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Subject: Re: "four elements" was: another old discussion
Dan Dugan wrote: SUNE In WE one starts with the first in the lower grades and then passes on to the second in the upper grades as perspectives on matter.DAN In my longer talks I show a horrific example, a 7th-grade organic chemistry test that was put out on public display at an open house at the San Francisco Waldorf School, with the teachers notes:(Comment by Dan Dugan:) Here, in seventh grade, it's still about "the four elements." This is mis-education.I [Sune]: No it is not. A page from Anchorage School District at http://www.asd.k12.ak.us/depts/science/.../7thchemistry.htm shows a possibly not uncommon frame of the direction of chemistry in the 7th grade. Its main theme is approaching an understanding of the basic states of matter; the solid state, the liquid state and the gaseous state and the relation between them. In ordinary schools, the states are described by introducing the atomic model as a an abstract concept that then is applied theoretically to the phenomena. In the 7th grade in WS:s, the same states of matter are a main focus in elementary chemistry, but then described in phenomenological terms out of their experienceable qualities as 'earth' as a summarizing concept for the 'solid' state, 'water' as a summarizing concept for 'liquids' and 'air' as a summarizing concept for 'gases'. The basic difference is that WE stays with what can be experienced by the pupils themselves in teaching chemistry and developing the basic concepts in chemistry as concepts that describe the qualities of the phenomena, not by adding from outside something that the pupils simply have to accept as valid because the teacher says it is. Another difference is that while chemistry in public schools is developed in abstract primarily out its relation to the atomic model as a thought model and with experiments done only as secondary 'illustrations' of the theoretical models, in WE chemistry primarily is developed out of its relation to man, what matters to man and what can be experienced by the pupils themselves via their own senses. In 7th grade in WE it often (in Europe at least) is done out of four main themes; experiencing and describing combustion in different forms and what it does to different organic substances, and as a basis for later developing the concept of oxidation, the formation and nature of salts, acid and base as basic chemical concepts and liquids and solubility as phenomena and at times also the character of the basic metals. (For a general overview of the Waldorf curriculum and grade 7, see http://www.winternet.com/~slake/mws/curriculum.html http://www.sandpoint.org/waldorf/7th.htm http://www.pleasantridgewaldorf.org/curriculum.htm http://www.olympiawaldorf.org/Curriculum/ and http://www.waldorfresources.org/readroom/features/om_we.html as some pages describing it) One basic author (Frits Julius) then suggests and describes sugars, starch, albumen/protein, fats and oils as basic themes for grade 8. One central theme in Science education in WS:s is biographies of central scientists in the history of science. An article at http://www.nas.edu/rise/backg3a.htm (a page at the site of The National Academies) discusses Science Curriculum Reform in the United States, and the necessity of it, part of it resulting from discoveries of deficiencies, related to the scope, sequence, and coordination of programs, revealed in a comparison with science programs in other countries, specifically the Commonwealth of Independent States and the People's Republic of China. The "Project on Scope, Sequence, and Coordination of Secondary School Science" is an effort to restructure science teaching primarily at the secondary school level. The author writes: 'The scope, sequence, and coordination reform effort also uses appropriate sequencing of instruction, taking into account how students learn. In science, understanding develops from concrete experiences with a phenomenon before it is given a name or a symbol. Students need experience with a concept in several different contexts before it becomes part of their mental repertoire. With prior hands-on experience, students can come to understand important concepts and processes of science.That is the road followed by Waldorf schools today, not public schools in general, as far as can be judged from what can be found on the net, to the extent that what is described by the Anchorage School District is valid also on a more general basis in US. Even the National Autonomous University of Mexico has changed its focus in chemistry teaching to a more phenomenological and descriptive approach and with an emphasis on environmental issues (http://www.marygrove.edu/faculty/sscribner/Supplements/bello.html). You're defending a dying dragon. Sune Nordwall
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