June 2014
No. 1
News from the Research Institute for Waldorf Education 
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Additional Reading
& Research
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      The place of technology in education and the role of assessment in student performance were twin foci earlier this month at  an extended board meeting of the Research Institute for Waldorf Education (RIWE).  How these two subjects affect morality was woven into the discussion. RIWE's international board of thirteen colleagues from the educational, artistic, and science fields was expanded to include eight guests from the wider educational world for two days of open discussion.  The objective of the meeting was to begin evaluating how RIWE could have maximum impact in the years leading to the 100th year anniversary of Waldorf Education.

      Craig Holdrege, director of the Nature Institute and a teacher of biology, led us in an examination of technology starting with a seven-minute video of a fox hunting in the snow. He asked the question, "Is this video educational?"  This led to an examination of our experience as viewers. If we have no real experience of a fox, does  the video educate? Craig described the cold and the inevitable long wait in the wild that the maker of this video must have endured to catch the fox's fleeting action --an experience which we, as viewers,
did not have.  The group  came to understand the video as being "sensational" because  the editing of the film filled every moment of the video  with action, whereas the fox--just like the videographer--most likely had waited a long time for anything to happen.  Are then the "facts" of the video: were they educational? Were they  truthful?
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      Leonore Russell, director of the Winkler Center of Adult Learning and a professional eurythmist, contrasted the video with a farm program she has developed to give children actual experiences of animals, plants, and earth.  She described how the children first need a time to decompress in a small space while Leonore tells them in story-like form what they have come to see and do, expanding their imaginations so to be able to meet their experiences calmly. It was agreed that children love the outdoors for experience and play, not for study and being  scientists.  David Sobel's work on "special places in nature for children" was invoked and discussion turned to the Waldorf curriculum in fourth grade concerning the relationship between animals and the human being, as well as the transition play and story based learning to preliminary science in anticipation of exact scientific experiments at puberty.
 
      Helen-Ann Ireland, formerly a Waldorf class teacher and now a graduate-school researcher, introduced the idea of assessment and its impact on teaching and student learning.  She recently completed  research on "Learning Assessment in a Waldorf School" is currently being reviewed for publication by Routledge.  One reason this major publishing house is interested in her work is because she has documented  the near-100 year success story of Waldorf schools evaluating elementary grade students without ever using standardized testing as an assessment tool. She was able to share different modes of assessment, emphasizing the freedom of the teacher to develop and use different approaches.
 
      Longitudinal studies were suggested:  though difficult to design and manage, they were said to be the most effective way of measuring the success of Waldorf Education.  The results of the Survey of Waldorf Graduates, published ten years ago, were recalled, and it was agreed that this survey had a significant impact in drawing attention to the life-long success of graduates.
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      The ethics of testing--in which children are compared to something that is other than themselves--pointed to the underpinnings of Truth, Beauty, and Goodness in our schools.  Is it truthful to test a child in this comparative way, and, if not, can it then be  ethical?
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      Natalie Adams, who recently retired as faculty chair at the Washington Waldorf School after many years as elementary class and high school science teacher, launched an after-dinner "Jeffersonian Round Table" discussion of the topics that had arisen from the day's conversations.  The question was asked, "If we were to imagine looking back 25 years from now, what might we say was effective about what we had done in Waldorf education?" European colleagues in the circle spoke of the urgent need to  step confidently and competently into the academic realm to demonstrate the professional side as well as the effectiveness of Waldorf Education. Using our own publications to build a new consciousness and a new imagination of education, teacher development, and childhood was put forward as a goal..  Naming the key components of Waldorf Education would give credibility to our schools and bring forward those topics needing to be discussed to change educational practice.
 
      It was agreed that finding teachers who have both the time and expertise to pursue well-designed and developed research would have an effective impact. 
The younger generation was cited as not wanting a career doing the same thing in Waldorf Education for thirty years.  Explaining more clearly with grounded research how creativity and artistic self-development inform this approach to teaching would explain better how it is not a career of doing the same thing.
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      Arthur Zajonc, former professor at Amherst College and head of the Mind and Life Institute, as well as president of RIWE's board of trustees, joined the group on Saturday morning to lead a discussion concerning the future of the Institute. He shared some of the work on moral development underway at  the Mind & Life Institute, focusing on the idea of "care": receiving care; care of self; and care of others. 
 
      Rudolf Steiner called us to be unafraid of the world in which we are born.  To have students understand the world is an empowering way.  All acts are moral acts (or not): every blow of the hammer is a moral deed.
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      When machines assist but do not replace a human capacity, perhaps, then they do not run the risk of inducing addictive dependency, but rather they remain in their rightful place as a tool.  This notion underlies the use of technological devices in the developmentally based curriculum in our schools.
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      Among the preparatory readings for our work together, Steiner's lecture on "Moral and Religious Education" was cited as pointing to the confidence we can have in Waldorf Education as cultivating right moral thoughts, feelings, and actions when all three components are present: Correct placements of lessons developmentally; an aesthetic education; and purposeful idealism living in the actions of students.
Discovering the True Nature of Educational Assessment
Paul Zachos 

Testing and particularly standardized tests are increasingly identified as sources of a host of ills that afflict contemporary education. The ills have been widely cataloged and discussed.

 

Testing and standardization are not, however, in themselves, the causes of these ills; to think so would be an error and a distraction, because the real problem is far deeper and more widespread. It lies in the non-educational uses of tests, an almost universal, unhealthy practice. The key to solving many of the problems that we associate with testing is the adoption of sound testing practices, in particular the use of what I will call educational assessment. In addition, I believe that the adoption of sound assessment practices by Waldorf educators can contribute to a renewal of mainstream education in the 21st century. In order to assume such a leadership role, we must first understand how tests are currently misused and how tests could be used to support teaching and learning.

Strangers in Our Homes
TV and Our Children's Minds
Susan R. Johnson, MD, FAAP
As a mother and a pediatrician who completed both a three-year residency in Pediatrics and a three-year sub-specialty fellowship in Behavioral and Developmental Pediatrics, I started to wonder: "What are we doing to our children's growth and learning potential by allowing them to watch television and videos as well as spend endless hours playing computer games?" I practiced seven years as the Physician Consultant at the School Health Center in San Francisco, performing comprehensive assessments on children, ages 4-12, who were having learning and behavioral difficulties in school. I saw hundreds of children who were having difficulties paying attention, focusing on their work, and performing fine and gross motor tasks. Many of these children had a poor self-image and problems relating to adults and peers. As a pediatrician, I had always discouraged television viewing, because of the often violent nature of its content (especially cartoons) and because of all the commercials aimed at children. However, it wasn't until the birth of my own child, 6 years ago, that I came face to face with the real impact of television.
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Human Development and Moral Force
An Anthropology of Moral Education
Ernst-Michael Kranich
Among the notes and fragments of the German poet Novalis we find the following remark: "Rightly understood, morality is the actual realm of life for a human being." What we call morality begins when we look beyond our narrow, personal wishes and interests; when we free ourselves of the bias of egotism; and when other persons, other beings, become important to us and we feel the urge to share their experiences. When empathy and caring move us to dedicate our lives to others, to place ourselves at the service of our fellow human beings and our surroundings, then the realm in which we live can be called moral. It is easy to imagine that life in this realm can grow ever stronger and more powerful. As this happens, we move from having a childlike dependency on our environment to taking on a co-creative role.
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The Research Institute for Waldorf Education(RIWE) is an initiative working on behalf of the Waldorf school movement.  The Institute was founded in 1996 in order to deepen and enhance the quality of Waldorf education, to engage in serious sustained dialogue with the wider educational-culture community, and to support research that would serve educators in all types of schools in their work with children and adolescents. For more information or to subscribe to the Research Bulletin  go to  http://www.waldorfresearchinstitute.org/activities/subscriptions/. Thank you for your support!
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Research Institute for Waldorf Education · P.O. Box 307 · Wilton, NH  03086
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