Download the article:  The Design of Human and Animal Bodies

From Waldorf Science Newsletter
Exercises from a Ninth Grade Biology Main Lesson, excerpt from a Workbook in preparation for publication by Peter DeBoer

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

Download the lecture: Developing a Child Study for the Young Teenager

AWSNA lecture given at the AWSNA Teachers’ Conference, Kimberton Waldorf School
by Christof Wiechert
Wednesday, June 26, 2002

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.

Download the lecture: Developmental Signposts of Adolescence

AWSNA lecture given at the AWSNA Teachers’ Conference, Kimberton Waldorf School,
by David Mitchell
Monday, June 24, 2002, Session A

We are traveling through a landscape—our life is like a wonderful river that flows
through this landscape. We, as teachers, are fortunate to be able to study and know the
developmental stages of the children we teach.

When we look at the young child we see the magnificent presence of a cosmic sun
when a baby looks at you and begins to smile. All a baby’s consciousness, all his or her
soul attributes come to expression, initially, in the face, and then this consciousness
descends to the hands, the legs, and finally to the feet. We can observe this as we watch
the stages of locomotion and increased coordination of the digits and the limbs. The
limbs are in constant movement and this movement is a requirement for speech. Without
movement, speech would not develop.

Download the article: Discipline in a Rudolf Steiner School

by Eileen Hutchins
Published in Child and Man, 1949 (England)

One of the favorite accusations against a Rudolf Steiner School is that there is no discipline, and one of the greatest difficulties for a new teacher is to establish orderly habits of behavior in his class.

It is natural that in any work where the old conventions are laid aside, the new forms of life take some while to develop. Yet everyone will agree that some kind of law and order is desirable. We cannot approve if children destroy beautiful materials, or if they are cruel to those weaker than themselves. We can hardly allow deliberate disobedience or pass unchallenged rude and disrespectful behavior. Punishment in itself, however rarely improves anyone, and it is well known that the child who is always being punished is bound to be always in mischief. We can condemn misbehavior, but can we inspire the culprit to do better?