Articles

by Dr. Helmut Knauer
Originally published in the Anthroposophical Newsheet, August 22, 1965
Download the article: Copper in the Crust of the Earth

The word "crust of the earth' for the upper mineral strata of our planet indicates a life-process in which a hardening and a solidification have arisen in the course of time. As in many other cases, the wisdom of language brings to expression a fact which no longer lives in human consciousness.

In connection with water, air and heat, forces are active in the mineral earth which are related with the processes of life. When primary rock crumbles away under the influence of the elements, it yields an excellent and fruitful soil for the growth of plants. Plants could never draw from it the forces they need for their development unless the soil contained formative forces. They could never grow upon a completely lifeless soil.

by Vera Hoffmann
November 2016, research results of a master's thesis at the RSUC Oslo, Norway, March 2016
Published in Waldorf Resources
Download the article: Creation of new Waldorf festivals based on local conditions

As a multiculturally interested Waldorf class teacher, it was my wish to contribute with a master's thesis at the RSUC Oslo to the interculturalism of the Waldorf movement. The latter is now firmly established on every continent, in various cultures and in more than three major world religions. The idea for an appropriate research focus was developed in consultation with the Pedagogical Section in Dornach. Possible transformations of typical Waldorf annual festivals, based on local conditions, would have to be investigated. For this purpose, I traveled to Peru to the small andine-indigenous Waldorf school Kusi Kawsay in Pisac, Peru in the Sacred Valley of the Incas and to the multicultural and multi religious Nairobi Waldorf School in Kenya. I examined the processes of establishment and development of new annual celebrations in each school, as well as their theoretical backgrounds.

By Edward Miller and Joan Almon
Published by the Alliance for Childhood
Download the article: Crisis in the Kindergarten - Why Children Need to Play in School

From the Preface
The argument of this report, that child-initiated play must be restored to kindergarten, will be dismissed and even ridiculed in some quarters. In spite of the fact that the vital importance of play in young children’s development has been shown in study after study, many people believe that play is a waste of time in school. School, they say, should be a place for learning. There’s plenty of time for play at home.

Skepticism about the value of play is compounded by the widespread assumption—promoted by hundreds of “smart baby" products—that the earlier children begin to master the basic elements of reading, such as phonics and letter recognition, the more likely they are to succeed in school. And so kindergarten education has become heavily focused on teaching literacy and other academic skills, and preschool is rapidly following suit.

by Douglas Gerwin
From; Center and Periphery (Winter 2021), the online newsletter of the Center for Anthroposophy
Download the article:Dateline Amherst, MA: Teaching in the Age of Coronavirus

Perhaps even more widespread than the current Covid-19 outbreak is a pandemic of fear and anxiety reaching down from adults into the lives of young people and arresting their ability to learn. As a long-time high school teacher, Douglas Gerwin reflects on a root cause and possible remedy for today’s youth.

In teaching high school students, I encounter fewer cases of truculent teenagers who say, “I won’t!” and many more cases of trepid students who say, “I can’t.” We have entered a new age of heightened mental and emotional––to some extent even physical––paralysis.

By Peter DeBoer
From Waldorf Science Newsletter
Exercises from a Ninth Grade Biology Main Lesson, excerpt from a Workbook in preparation for publication
Download the article:  The Design of Human and Animal Bodies

Note: all images and illustrations, as well as references and bibliography  accompanying this article are included in the article file, above.

Pedagogical themes:
The ninth grader (age 14-15) is generally experiencing some part of the develop­mental stage known as puberty, in which the limb region of the body and associated pro­cesses reach a “near” maturity. In this way, the body may be described as “earth-ripe¹ ” . This physical development coincides with the continued maturation of cognition, especially in the formation of abstract thoughts. Abstract thought is by its nature capable of being formed separately from the immediate life of sensation. At times this may become unrealis­tic or “fantastic” thought, and may lead to very aberrant behavior. Just as work gives the physical body something lawful and constructive to do with its energy, encouraging thinking to be anchored or checked by the apparently lawful qualities of nature accessed through careful observation provides a constructive outlet for abundant forces in the thinking life.²

by Christof Wiechert
AWSNA lecture given at the AWSNA Teachers’ Conference, Kimberton Waldorf School, Wednesday, June 26, 2002
Download the lecture: Developing a Child Study for the Young Teenager

There are three principles we need to follow when we conduct a child study in the high school faculty meeting. The first is: right speech. When I speak in a faculty meeting, is it to be really helpful or is it only to hear myself speak? The second is: right listening. This is the way to find the archai in our gatherings, for this requires active listening. You know if you listen passively you soon get very tired. Active listening, without saying a word but rather being totally in the process, will make you—others in the room, too—feel enlivened. The third is: right quietness. Everyone can feel when someone in the room is inwardly active and yet filled with quietness. I have known colleagues who seldom said a word, but if for some reason they were absent from the meeting, we felt very uncomfortable because they had been really bearing the process of our work. These are the principles that build a child study.