Research Bulletin

Articles in this issue include:

The Real Meaning of Hands-on Education by Frank Wilson, M.D.

America's Gold Rush: Can It Be Redeemed? by Dorit Winter

Atopy in Children of Families with an Anthroposophic Lifestyle by Johan Alm, M.D. et. al.

Update: The Alliance for Childhood and State of the World Forum on Childhood by Joan Almon

Update: LEAP Project by Bob Anderson

Update: San Francisco Conference on the Four-fold Heart of Waldorf Education by Cindy Bajema

Update: The Work of the Waldorf Education Research Institute by Susan Howard

Articles in this issue include:

Balance in Teaching, Balance in Working, Balance in Living by Roberto Trostli

Adult Education in the Light of Anthroposophy by Michael Howard

Setting Priorities for Research by Susan Howard, Douglas Sloan and Roberto Trostli

Update: Attention-Related Disorders (ARD) Study by the Research Team

Update: Learning Expectations and Assessment Project (LEAP) by staff

Update: Cultural Renewal for the New Millennium: Major Challenges and Educational Tasks by staff

Articles in this issue include:

Confronting the Culture of Disrespect by Langdon Winner

Where Is the Waldorf School Movement Going? by Johannes Kiersch

Computers in Education: Why, When, How by Lowell Monk and Valdemar Setzer

Low SES Minority Fourth-Graders' Achievement by Jennifer Schieffer and R.T. Busse

Balancing the Four Polarities by Dorit Winter

Education As An Art by Michael Howard

Main Lesson Block Teaching in the Waldorf School by Roberto Trostli

Rudolf Steiner Library Information

Articles in this issue include:

Trained to Kill by Dave Grossman

Education of the Will as the Wellspring of Morality by Michaela Glöckler, M.D.

Hand Movements Sculpt Intelligence by Arthur Auer

The Online Waldorf Library Project by Dave Alsop

Waldorf Science Education: An Investigation of Curriculum & Practice by David Jelenik

Articles in this issue include:

Creating a Sense of Wonder in Chemistry by David Mitchell

Science a Process or Dogma? The Case of the Peppered Moth by Craig Holdrege

Spirit Will and Ethical Individuality, Part 1 by Michael Howard

Did Rudolf Steiner Want a Seven-Grade Elementary School Configuration? by Mark Ricco

Phases and Transitions in Waldorf Education by Harlan Gilbert

Waldorf High School Research Project: Who is the Teenager Today? by Douglas Gerwin

Initial Report of the Waldorf ADHD Research Project by Kim Payne, Bonnie River-Bento, Anne Skillings

International Survey of the Status of Waldorf Schools by Earl Ogletree

Case Study Research: The Waldorf Teacher by Nina Ashur

Articles in this issue:

On Forgetting to Wear Boots by Steve Talbott

Organizations as Living Organisms: Developing a Seven-fold View by Magda Lissau

Educating the Will - Part II: Developing Feeling Will in Contrast to Sense/Nerve Will by Michael Howard

"Let's quickly go over that again..." Recapitulation and the Waldorf Curriculum by Alduino Mazzone

Being on Earth - A Sketch of a Forthcoming Book by Stephen Edelglass, Georg Maier, and Ron Brady

Articles in this issue:

From the Editor by Douglas Sloan

The Vital Role of Play in Early Childhood Education by Joan Almon

In What Respect Are Star Children Different? by Georg Kuhlewind

The Hague Circle Report to North American Waldorf Schools by Monique Grund and James Pewtherer

The Push for Early Childhood Literacy; Taking a Careful Look by Editorial Note

Moving in Slow Motion by Barry Sanders

The Push for Early Childhood Literacy: A Risk Factor in Childhood Psycopathology by Sharna Olfman

The Push for Early Childhood Literacy: The Loss of Nature by William Crain

The Push for Early Childhood Literacy: A View from Europe by Christopher Clouder

Reclaiming Childhood: Letting Children Be Children in Our Achievement-Oriented Society by William Crain - Reviewed by Edward Miller

The Online Waldorf Library Project - A Progress Report by Marianne Alsop

The Research Institute for Waldorf Education - Looking Towards the Future by Susan Howard, Director

Articles in this issue include:

From the Editor by Douglas Sloan

No Such Thing: Recovering the Quality of Rudolf Steiner's Educational Work by Stephen Keith Sagarin

Beyond Innovation: Education and Ethos in an Era of Ceaseless Change by Langdon Winner

How Poems Teach us to Think by Gertrude Reif Hughes

Educating the Will: Part 3, Common Will and Comprehensive Will by Michael Howard

Whom are We Teaching? by Susan Kotansky

Articles in this issue:

From the Editor by Douglas Sloan

Rudolf Steiner and the New Educational Paradigm by Christof Wiechert

Teaching as Learning in a Steiner Setting by Christopher Clouder

Education towards Health is Education towards Freedom by Johannes Denger

The Stranger in the Mirror: Reflections on Adolescence in the Light of Movement Education by Jaimen McMillan

Pulling the Grass Doesn't Make it Grow any Faster by Gerald Huether

The New Generation of Children by Renate Long-Breipohl

The Mysteries of the Social Encounter by Dieter Brull by reviewed by Scott Olmsted

Extraordinary Lives: Disability and Destiny in a Technological Age by Steve Talbott, reviewed by Lowell Monke

Articles in this issue:

From the Editor by Douglas Sloan

Wellspring of the Art of Education: Three Reversals in the Work of the Waldorf Teacher by Christof Wiechert

Discovering the True Nature of Educational Assessment by Paul Zachos

The Kindergarten Child by Peter Lang

The Teaching of Science by David Mitchell

Evolution of Consciousness, Rites of Passage, and the Waldorf Curriculum by Alduino Mazzone

What Studies have Been Published on Waldorf Education?

All Work and No Play... How Educational Reforms are Harming our Preschoolers by Sharna Olfman, Reviewed by William Ward

Articles in this issue:

From the Editor by Douglas Sloan

Science and the Child by Steve Talbott

Can Meditation Take the Place of Exercise? by Michaela Glöckler, M.D

Non Verbal Education: A Necessity in the Developmental Stages by Michaela Glöckler, M.D.

Organic Functionalism: An Important Principle of the Visual Arts in Waldorf School Crafts and Architecture by David Adams

The Lowering of School Age and the Changes in Childhood: An Interim Report by Claudia McKeen, Reiner Patzalff, Martyn Rawson

Articles in this issue include:

From the Editor by Douglas Sloan
The Current Debate about Temperament by Walter Riethmüller
Waldorf Education: Transformation Toward Wholeness by Vladislav Rozentuller and Steve Talbott
The Art and Science of Classroom Management by Trevor Mepham
Spiritual Research: Casting Knowledge into Love by David Mitchell and Douglas Gerwin
Research on Waldorf Graduates in North America Phase 1 by Faith Baldwin, Douglas Gerwin and David Mitchell
Tech Tonic: Towards a New Literacy of Technology by Alliance for Childhood, reviewed by Sharna Olfman Ph D

Articles in this issue include:

Report from the Co-Directors by David Mitchell and Douglas Gerwin
From the Editor by Stephen Keith Sagarin
Puberty as the Gateway to Freedom by Richard Landl
Soul Hygiene and Longevity for Teachers by David Mitchell
The Emergence of the Idea of Evolution in the Time of Goethe by Frank Teichmann
The Seer and the Scientist by Stephen Keith Sagarin
The Four Phases of Research
Report on the Work of the Pedagogical Research Center of the German BUND
Work of the Research Fellows:
Beyond Cognition: Children and Television Viewing by Eugene Schwartz
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
On Looping by David Mitchell
The Children’s Food Bill by Christopher Clouder
All Together Now!
Oscilations of Heart Rate and Respiration Synchronized During Poetry Recital, Review by Stephen Keith Sagarin
Reports from Current Projects of the Research Institute:
Waldorf Graduate Research, Phase II – Arthur M. Pittis
Remedial Mathematics Project – Lori MacKinder
Reading,Writing, and Reading Comprehension – Paul Gierlach
Teaching Sensible Science – Gary Banks
Waldorf High School Senior Survey
Rigor Asked for in High Schools, by Stephen Keith Sagarin

Included in this issue are:

Report from the Co-Directors by David Mitchell and Douglas Gerwin
From the Editor by Stephen Keith Sagarin
Reading in Waldorf Schools Begins in Kindergarten and Avoids Clouding the Mind’s Eye by Arthur Auer
Universal Human Nature: The Challenge of the Transition from Kindergarten to Elementary School
by Martyn Rawson
Art: Awakener of Consciousness, Humanizer of Society by Van James
The Seven Cosmic Artists:
An Artistic View of Child Development by Magda Lissau
Education and Healing by Rudolf Steiner
Nurturing Human Growth:
A Research Strategy for Waldorf Schools by Aksel Hugo
Work of the Research Fellows:
Nature Deficit Disorder —David Mitchell
On Creativity —Stephen Keith Sagarin
Allergic Disease and Sensitization in Waldorf/Steiner School Children —Philip Incao, M.D
Left-handedness: A Call for Research —Douglas Gerwin
Book Reviews
Assuming Nothing: Judith Rich Harris on Nature vs. Nurture —Eugene Schwartz
Against Anticulturalism: A Review of Two Books by Kay Hymowitz —Jon McAlice
Introducing “Network M” A New Website for Waldorf School Graduates and Teachers by Douglas Gerwin
Reports from Current Projects of the Research Institute:
Waldorf Graduate Research, Phase II – Arthur M. Pittis
Reading, Writing, and Reading Comprehension – Paul Gierlach
Rudolf Steiner Library Accommodates Sleuths from the Research Institute – David Mitchell
Teaching Sensible Science
Report on the Online Waldorf Library – Marianne Alsop

Included in this issue are:

Report from the Co-Directors by David Mitchell and Douglas Gerwin
From the Editor by Stephen Keith Sagarin
Reading in Waldorf Schools, Part II: Beginning in Flow and Warmth by Arthur Auer
Rudolf Steiner on Teaching Left-Handed Children by Daniel Hindes
The Tricky Triangle:
Children, Parents, and Teachers by Dorit Winter
Healing Children Who Have Attentional, Emotional, and Learning Challenges by Susan R. Johnson, M.D
What Will Today’s Children Need for Financial Success in Tomorrow’s Economy? by Judy Lubin
The Development of the Hand in the Young Child by Jane Swain
On Spiritual Research by Rudolf Steiner
Work of the Research Fellows:
Do the Festivals Have a Future? —Eugene Schwartz
Spirituality in Higher Education: A UCLA Study —Arthur Zajonc
Quicksand and Quagmires of the Soul: The Subconscious Stimulation of Youth through Media —David Mitchell
Reports from Current Projects of the Research Institute:
Waldorf Graduate Research, Phase II Update—Arthur M. Pittis
Teaching Sensible Science—Bob Amis
Working with Slower-Paced Math Students—Lori MacKinder
Report on the Online Waldorf Library—Marianne Alsop

Download the article: Report from the Co-Directors

During his closing address to the International Kolisko Conference this past summer in Sweden, Christof Wiechert, Leader of the Pedagogical Section at the Goetheanum, divided the first century of Waldorf education into three distinct periods._¹

The first phase began with the original Waldorf School in 1919 and lasted some 30 years into the early 1950s; he characterized this period as “the descent of the Waldorf pedagogical impulse into the world.” During this time Waldorf education took root, first in Germany, then spread to other parts of Europe and, gradually, to other continents, starting with the United States in the 1920s.

Then came a second phase, which Wiechert characterized as the “age of pedagogical heroes.” During this time a gradually increasing number of Waldorf schools were shepherded by strong and often beloved individuals, who served essentially as self-reliant leaders surrounded by dedicated circles of teachers and parents. This phase, lasting somewhat more than 30 years, carried Waldorf education into the late 1980s.

Now, we have entered into a third and final phase of Waldorf education in this century in which individual heroes have either passed away or, at least, handed on the leadership of their schools to a new generation of teachers—and to a growing number of administrators. These groups face the task of leading their schools, not simply as single individuals, but in strong circles of collaboration. The key to success in this third phase, according to Wiechert, is that all of the colleagues in a school, not only those designated as its leaders, feel part of this circle of leadership. Otherwise, there is the risk that schools will
attempt to hearken back to earlier—but by now outdated—forms of governance, or that the impulse of Waldorf education will simply withdraw from the field of education altogether and await another century and a new set of impulses.

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Included in this issue are:

Report from the Co-Directors by David Mitchell and Douglas Gerwin
From the Editor by Stephen Sagarin
Standing Out Without Standing Alone: Profile of Waldorf School Graduates by Douglas Gerwin and David Mitchell
Reading in Waldorf Schools, Part 3 - Beginning in Sound and Form by Arthur Auer
Living Language in Waldorf Education by Helen Lubin
Anthroposophy and the Riddle of the Soul by Rudolf Steiner
Playing "Steiner Says": Twenty Myths about Waldorf Education by Stephen Sagarin
New Research on the Power of Play by Susan Howard
High-Stakes Testing by Eugene Schwartz
Rethinking the Waldorf High School: Two European Examples by David Mitchell
Teaching Science Through Experience and Discernment: Teaching Sensible Science, An Interview with Michael D'Aleo
The Online Waldorf Library by Marianne Alsop
Schools for the Future: Meeting the Needs of the Children in the New Millennium by Michael Mancini
Mathematics and Memory by Lori MacKinder
Excerpts from:"Tilling the Soil of the European Higher Education Area" by John Burnett

Articles in this issue include:

Report from the Co-Directors by David Mitchell and Douglas Gerwin
From the Editor by Stephen Keith Sagarin
Rhythm and Learning by Dirk Cysarz
Thinking and the Consciousness of the Young Child by Renate Long-Breipohl
Assessment without High-Stakes Testing: Protecting Childhood and the Purpose of School
by David Mitchell, Douglas Gerwin, Ernst Schuberth, Michael Mancini, and
Hansjörg Hofrichter
The Art of Education as Emergency Aid: How Waldorf Education Enables the Souls of Traumatized Children to Breathe Again by Barbara Schiller
What Have We Learned? Comparing Studies of German, Swiss, and North American
Waldorf School Graduates byJon McAlice
Cultivating Humanity against a “Monoculture of the Mind” by Stephen Keith Sagarin
Disturbances in the Child’s Relationship to Inner and Outer Pictures of Reality by Christian Rittelmeyer
Work of the Research Fellows:
“Learning, Arts, and the Brain” The Dana Consortium Report on Arts and Cognition —Patrice Maynard
Waldorf Around the World —James Pewtherer
The Intercultural Waldorf School of Mannheim, Germany —David S. Mitchell
The Health and Heartiness of Waldorf Graduates —Douglas Gerwin
Reports from Current Projects of the Research Institute:
The Power of Grammar: A Working Weekend—Anne Greer
Teaching Sensible Science—Michael D’Aleo
Report on the Online Waldorf Library—Marianne Alsop

Spring 2009, Volume 14, Number 1

Articles in this issue include:

Report from the Co-Directors by David Mitchell and Douglas Gerwin
From the Editor by Stephen Sagarin
Sleeping on It: The Most Important Activity of the School Day by Arthur Auer
Advantages and Disadvantages of Brain Research for Education by Christian Rittelmeyer
What Makes Waldorf, Waldorf? by Stephen Sagarin
Love and Knowledge: Recovering the Heart of Learning through Contemplation by Arthur Zajonc
Teachers' Self Development as a Mirror of Children's Incarnation, Part 1 by Renate Long-Breipohl
Of Seeds and Continents: Reliability, Predictability, and Scientific Knowing by Michael D'Aleo
Honest, Complete Assessment and Social Renewal: A Revolution by Patrice Maynard
Crises in the Kindergarten: Why Children Need to Play in School by Joan Almon
Henry Barnes and Waldorf Education: A Personal Tribute by Douglas Sloan
Teaching Sensible Science, A Letter by Calisa O'Keefe,
Report on the Online Waldorf Library by Marianne Alsop

Autumn 2009, Volume 14, Number 2

Articles in this issue include:

Report from the Co-Directors by David Mitchell and Douglas Gerwin
From the Editor by Stephen Sagarin
The Social Mission of Waldorf School Communities by Christopher Schaefer
Identity and Governance by Jon McAlice
Changing Old Habits: Exploring New Models for Professional Development by Thomas Patteson and Laura Birdsall
Developing Coherence: Meditative Practice in Waldorf School Colleges of Teachers by Kevin Avison
Teachers' Self Development as a Mirror of Children's Incarnation, Part Two by Renate Long-Breipohl
Social- Emotional Education and Waldorf Education by David Mitchell
Television in, and the Worlds of, Today's Children: A Mounting Cultural Controversy by Richard House
Russia's History, Culture and the Thrust Toward High-Stakes Testing: Reflections on a Recent Visit by David Mitchell
Da, Valdorvskii! Finding an Educational Approach for Children with Disabilities in a Siberian Village by Cassandra S. Hartblay
One Hundred Meters Squared by Michael D'Aleo
Basic Schools and the Future of Waldorf Education by Peter Guttenhofer
When One Plus One Equals Three: Evidence, Logic and Professional Discourse by Douglas Gerwin
Progress Report on the Waldorf Parent Survey by Martin Novom
News from The Online Waldorf Library by Marianne Alsop

Download the article: From the Editor

Ideas have a mysterious way of occurring to different people in different places at the same time. The history of science, for example, is rife with discoveries and theories that appeared almost simultaneously to researchers working in different locations, even separated by continents. Words (e.g., “collaborative,” “synergy, ” “emergent”), phrases (e.g., “paradigm shift,” “multiple intelligences,” “contemplative inquiry”), and even conceptual frameworks (e.g., Transcendentalism, postmodernism, string theory) appear on the scene and take their place in the public discourse seemingly overnight when only a short time before they were merely the private musings of a few thinkers.

Download the article: Report from the Co-Directors

The election of Arthur Zajonc, professor of physics at Amherst College, as board president of the Research Institute for Waldorf Education opens a new chapter in the biography of the Institute.

A frequent contributor to the Research Bulletin, Arthur is well known as author, teacher, and researcher. As visiting professor and research scientist at the Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris, as well as the Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics, his research has included studies in electron-atom physics, parity violation in atoms, quantum optics, and most recently the relationship between science, humanities and the contemplative traditions. Among his many publications is a history of optics, Catching the Light, several collections of essays on the scientific writings of Goethe, and a series of dialogues that he organized with the Dalai Lama.

Download the article: The Great Rift in Modern Consciousness
Science and the Humanities

This may at first seem like a strange title.
After all, the curricular division between science and the humanities has long been the basic organizing principle for the main subjects in the whole of modern education. It is an organizing principle that reaches from the university level all the way down. Even if, as we shall see, regard for the distinction has often become in modern education little more than lip service, has not the science/humanities division been, nevertheless, extremely useful, and does it not, in spite of problems, remain so? In fact, is it not a given task of thoughtful educators to wrestle perpetually with the relationship between science and the humanities, and are not the problems thrown up by this wrestling and the need to grapple with them a part of the essential service rendered by the distinction itself? Moreover, is not the suggestion in the title of this essay more than a little overblown; namely, that the science/humanities division is not only an issue for education, but is deeply implicated in a major crisis in the whole of modern culture and consciousness?

Download the article: What Stands Behind a Waldorf School

If we were to ask, “What is this school that we call a Waldorf school,” how would we answer? As is the case with all cultural institutions, the answer lies not with the buildings; schools have many types of buildings, from the gray, sturdy stone building of the Rudolf Steiner School in Manhattan to the breezy grass huts which serve as a school for the children at one of the Waldorf schools in South Africa. It does not lie with the teachers; over the course of time teachers leave an individual school and new ones will replace them. It does not even lie with the children; they too come and go, staying for up to 12 years and then leaving as others take their place. So, what do we mean when we speak about the Waldorf school? If it’s not the building, the teachers, the parents, the children, then what is it? Does it have any reality at all? Is the “Waldorf school” merely the conjunction of two abstract nouns such as we use daily when we speak of “the U.S. Government” or “the World Environment,” or the most unreal of all nouns, “money”? Do the words “Waldorf school” actually label something?

Download the article: On Earth as It Is in Heaven: The Tasks of the College of Teachers in Light of the Founding Impulse of Waldorf Education

Introduction
At the center of the Waldorf school stands the College of Teachers.₁ What is the College? What are its tasks? Who serves on the College? Why is it important for a Waldorf school to have a College? The answers to these questions will help us understand the mission and tasks of the Waldorf school.

In this work, I will address these fundamental questions about the College in light of the founding of the first Waldorf school in 1919. I will also share some ideas about the College that I have developed in nearly three decades of working with Colleges. I hope that my work will inspire others to delve deeply into these questions and to develop their own perspectives.