Waldorf Methods/Sciences 3
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 3.3.
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 3.3.
Geography/Earth Sciences/Environmental Studies/Human Geography and Economics/Class 9 - 12
In the Upper School, geography and all the other subjects continue in their task of accompanying and supporting the pupils in their physical, psychological and spiritual development. At this age this is helped by looking at the earth as something whole, beginning with the physical consistency of the rocks and the life processes in the earth (vegetation zones as organs of the earth, rhythmical processes inside the earth and in its mantle of water and air). Then comes the transformation of the earth by human activity (human geography). The earth should be understood as an organism, which means that this concept must be clarified and that a Goetheanistic or contextual approach taking the phenomena as the starting point must be developed. It is good to avoid giving merely abstract, value-free knowledge or overstressing physical and mathematical chains of cause and effect. Rather than conditions, it is processes that need to be described, leading on to the cultural situation of the population in different regions.
Geography in the Upper School must develop into eco-geography. Examples must show the ecological effect of human activity on the different life conditions in the world (rainy and dry seasons, steppes, rainforest, monsoon and Gulf Stream climates), and the highly adapted lifestyles and industrial practices of the various societies. The consequences of disregarding ecological and socio- cultural structures by colonial and neo-Colonial exploitation must also be described. Towards the end of the Upper School, geography can become 'study of the earth's evolution: By learning from the skills of indigenous populations we can sow the seeds for a 'partnership with nature'. Discussions of a social order that is in keeping with human dignity can open up perspectives for the future.
Class 9
In Class 9 the pupils become 'mature for the earth', to use Steiner's phrase, and their bodies are more weighed down by gravity. In biology, for example, this phase is accompanied by studying the most 'earthly' part of the human body, the skeleton and the sense organs. The corresponding element in geography is the 'earth's skeleton', the world of minerals and their formations (the rocky mantle of the earth). The crucial factor here is the vividness with which teleological forces can be described. The macro-cycles of continental movements, mountain building, vulcanism, faulting and earthquakes need to be experienced as dynamic processes and not reduced to abstract and therefore incomprehensible diagrams or graphics. The students have to be able feel the three dimensional forces, of rift valley formation for example, as something they can grasp with their whole bodies, not merely with their intellects. This calls for a lively, participatory kind of teaching, one which cultivates a living and plastic imagination of nature's forces. Although picture material will be essential, the students first have to create their own inner pictures of the processes involved.
* Shape and distribution of continents and oceans
* Morphology and formation of folded mountains
* The 'mountain cross' of the earth, the great rift valleys, volcanoes, mid-ocean ridges and ocean trenches. From continental drift to plate tectonics
* Mineralogy, rhythmical processes in rock formation
* An overview of the earth's history
* Geological layers showing former ice ages and the effects of glaciation
* A survey of the other main forms of erosion
Class 10
The view Class 9 pupils have of the world is fairly homogeneous. In Class 10 this begins to fragment into perhaps quite contrary aspects. The youngsters can lose some of their confidence and begin to doubt things. At the same time they begin to discover their own internal soul space and are thus able to approach worldly phenomena with a greater degree of subtlety. For example this is the time when the most vital organs are discussed in biology; the processes of these organs can be traced as having an effect even in the psychological realm. In the geography main-lesson the earth itself is seen as a living organism with vital processes going on inside the depths of the earth, in its rocky crust, in its watery and airy mantle and even in outer space. In each case the most rhythmical processes are the ones to be studied.
* The mantles of the earth: from the lithosphere to the stratosphere
* The inner structure of the earth
* Movements of the tectonic plates
* Characteristics of water and how it flows: rivers and ocean currents as living organs of the earth: interchange between deep and surface currents.
* The links between ocean currents and climate, e.g. the Gulf Stream, trade winds, el Nino, etc.
* The layers of the atmosphere: meteorology (with practical exercises): the planetary winds: the earth's magnetic field
* Interplay between climate and vegetation: the ecosystems of the earth as organs of an organism
* Movements and rhythms of the earth
Class 11
Pupils in Class 11 take a clear step towards finding themselves. They gain confidence in their own inner powers of thinking, feeling and willing. They can begin to understand subtle correlations in the web of cause and effect, the kind of thinking necessary to grasp complex phenomena such as ecosystems. This makes it possible to lead the pupils beyond what they have been able to imagine so far. In biology, for example, the pupils are asked to look at the world of the cell, and of unicellular animals, i.e. the world of the unimaginably small. In geography there can be an astronomy main- lesson, to enable the pupils to enter the world of the unimaginably vast. On the other hand cartography does justice to the pupils' new capacity for abstract thought through the task of depicting the round globe on a two-dimensional flat surface. (Steiner suggested cartography for pupils of this age as a continuation of the surveying main-lesson.)
The specifically geographical theme for this class is eco-geography. It examines the interplay between outer space, the relief structure of the face of the earth, climate, vegetation and the human being. Following on from the geography main-lesson of Class 10 (the mantles of the earth), this new main- lesson would need to include more economic and social geography. These should not concentrate solely on negative developments such as pollution and ecological destruction, but must also show the beginnings of a study of how the earth evolves. Examples of the positive influence on ecosystems through increased bio-diversity in some traditional forms of land cultivation can be discussed with a view to the feasibility of replicating similar effects through modern land management programmes. The whole concept of what constitutes health in an ecosystem should be discussed so that it becomes clear that nature left to her own devices is not the only answer, that people can live on the land in sustainable ways. Technology lessons throughout the year can lend further depth to these subjects.
* The earth's landscape zones as ecosystems and the significance of bio-diversity
* History as a process of economic steps
* Mineral wealth and its exploitation: world trade
* Poverty in developing countries created by exploitative practices
* Aspects of a just economic/social system
* Examples and assessment of ecological industry today
* Tasks for the future
* Aspects of modern astronomy and cosmology (can also be done in Class 12)
Class 12
The young people's horizon widens in Class 12. They get a closer focus of their own life tasks, and they also regard the problems of the world with a greater sense of responsibility. The step towards maturity they are taking now requires a change in the style of teaching them. They want an overview; they look for links with other subjects; they discuss questions of lifestyle in a highly technical world. By the end of their time at school the young people ought to have reached the realisation that a new partnership between human beings and the earth is needed, and that every single individual must work towards this.
* Seeing the earth from the point of view of its natural as well as its cultural structures
* Early forms of humanity and the emergence of Homo sapiens sapiens: the significance of human evolution for the biosphere: language, technology, culture, religion and history as factors determining the creation of different peoples and nations
* Geographical and cultural origins of society
* Population changes and what the earth can support: starvation and affluence
* The task of overcoming racism and nationalism. The importance of education
* Steiner's ideas about a threefold social order as one possibility. Successful projects and initiatives. Examples of responsible behaviour towards the earth with regard to nature and the socio-cultural structure
Geography in the Upper School must develop into eco-geography. Examples must show the ecological effect of human activity on the different life conditions in the world (rainy and dry seasons, steppes, rainforest, monsoon and Gulf Stream climates), and the highly adapted lifestyles and industrial practices of the various societies. The consequences of disregarding ecological and socio- cultural structures by colonial and neo-Colonial exploitation must also be described. Towards the end of the Upper School, geography can become 'study of the earth's evolution: By learning from the skills of indigenous populations we can sow the seeds for a 'partnership with nature'. Discussions of a social order that is in keeping with human dignity can open up perspectives for the future.
Class 9
In Class 9 the pupils become 'mature for the earth', to use Steiner's phrase, and their bodies are more weighed down by gravity. In biology, for example, this phase is accompanied by studying the most 'earthly' part of the human body, the skeleton and the sense organs. The corresponding element in geography is the 'earth's skeleton', the world of minerals and their formations (the rocky mantle of the earth). The crucial factor here is the vividness with which teleological forces can be described. The macro-cycles of continental movements, mountain building, vulcanism, faulting and earthquakes need to be experienced as dynamic processes and not reduced to abstract and therefore incomprehensible diagrams or graphics. The students have to be able feel the three dimensional forces, of rift valley formation for example, as something they can grasp with their whole bodies, not merely with their intellects. This calls for a lively, participatory kind of teaching, one which cultivates a living and plastic imagination of nature's forces. Although picture material will be essential, the students first have to create their own inner pictures of the processes involved.
* Shape and distribution of continents and oceans
* Morphology and formation of folded mountains
* The 'mountain cross' of the earth, the great rift valleys, volcanoes, mid-ocean ridges and ocean trenches. From continental drift to plate tectonics
* Mineralogy, rhythmical processes in rock formation
* An overview of the earth's history
* Geological layers showing former ice ages and the effects of glaciation
* A survey of the other main forms of erosion
Class 10
The view Class 9 pupils have of the world is fairly homogeneous. In Class 10 this begins to fragment into perhaps quite contrary aspects. The youngsters can lose some of their confidence and begin to doubt things. At the same time they begin to discover their own internal soul space and are thus able to approach worldly phenomena with a greater degree of subtlety. For example this is the time when the most vital organs are discussed in biology; the processes of these organs can be traced as having an effect even in the psychological realm. In the geography main-lesson the earth itself is seen as a living organism with vital processes going on inside the depths of the earth, in its rocky crust, in its watery and airy mantle and even in outer space. In each case the most rhythmical processes are the ones to be studied.
* The mantles of the earth: from the lithosphere to the stratosphere
* The inner structure of the earth
* Movements of the tectonic plates
* Characteristics of water and how it flows: rivers and ocean currents as living organs of the earth: interchange between deep and surface currents.
* The links between ocean currents and climate, e.g. the Gulf Stream, trade winds, el Nino, etc.
* The layers of the atmosphere: meteorology (with practical exercises): the planetary winds: the earth's magnetic field
* Interplay between climate and vegetation: the ecosystems of the earth as organs of an organism
* Movements and rhythms of the earth
Class 11
Pupils in Class 11 take a clear step towards finding themselves. They gain confidence in their own inner powers of thinking, feeling and willing. They can begin to understand subtle correlations in the web of cause and effect, the kind of thinking necessary to grasp complex phenomena such as ecosystems. This makes it possible to lead the pupils beyond what they have been able to imagine so far. In biology, for example, the pupils are asked to look at the world of the cell, and of unicellular animals, i.e. the world of the unimaginably small. In geography there can be an astronomy main- lesson, to enable the pupils to enter the world of the unimaginably vast. On the other hand cartography does justice to the pupils' new capacity for abstract thought through the task of depicting the round globe on a two-dimensional flat surface. (Steiner suggested cartography for pupils of this age as a continuation of the surveying main-lesson.)
The specifically geographical theme for this class is eco-geography. It examines the interplay between outer space, the relief structure of the face of the earth, climate, vegetation and the human being. Following on from the geography main-lesson of Class 10 (the mantles of the earth), this new main- lesson would need to include more economic and social geography. These should not concentrate solely on negative developments such as pollution and ecological destruction, but must also show the beginnings of a study of how the earth evolves. Examples of the positive influence on ecosystems through increased bio-diversity in some traditional forms of land cultivation can be discussed with a view to the feasibility of replicating similar effects through modern land management programmes. The whole concept of what constitutes health in an ecosystem should be discussed so that it becomes clear that nature left to her own devices is not the only answer, that people can live on the land in sustainable ways. Technology lessons throughout the year can lend further depth to these subjects.
* The earth's landscape zones as ecosystems and the significance of bio-diversity
* History as a process of economic steps
* Mineral wealth and its exploitation: world trade
* Poverty in developing countries created by exploitative practices
* Aspects of a just economic/social system
* Examples and assessment of ecological industry today
* Tasks for the future
* Aspects of modern astronomy and cosmology (can also be done in Class 12)
Class 12
The young people's horizon widens in Class 12. They get a closer focus of their own life tasks, and they also regard the problems of the world with a greater sense of responsibility. The step towards maturity they are taking now requires a change in the style of teaching them. They want an overview; they look for links with other subjects; they discuss questions of lifestyle in a highly technical world. By the end of their time at school the young people ought to have reached the realisation that a new partnership between human beings and the earth is needed, and that every single individual must work towards this.
* Seeing the earth from the point of view of its natural as well as its cultural structures
* Early forms of humanity and the emergence of Homo sapiens sapiens: the significance of human evolution for the biosphere: language, technology, culture, religion and history as factors determining the creation of different peoples and nations
* Geographical and cultural origins of society
* Population changes and what the earth can support: starvation and affluence
* The task of overcoming racism and nationalism. The importance of education
* Steiner's ideas about a threefold social order as one possibility. Successful projects and initiatives. Examples of responsible behaviour towards the earth with regard to nature and the socio-cultural structure