Articles

by Dana Pauly
Published in the Journal, Biodynamics, July/August 2000, September/October 2000, November/December 2000
Download the articles: Goethean Science: A Phenomenological Study of Plant Metamorphosis,
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

This is a thesis written as part of the author's work at Prescott College toward a degree in Environmental Studies with an emphasis on Agroecology.

Keywords: science, research

                                         
Note: illustrations may be found in the full pdf version of this article)  

Curtain Raiser
We would like to elaborate certain phases of teaching by, deliberately, taking an example from our everyday life. Occurrences which usually take place in school may, for the time being, be projected onto a private situation. So let us have a try on three phases and imagine the following:
               
        Phase I A couple is going to a birthday party. Good luck!
                           - A lot of guests, a lot of confusion.
        Phase II On their way home, they exchange their
                           impressions: a highpoint, a striking character.
        Phase III The next morning they debate:
                    (a) in what way were the guests related to each other and to the host?
                    (b) which news about the world did one learn from them?
                    (c) how would oneself wish to celebrate a coming birthday; what do birthdays really demand, anyway?
      
Are these really three phases? Let us have a look again at what exactly happens here.
         
At the beginning, one just throws oneself into the crowd (Phase I). One makes acquaintances without thinking much about it and enjoys meeting with the people who turn up. Any form of investigation or classifying would be distracting.

—Afterwards, all that is resounding in both of them (Phase II); both are still preoccupied with what they experienced² and, while talking it over, their emotions unite the details automatically. The ups and downs of the party now appear more as a related “whole,” and less as a mere series of events. Something that was frightening changes into a deep impression, rejoicing into true interest, a muddle into a sequence of related scenes. Later on, one dissects that “whole” again into fragments and discusses their interrelations (Phase III). One examines how this related to that, who has secretly wanted what or who has suffered, and so on (a). One is digging for insights, for knowledge (b). Finally, one ponders, asks what consequences will follow, and also, how oneself could achieve something (c). 
In this story, not a word about school lessons appeared. It demonstrates how the three elements of the elaborated method work in real life.

by Eugen Kolisko M.D
Published in the British Journal, Present Age, Volume 3, #4, 1938
Download the article: Heredity

BEFORE THE NINETEENTH CENTURY little was known of the science of heredity. It was during that century that the interest of the general public became turned to this subject and the general tendency was to attempt to explain everything in the nature of man from hereditary characteristics. . The qualities inherited from father, mother and the line of ancestors were supposed to furnish the explanation of the individual and his actions.

By Franklin G. Kane
Published in Education as an Art Vol. 27, # 1 – Spring 1968
Download the article: History for Our Time

In the Waldorf School, children begin the study of history with the earliest traditions of representative major cultures. The young part of history is the history most congenial to youngsters. It is somewhat unfortunate that this youngest part should have been given the name of ancient history. This name often prevents educators from realizing that while the origins of culture may be far away in time, they are nearest at hand in interest for children.

For our children history begins with the dramatic, pictorial, spiritually saturate myths that nourished the antiquity of all cultures. It progresses from them down to and through history proper. Thus between the ages of nine and fourteen the children make their first progressive survey of world history, from its mythological origins down to modern times.

Two features of this treatment of history are characteristic:
1) The sequence is not from the contemporary scene backwards into history, but vice versa.
2) The traditional myths of early time are taken seriously as a starting point for study of the origin of man. Each of these features deserves comment, in that each represents a marked divergence from prevailing educational practice.^*

From time to time we hear the questions from those who are less familiar with Waldorf Education, "Why isn't there more teaching of American history in the elementary grades?" "Why don't the children learn about their country?" "Isn't that the most important thing for them to learn in this modern age?" One, of course, must give serious consideration to such a question, for children growing up in the United States ought to know its heritage, its history, its heroes, its legends - and yet a further question may be raised, "Can there really be any deep understanding, can there be a meaningful appreciation of the United States in its proper place and in the perspective of world history?"

by Carmine Iannaccone
Published in Renewal, A Journal for Waldorf Education, Vol. 10#2, Fall 2011
Download the article: History, Humanity and Handwork

Our age may be a major turning point in history. Advances in microelectronics, information pro­cessing, and communications are bringing a new era, not just in technology but in all the areas of life: art and culture, human relations and education, economics and lifestyle, perception and cosmology. The personal computer has radically changed how we think about and use information, how we act, and how we interact. But even relatively simple products such as the telephone answering machine, the VCR, and the microwave oven have altered our sense of time, our expectations, and our daily lives. More sophisti­cated products such as cellular phones, compact disks, portable video cameras, and digital photography are having and will continue to have a yet more profound impact on what it means to be human.

by Manfred Von Mackensen
An excerpt from Fields, Rays, Atoms, Chapter 12, a book on 11th grade Physics
Download the article:  How do Atomistic Models Act on the Understanding of Nature in the Young Person?


After his introduction about the issues surrounding bringing science in a way that depends heavily on the model-based approach common in many physics books, Dr. Mackensen explores how we might do it another way and why. We invite comments on how you have tried to address these issues and hope to stimulate dialogue on this complex but crucial issue. — J. Petering. co-editor

Pro and con models in teaching
The abyss between naive experience and quantum theory (i.e. what scientists may think) is of course bridged in teaching—as is well known—with so called models; i.e. with visual, easy to follow simplifications. For the time being we are going to lay aside the epistemological and culturally critical doubts outlined so far, in order to consider the models— this central conceptual form of contemporary education—once more from a different side— in the context of teaching.