Research Bulletin

By Douglas Sloan

Download the article: From the Editor

New Co-directors for the Research Institute

Susan Howard, Director of the Research Institutefor Waldorf Education, is leaving that position in order to take up new responsibilities as co-coordinator of the International Waldorf Kindergarten Association, a world association of Waldorf early childhood educators. Douglas Gerwin and David Mitchell will assume the role held by Susan as co directors of the Research Institute.

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By Sharna Olfman, PhD.

Download the article: Book Review, Tech Tonic

Tech Tonic:  Towards a New Literacy of Technology,
Published by Alliance for Childhood, (College Park, Maryland: Alliance for Childhood, 2004)
Reviewed by Sharna Olfman, PhD

Tech Tonic: Towards a New Literacy of Technology is an outstanding follow-up to the Alliance For Childhood’s earlier report, Fool’s Gold. Fool’s Gold, published in 2000, informed readers as to how introducing computer technologies into children’s lives prematurely can undermine healthy psychological and neurological development. It went on to elucidate developmen­tal imperatives and sound educational principles. Tech Tonic takes this cautionary tale a step further by introducing developmental guidelines for tech­nology literacy as well as guidelines for teachers, teacher education, and citizen action.

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By Faith Baldwin, Douglas Gerwin and David Mitchell

Download the article: Research on Waldorf Graduates in North America, Phase 1

EDITORIAL NOTE: The Research Institute for Waldorf Education has completed Phase I of its research project, “Research on Waldorf Graduates.” We are pleased to present the report from this first phase of the research project with this issue of the Research Bulletin. Although the body of the report is printed here in its entirety, we have omitted all the appendices except Appendix E and Appendix F. (The other appendices are available on request). This initial project will form a foundation for the more in-depth research that will now begin with Phase 2. Readers of this report will be interested to learn that Waldorf graduates are being accepted by and attending
not only the finest universities and colleges in North America but around the world. Especially intriguing is the number of students (22.8%) who opted to defer college for a year in order to pursue an impressive array of other creative and unique programs.

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By David Mitchell

Download the article: What is Spiritual Science?

While natural science observes, studies, and makes conclusions about  the practical, sensory, material world, the spiritual science introduced by Rudolf Steiner as exercises toward  conscious supersensible experiences puts forward a discipline based on moral preparation  and control  of one’s power of thinking. Beneath  the world of our conscious thought is a majestic universe to be explored by those willing to prepare themselves properly. Through self-development  and applied meditative work one can investigate that which is present beyond  the senses. This super- sensible sphere defines the realities of our everyday existence.

By David Mitchell and Douglas Gerwin

Download the article: Spiritual Research: Casting Knowledge into Love

What exactly is spiritual research, and how is it different from other forms of enquiry? These questions, and others like them, go to the heart of what Rudolf Steiner called the practice of spiritual science, or anthropos­ophy.* They were also at the center of an unusual forum held this spring in New York City, for which some 200 participants assembled to discuss the pur­pose and the method of spiritual research. The weekend was held on the top floor of New York University’s Kimmel Center, with walls of 20-foot­high windows that offered a breathtaking view of Manhattan’s distinctive skyline. In the sparkling darkness of a Friday evening and a dazzling all-day Saturday, each presenter attempted to respond to these seminal questions, or at least to cast them in a new light.

By Trevor Mepham

Download the article: The Art and the Science of Classroom Management

Classroom management—is there really any more to it than knowing where the scissors are kept? Or, how a teacher might get a class of children to line up, with chairs, and file into a hall in an orderly fashion? Apparently so, if the library shelves of teacher training programs are anything to go by. On a recent visit to the library at a nearby university, a glimpse at the fiche revealed a grand tally of 835 titles referring to class­room management. One of these tomes describes classroom management as:

The orchestration of classroom life: planning cur­riculum, organizing procedures and resources, arranging the environment to maximize efficien­cy, monitoring student progress, anticipating potential problems.1

Set against such a haul of titles it is interesting to note that in his lectures and discussions with the teachers of the Waldorf School, Rudolf Steiner makes few specific references to classroom manage­ment. Instead, he has much to say about the invisi­ble and intangible elements of classroom life and the relations between pupils and teachers. For example, in a lecture in 1920, Steiner highlights the importance of working with the children in an artis­tic way.

By Vladislav Rozentuller and Steve Talbott

Download the article: Waldorf Education: Transformation Toward Wholeness

Researchers studying human speech have shown through careful analysis of slow-motion film that in normal conversation both speaker and hearer perform an elaborate dance, rhythmically moving their bodies in syn­chrony with the speech. The movement is not iso­lated to particular parts of the body, but is harmo­nious and whole. We speak and listen with our entire bodies.

Moreover, infants mimic and move with speech well before they actually give voice to words. And not only do they respond to the sounds of speech, but they also imitate the visible gestures of the mouth. In this way, the four-month-old child already dis­plays forms of movement characteristic of his cul­ture. By analyzing bodily behavior, researchers can identify children according to class, culture, region, and gender well before they have learned to speak. So, in the words of Peter Lutzker, whose summary of this research we have drawn upon: when a child finally utters its first words, “we are not witnessing the beginnings of language acquisition, but a relatively late stage in an ongoing process.”1

By Walter Riethmüller

Download the article:The Current Debate about Temperaments

The basic tenets of anthroposophy deter­mine what happens on a day-to-day basis in the schools. An example of this is the assumptions about reincarnation and life before birth, which is reflected in an education which “conforms to karma” . . . .; on the basis of half-baked ideas about the temperaments which are scientifically untenable, children are divided into four categories. Then there are the ideas con­cerning a so-called seven-year rhythm of human development which result in no intellectual stim­uli being offered during the first seven years, among other things. This is done because chil­dren are being protected during that phase of their development by an “astral sheath,” accord­ing to Steiner, which does not allow certain impressions to get through.1

This quote from a present-day popular scientific treatise once again conveys the fatal impression that Waldorf pedagogy is simply behind the times as far as present-day educational research is concerned and works with obsolete concepts and worn-out esoteric views. It is a remarkable fact that when arguments against Waldorf pedagogy must be found, the temperaments are once again used as an easy target for attack, even though this topic repre­sents only one of many topics which Waldorf peda­gogy aims to work with during the first years of ele­mentary school.  It seems as if “the doctrine of the temperaments” is eminently suited to be pegged as a typical shortcoming of Waldorf education as a whole, which allegedly clings to outdated concepts that are scientifically untenable; the idea of the tem­peraments, it is argued, is one which is inimical to the unique individuality of each child in that it divides children into distinct categories. As if the tough discussion about the theme of the tempera­ments which took place 20 years ago had never taken place!

By Douglas Sloan

Download the article: From the Editor

By Stephen Sagarin

Download Article: Rigor Asked for in High Schools

Download the survey: Waldorf Senior Survey

A Survey of Waldorf  Seniors—2003 and 2004

For  the last two  years, the Waldorf High School Research Project has been polling Waldorf seniors in the months before  they graduate in order  to discover  how  they feel about their education. The Research Institute for Waldorf Education, which recently incorporated  the High School Research Project, has published the first phase of an extended study examining where Waldorf graduates go after finishing high school.1The poll of seniors in effect supplements  this study by offering vignettes of life in the North American Waldorf high schools from the perspective of departing 12th graders.

The Planning Group of the Research Project,_² on behalf of the Association of Waldorf Schools of North  America  (AWSNA), mailed a survey to all 27 Waldorf high schools with graduating senior classes in 2003 and 2004, inviting the graduates to comment on the strengths and weaknesses of their high school education, both from an academic and social perspective. Their responses were illuminating.

First, some statistical background. The Planning Group received a total  of 346 responses—167 in 2003  from 16 schools  and 179 in 2004 from 14 schools—representing  a little  less than half  of the Waldorf graduates in  each year._³ Of the total  number that responded, roughly 45% listed themselves  as “lifers” who had attended 12  or more  years of Waldorf pre-school, elementary,  and high school. At  the other end of the spectrum, about 25% of  the respondents  said they had attended only 1–4 years at Waldorf, mostly just the high school  grades. In other words, the students responding represented a very broad range of experience in Waldorf education,  from  less than a year in high  school  to the full experience  of early  childhood, elementary grades, and high school.  One student reported 17 years of continuous attendance at Waldorf!

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Waldorf Graduate Research, Phase II by Arthur Pittis

The Research  Institute  for Waldorf Education is currently undertaking  the second phase  of its research project concerning Waldorf  high school graduates. Phase   II will focus  on the  post-high  school lives of  Waldorf high school graduates.  This second phase, designed by Douglas Gerwin and David Mitchell,  will examine a wider range of life experiences  and in greater depth than did Phase I. It will survey former students with regard to college and university  graduations and types  and levels of degrees earned.  It will also collect  data  on occupations and careers, personal interests  and activities, relationships to studies and work, the self-perceived quality of personal relationships, and major changes in physical and emotional health.

Remedial Mathematics Report by Lori MacKinder

The study of mathematics cultivates clear logical thinking. It  is similar to lifting weights to strengthen the muscular body or cutting weeds to create a walking path. Working with math teaches problem  solving and develops inner flexibility. The activities of problem solving and thinking flexibly are important tools for  our adult world. We may not pull out the quadratic formula at the grocery store, but we do  use the neurological pathways and the capacities we have  created in working with higher mathematics  each time we encounter an everyday problem.

Reading, Writing and Reading Comprehension by Paul Gierlach

My research at present concerns three areas: a framework for a monograph, suggestions for teaching reading and writing in grades 9–12, and suggestions for teachers, especially on class structure and teaching style regarding skills classes. This report addresses the first and third of these areas. Suggestions for teaching reading and writing in high school will form the core of future research.

Teaching Sensible Science by Gary Banks

What is the nature of sensory impressions, and what are the resulting relationships by which we develop an understanding pf the world and ourselves? These questions lie at the heart of comprehending a phenomenological approach to science, which we are exploring in a new course for elementary school teachers of grades 5-8 in Waldorf schools.

Download the article: All Together Now!

Oscillations of heart rate and Respiration Synchronized During Poetry Recital

Teachers, leading your students in reciting poetry may not be simply a path to improved memory, classroom harmony, and artistic expression. It may also be  a path to improved health.

Beyond Cognition: Children and Television Viewing by Eugene Schwartz
Studies publishe in the July 2005 Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine conclude that television viewing tends to have an adverse effect on academic pursuits. In spite of this,many researchers are reluctant to voice condemnation of television viewing by children. "Parents should be encouraged to incorporate well-produced,age-appropriate educational TV into their children's lives. Such programming represents a valuable tool for stimulating children's cognitive development," write Ariel Chernin and Deborah Linebarger of the University of Pennsylvania.
These new studies, in common with most studies that have appeared in past decades, generally assess television’s effect on children’s cognitive faculties while ignoring the deeper, less-easily quantified effects of TV on children’s lives of feeling and willing. Such cognitive studies tend to focus exclusively on the content or “programming” of TV as a positive or negative force. Approaching the question from the perspectives of children’s feeling and willing faculties might give more insight into the intrinsic nature of the television experience.

International Student Assessment and Computer Use: What do Recent PISA Surveys Show? by Jon McAlice

State Funds for Waldorf Schools in England by Douglas Gerwin
The British government has published its first major study onWaldorf education, including suggestions on how the state could collaborate with Waldorf schools in England. The 200-page study, commissioned by the
Department for Education and Skills (DfES), was led by Professor PhilipWoods of the University of West of England, Bristol and included 21 of the 23 Waldorf schools in England.

On Looping by David Mitchell

The Children's Food Bill by Christopher Clouder

Download the article: Report on the Work of the Pedagogical Research Center of the German BUND

What  is the PRC and what does it do?

If the Waldorf school movement in Germany is to have a voice in discussions on education and the educational needs of our time, it will require a venue where this discussion is taken up and where these needs are met by a pedagogy oriented toward the human being. But it must also have a place where all those who work toward the further development and deepening of Waldorf pedagogy find partners for dialogue and support. The Pedagogical Research Center would lik to be such a place.

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Download the article: Four Phases of Research

The world  today  asks  that problems be solved not only in the most expedient or profitable  way, but also  in a way  that the human beings  involved in the work can grow and develop along with the well being of the activity itself. To focus on the appropriateness of the process  for those involved not only enhances productivity but develops a deep loyalty and concern among those who are working together. In  the distant past the roots of the original trade guilds were  built on such concerns  for the process. In those times, process oriented thinking was known as alchemy, a study of  how  processes which fostered  the creative activities in Nature  could be used to model human interaction  in groups and guilds.  People  who wish to work  on processes today can learn much from the language of alchemists. Images  taken  from Nature  can be refined  and then employed meditatively  as analogues for problem solving, whether  personally or in groups.

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Download the article: The Seer and the Scientist

Scrutiny
In the  course  of my  research on the  history of Waldorf schools  in the  United  States, many people with  whom I spoke,  admissions directors  and teachers among  them, casually compared  Rudolf Steiner’s ideas on the development of  children  in stages  with  the developmental research of Jean Piaget. My initial reactions were  that  this comparison  must be meant allegorically and that  it wouldn’t   bear scrutiny. Steiner’s  and Piaget’s  reputations were simply too  dissimilar; what  could  the seer and the scientist have  in common?  The  intention,  it seemed, was to  lend Piaget’s  weight  as a scientist  to Steiner’s  less familiar reputation as an  educator.  Comparing  the two  has not changed my suspicions regarding  the intentions behind the comparison,  but it has thrown  some light  on the intersection of, for  education, arguably  the two  most important  developmentalists of the 20th Century. The ways in which  Steiner’s  and Piaget’s ideas on  child development  are  similar,  and dissimilar, were not what I  had expected.

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Keywords: Piaget, Rudolf Steiner

Download the article: The Emergence of the Idea of Evolution in the Time of Goethe

Translated by Jon McAlice

The Evolution of Evolution
The  earth has gone through a long  period of evolution; this is  obvious to everyone today. We know that plants, animals, and human beings have evolved, too, and we  generally accept  that the concept   of evolution applies not only  to the kingdoms   of nature, but to cultures, languages, and even forms  of consciousness.  An evolutionary  approach has become  so widely accepted that today every good textbook on evolution  begins with a chapter covering the evolution   of the subject itself. We may be surprised to remember, then, that the concept of evolution is barely 200 years old. Before that time there was no comparable concept.

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Download the article: Soul Hygiene and Longevity for Teachers

Jack and the Beanstalk, as told by Andrew Lang, contains a subtle message for teachers seeking to have  long and healthy careers in Waldorf schools. Jack trades a white milk cow for three beans and subsequently grows an immense beanstalk that stretches through the clouds into an unknown realm. Faith, childhood wonder,  and trust allow Jack to make  his beanstalk grow and to undertake his adventure. Eventually, he gains treasure in the form of a basket full of golden eggs.

The soil has to be  robust to provide for his beans’ healthy root growth. This is where it all begins. The first and most important lesson for teachers is that we must enter the first day of our teaching profession, and each day thereafter, with our feet firmly  on the ground. We need to be fully present and wakeful in all  that we do with children.

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Download the article: Puberty as the Gateway to Freedom

Transformation  of the Etheric-Astral in Puberty

All  teachers are familiar with the physical presentation of a young person at puberty: the increasing weightiness  of the body as it “descends” into a  young person, typically visible in gait and posture, and also the soul chaos that  often  manifests  in seemingly incomprehensible and contradictory behaviors. Let me add  an image of Rudolf  Steiner’s that  clarifies  what  occurs at this time in the soul-body of a young person. In his lecture of May  25, 1922, on “Human soul life and spiritual striving  in relation to world  and earth evolution,”   Steiner describes how, before birth, a human  being assembles its own etheric body out of the  entire etheric  cosmos. This etheric body contains  a copy  of  the  entire  cosmos, in particular of the animal world,  the sun, and the moon.  During  the first years of a child’s life,  this prenatal etheric body is  born. This soul development parallels physical development with regard to the inherited etheric body. In this process, the configuration  of the etheric  body   s transformed in such a way that, among other things, a certain  concentration of etheric formative forces takes  place in the region of the heart. Steiner describes  this  process as the formation of a new etheric heart to replace the old etheric heart.  Spatially,  this etheric  heart should be conceived as occupying the same location as the physical  heart. This process reaches  its height, its conclusion, at the time of puberty. From  this time onward  a young person carries  a copy of  the  entire cosmos in his or her heart region.

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Download the article: From the Editor

Download the article: Report from the Co-Directors

Waldorf Graduate Research, Phase II by Arthur Pittis

Reading, Writing and Reading Comprehension by Paul Gierlach
In the last Research Bulletin (Autumn 2005), we saw how Waldorf education emphasizes nurturing and disciplining a student’s emerging ego so as to allow it to become neither too firmly nor too loosely attached to the physical, ether, or astral bodies. Waldorf teachers must approach and teach students artistically.

Let us now consider the attitude of the teacher. Education is as effective as the teacher who enlivens and presents it. According to Ralph Waldo Emerson, there is no such thing as history, there are only biographies. Similarly, we could say that there is no such thing as education, there are only educators.

A significant part of a teacher’s attitude regards the future. The future should be a principal concern and source of imagination for every class we teach. Every time we stand before students, we should have their futures, the futures of all others, and the future of the earth in our consciousness.

R. Steiner Library Accomodates Sleuths by David Mitchell

Teaching Sensible Science

Report on the Online Waldorf Library by Marianne Alsop

Download the article: Network M

All too often, a student graduates from a Waldorf high school and heads off to college or some other walk of life filled with fresh ideas and boundless enthusiasm for changing the way we live, but with barely an idea of how to connect with others of like mind. Sometimes these graduates do indeed find each other—at a convention on alternative sources of fuel, perhaps, or at the checkout counter of an organic grocery store— but often they struggle to link up with those of similar vision and appetite for change.

Assuming Nothing: Judith Rich Harris on Nature vs. Nurture - by Eugene Schwartz

Against Anticulturalism: A Review of Two Books by Kay Hymowitz - by Jon McAlice