; it is more important to show how bones confront gravity and resist it with uprightness or transform it into movement (e.g. the unique arch of the foot and curve of the spine, the mechanics of locomotion) and how mathematics (e.g. Golden Ratio) and physics (e.g. the role of lever principles) have relevance. The gesture of individual bones (e.g. femur) can be related to the whole architecture of the skeleton if drawing and modelling keep the artistic element alive through observation.
* The structure of the eye and/or the ear is another way to make conscious how the outer becomes inner, transformed through their form and function.
* The form and function of the spinal column and its relation to uprightness
* The shape of the foot, its arch and its relation to uprightness
* The Golden Mean and its relation to the skeleton
* The polarities and contrasts of form in head, chest and limb bones
* The relationship of bones and muscles in major joints and the lever principles involved
* A study of the forms of particular bones, e.g. contrasting vertebrae, femur
* The form and function of the human eye and/or ear