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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
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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.

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
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