Biology teaching, in its broadest sense, is concerned with the world of life. Clearly delineating this world, however, is not easy. Adjoining it are, on the one hand, the physical (dead) world, and, on the other, that of the mind or soul. Life is distinct from these two realms and comes to expression in higher mammals and the human being as a dynamic form organised in time, which acts upon the material and mental realms, and is in turn acted upon by them.
Life has an ongoing relationship to time. A living being is born, goes through infantile and juvenile stages, becomes adult, ages and dies. This sequence cannot be reversed nor the process halted. Life thus displays an ordered relationship to time and space, it is the permanent present.
In explaining biological phenomena usually two paths are followed: the one is the analytical, the other the teleological. The former explains with reference to the past, in other words, the present is determined by past states and events. With the latter, the present phenomenon is conditioned by an aim or purpose which lies in the future. Neither of these methods can offer a way of coming to terms with the complexity of life, albeit there are areas of reality where they are more valid than in biology. Where processes are largely conditioned by past events, as in the inorganic world, the analytical approach will be successful. In the realm of drives, wishes and desires, in other words the world of mental and emotional impulse (the soul), things are clearly conditioned with respect to the future, for the goal aimed at brings about action in the present.
Where life parts company with decaying matter, causal-analytical explanations are likely to fit; by contrast, mental processes can be interpreted in terms of final (teleological) causes. Life runs its course between these two. It is not primarily determined by causes emanating from the past nor by future purpose, but through its own present existence. Cause and effect thus collapse into each other. The living whole is ordered through such correlative dynamics. In observing an organism we see that the phenomena of the present constitute a necessary formative context. This is how we perceive life’s ordered relationship to space. The manner in which space is occupied we call “gestalt”. Gestalt biology (the biology of form) thus has a central position within biology as a whole (Schad 2012). The specific qualities of each living organism then decide the method of approach.
Historically the approach to nature just sketched goes back to Goethe. In addressing the world, it seems reasonable to match the method to the individual phenomenon. It is important here to practise thorough observation, in other words, to proceed phenomenologically. As a second step, then, it is equally important to practise the process of concept formation. Actually these two activities should continually interpenetrate. This can be designated as “perceptually concrete judgement”*. In the primary school years the emphasis will be placed more upon thorough observation, while the forming of concepts will be given more attention in the high school. (®Principles on the teaching of physics and chemistry)
In classes 1 to 3 there is not yet any biology as such. Questions of the waxing and waning of life belong more within the context of “general knowledge”. Biology proper begins in grade 4. At this age the child’s being is still sufficiently bound up with that of nature that there is no need to speak of it in an objectifying manner. Steiner expressly recommended the teacher to begin the first nature study main lesson with that which is most familiar to the child, namely, the human being (Rudolf Steiner GA 294, 28.8.1919 (German edition 1975, p. 97)). This, in effect, gives direction to all the nature study main lessons from classes 4 to 6. In class four, therefore, study of the human being goes over into elementary zoology, in class five zoology leads to elementary botany, and in class six botany is followed by geology and gardening. Beginning with the spirit-endowed human being, the step is taken to the surrounding world of animals (soul-endowed), plants (life-endowed) and then rocks (dead). Through this sequence the children’s developmentally unfolding connection to the world is accorded support. It may be unusual to emphasise the position of the human being to such an extent, but this is particularly justified today, since we are actually responsible for the continuing existence of the whole biosphere. Moreover, it establishes a living connection between ourselves and the world around us: our physical body corresponds to the dead world of matter; then like the plants we are living beings; and with the animals – especially the higher ones – we share an inner (mental) life. Finally an exclusively human quality expresses itself, the individual spiritual core, which the human being refers to as “I”, or the self.
Steiner’s curricular suggestions were given with the intention that the world should not be explained on the basis of dead matter, but that things should be regarded in a more multi-perspectival way, which takes account of the dimensions of spirit, soul and life. The levels of reality are thus derived one from the other in such a way that the dead world of matter comes last. In line with the biology of form, from classes 4 to 8 things should be kept more on the level of description and observation. Causal explanations only begin to assume any methodological importance towards the end of this period. From classes 7 to 10 the human biology main lessons accompany the students on their path through puberty. Then in classes 11 and 12 things proceed in the opposite direction to that followed from classes 4 to 6. Study of single-celled organisms and cell theory (class 11) leads, via botany, to a detailed consideration of the animal kingdom, and thence to human evolution. This sequence of main lessons can be a support to young people in their search for what they may have lost as they were developing their connection to the earthly world: the question of the “spiritual home” arises. What does my life mean, and where am I going?
*Translator’s note: This is a notoriously difficult Goethean expression (“anschauende Urteilskraft”), and has been translated in a number of different ways: intuitive judgement, imaginal judgement, comprehensive seeing etc.The translation attempted here seems to fit the context better.
Nature study begins in grade 1, embedded in the narrative part of the lessons and in “general knowledge”. The children hear about the human being’s kinship with all the kingdoms of nature, but not in a way that involves scientific explanations. “Not scientific” here means not geared towards the elucidation of natural laws, not leading up to, or introducing, classification schemes. Of course, this in no way implies that it means “fanciful”, “woolly”, “contrived” or “incongruous”; rather it refers to using imagination to express the essential quality of a natural phenomenon. For instance, through the teacher’s words an oak can become much “oakier” than the oak tree in the park; in a conversation with a pony in the meadow, the cow can reveal her nature much more fully than a holiday encounter with one. In a similar way, the animal and plant fables and legends of the saints (e.g. Francis, Beatus, Brendan) told in grade 2 make a contribution to nature study. The creativity of the teacher can also play its part in the invention and telling of little “teaching stories”.
In grade 3 the Old Testament creation story gives a pictorial account of the coming-into-being of the earth, plants, animals and humanity. Subsequent to the comprehensive complexity of this narrative, a more selective, concrete description of certain plants and animals is then given in the context of the agriculture main-lesson. It is important here that the experience of plants and animals “as they really are” be permeated by the teacher – as they will then also be for the child – with a sense of gratitude, respect and reverence for the creation. There can be no question here of inculcating these feelings into the child in a sentimental way. They can grow out of a mental attitude to the earth as an arena of complementary relationships and human responsibility for all the kingdoms of nature. Objectifying nature, however, is not necessary (or, indeed, possible) in the first three years of school, for the child’s being is still very much bound up with it. At a time when nature is being destroyed on a global scale, the teaching of nature study, which is, in effect, first steps in ecology, attains a special urgency. Steiner’s intention was that this subject should provide concrete experience of the reciprocal dynamics of nature:
“Just as the world of the plants should be related to the earth and the child should learn to think of it as the offspring of a living earth-organism, so should the animal-world as a whole be related to man. The child is thus enabled in a living way to find his own place in Nature and in the world. He begins to understand that the plant-tapestry belongs to the living earth. On the other hand, however, we teach him to realize that the various animals spread over the world represent, in a certain sense, stages of a path to the human state.” (Rudolf Steiner GA 307, 13.08.1923 (German edition 1986, p.167))
The Waldorf principle of always proceeding from the whole to the parts, which, of course, applies to the teaching of nature study, obviates the need for “environmental studies” as a separate subject, since it predisposes the students to a holistic turn of mind.
If nature study be regarded as also having the task of exploring the kingdoms of nature, thus drawing the child ever closer to the earth in a more conscious way, then this subject can begin in grade 4 with something the child can most easily relate to. Animal study in combination with consideration of the human being is a suitable place to start. Indeed, the bodily organisation of the human being in terms of head-, chest- and limb-system provides both starting point and structure of the main lesson. “The animal kingdom, especially its higher forms, is much more readily accessible to being understood in physiognomic terms than are the still, silent forms of the plant world. For an animal’s alert and active inner life is expressed in its form, movements and behaviour. The animal is not a frozen image of a single soul impulse, as in the case of a plant, it is thoroughly permeated with the energy of an ongoing inner life, of desires and drives, passions and instincts, likes and dislikes, various degrees of wakefulness and other kinds of inner activity.” (Kranich 1993: p. 189)
While this might be thought quite naturally to lead to the theme of sex education, in the primary school (grades 1 to 4) this theme need not to be explicitly addressed.
Animal study continues in class 5. Plant study (classes 5 and 6) then turns from the world of instincts etc. to one more akin to thinking, but the thinking done in the lessons is still conducted in a pictorially concrete manner. In “understanding” plants the child should mainly experience feelings of joy, at moments when his or her “eyes are opened” to little details and wider relationships.
For the study of animals and the human being the three-fold organisation of the human organism into head-, chest- and limb system can be taken as the basic frame of reference. On the botanical side the approach can evoke an evolutionary relationship between humans and plants, but above all it should bring out their relationship to the human soul. “Having made clear the relationship between man and animal, the attempt must also be made to clarify the relationship between man and plant […] While the animal world must be compared more to the bodily nature of man, the plant world must be compared more to the soul-nature of man […] The very fact of the human soul’s relationship to the plant world must form the basis of how you show the order of plant life itself.” (Rudolf Steiner GA 295, 30.08.1919 and 02.09.1919 (German edition 1984, p. 103, 109, 122)). A detailed account of the method involved here is found in Pflanzen als Bilder der Seelenwelt by E-M Kranich, and much useful methodological insight may also be found in Thinking like a plant by Craig Holdrege, and New eyes for plants by Margaret Colquhoun and Axel Ewald. In addition, Steiner’s advice is to describe the evolutionary stages leading up to today’s plants in a way that draws a parallel with the development of the human being from infant to adult.
A further aspect worth pursuing is the life of the plant in relation to the seasonal changes of earth and sun, widening this then to take in the whole earth. Much in the way of discoveries will occur on excursions and local walks. In this connection it should be noted that for this age-group it is important not to give explanations out in the field, but to characterise beforehand what the children are likely to encounter, and then, in looking back on the experience, bring things into the sphere of understanding. Otherwise observation will always be associated with explanation. It is important that the experience is sequenced in a way that children first are allowed to establish a connection to plants. Once that has happened, they will continue to feel kinship and connection.
If in botany the forms of plants are predominantly characterised in relation to soul-qualities, observing and describing minerals is done more in a way that appeals to, and schools, causal logic. “We keep the minerals till last because for them almost nothing but the power of logical discrimination is necessary and this does not call upon anything through which man is related to the outside world.” (Rudolf Steiner GA 294, 15.09.1919 (German edition 1990, p. 190)) – “Minerals can be understood in terms of cause and effect, as can the physical world in general.” ( Rudolf Steiner GA 307, 16.08.1923 (German: edition 1986, p. 224) Of course, here also the approach should be from the whole to the parts: first the configuration of a mountain range, then the rock, and then the minerals it contains.
Thus, via animal study and botany, we have advanced into the “dead” realm of mineralogy. Whereas the threefold structure of the human body, and later the picture of the human being’s inner nature, first formed the background to nature study, now, in mineralogy, this triune principle becomes clearly visible in the threefold structure of granite or the three main rock-types (sedimentary, metamorphic and igneous). In this way the bodily structure of the human being forms the main theme of nature study in the following four classes (i.e. through the middle school to class 10).
It is precisely during puberty that it is important to find the proper relationship to one’s own body. This creates the basis for taking responsibility not only for one’s own personal wellbeing (Health and Nutrition, class 7), but also in relation to others and to the world. This involves taking account of the differences between the sexes, and also of how the laws of the “outside world” express themselves in the form of the skeleton, the mechanics of muscles and bones, the function of the eye and of the larynx. (Human biology, class 8).
The demands upon the pedagogical skill of the teacher are greatest in connection with the theme of sex education in the middle school (grades 5 to 8). Since physical and psychological development are now likely to diverge (puberty shifted earlier, inner development later), the situation is fraught with special difficulties and dangers. At the same time, however, this provides opportunities to address young people in new ways. During these years it is essential to make space in lessons for the topics of pubertal development, reproduction and sexuality. Bringing in an outside specialist to deal with this subject is an option here, but in doing so teachers would be giving up the possibility of using a Waldorf approach to helping the students in their development in a way appropriate to their needs.
With the process of sexual, or, as Steiner called it, earthly maturity, the whole question of how to define the nature and limits of the human being takes on a new tone of urgent immediacy. “Who am I? Where do I come from? Where am I going?” – these questions live as constant preoccupations in the souls of young people, even though they usually only speak of them in a cryptic or reserved way. All attempts to offer a definitively fixed answer here (the human being is “a product of his environment”, “the slave of his genes”, “an egotist, controlled by urges and desires”, “what he eats”, “a naked ape” etc.) are both factually and methodologically insupportable. Factually: the human being is characterised by the fact that he is always in process of becoming and never finished. Methodologically: the child, or later the adolescent, has the right to participate in the gradual unfolding of the idea of the human being from a variety of perspectives. This is one of the most important aims in the teaching of nature study and (human) biology. In this context we should not speak of an “image of the human being”, for this implies ready-made knowledge. “Of course, in this case you must remember to give children something that can remain for the rest of life. You may not give children dead, unchanging concepts about the details of life. You must give them living concepts about the specifics of life in the world, concepts that develop organically with the children. However, you must relate everything to the human being. In the end, everything in the children’s comprehension must stream together into their concept of the human being. The concept of the human being may remain. Everything you provide children when you tell them a story and relate it to humans – when you relate the squid and mouse to humans in natural history, when you excite a feeling of wonder for the telegraph that is completed by the ground wire – all of these things that connect the whole world in its details to the human being. This is something that can remain. We form the concept of human being only slowly, we cannot teach children a finished concept of the human being.” (Rudolf Steiner 1996, GA 293, 1.9.1919, (german edition p. 155)). The Foundations of Human Experience, translated by Robert F Lathe and Nancy Parsons Whittaker.
Notes and suggestions on content and method
“Only in the second stage, from nine to about twelve, do we begin to develop the self-consciousness more. […] But we also embark on the natural history of the animal kingdom, as I showed you with the cuttle-fish, mouse, and human being.” (Rudolf Steiner 1990, GA 294, 1.9.1919 (german edition p. 138f)).
Here the teacher is called upon to characterise the human organism in terms of what is immediately apparent – the head, the trunk and the limbs. The thing is then to choose telling examples from the animal world which echo these three “organisational systems” – “head-animals”, “trunk-animals” and “limb-animals”. Through these descriptions the language of the phenomena themselves can then speak to the children of a deep connection between the animal kingdom and the human being. It is not for the teacher to explicitly articulate this. The art is that the phenomena, through the teacher’s imagination (and through what happens in sleep), must do this. In a similar way, the children can come to see how human beings, in contrast to the other animals, are not fixed and bound by instinct, defined by their behaviour, but predisposed to freedom in their lack of specialisation, their universality. Through this experience the idea of human freedom – still not directly articulated, of course – can take root in the child’s mind. This is one of the key aspects of the class 4 year.
Suggested lesson content
· The human being, distinguished in terms of a head-, trunk- and limb-system
· The most important functions associated with these systems: nerves and senses, breathing, heartbeat and digestion, and the different ways of using the limbs
· The cuttle-fish (squid), as an example of a “head-animal”: what human beings do with their senses – namely, “grasping” what interests them in their surroundings – the squid does with its tentacles
· The sheep as a “trunk-animal”, in which metabolic processes, in the form of digestion and “heat generation” play a dominant role, and in which the vertebrate constitution is clearly apparent
Whereas it is readily apparent that the above-mentioned animals are dominated by digestion and metabolism, with the mouse – as another example of a vertebrate – there is a clear emphasis on nervous excitability. For the purposes of this classification, however, it can be included as a special kind of “trunk” animal – particularly in view of the specialisation of the anterior part of its digestive tract (a detail one wouldn’t necessarily go into with class 4).
· The similarity in the form of the fore- and hind-limbs of many mammals and their specialised functions, in comparison to the human limbs and their uses
· The uniqueness of the human being as seen in the perfection of the organisation of the limbs
· The hands and arms as emblems of human freedom
Notes and suggestions on content and method
Grade 5 sees, on the one hand, the continuation of the previous year’s animal studies, with the addition of some lesser known animals. On the other hand, there is a clear emphasis on botany.
Here it is important to speak about the conditions favourable to the growth of plants (soil quality, moisture, light and warmth), in order to become familiar with their natural habitats. Approaching the relationship of the soul to the plant world is done differently from that to the animal world, often in a much more reserved way. Nonetheless, the soul aspect of things is what counts. To feel a living connection to the earth and the plant-world that is integral to it is now more than ever a matter of urgent necessity, if not of sheer survival.
One of the things we are aiming to do, therefore, is convey to the child how plant and earth form a necessary unity. This involves, in addition, employing a “taxonomy” of plant observation, but, of course, one that is directly related to the child, rather than abstract. Just as plant and earth are felt to belong together, so also the child, as a member of the earth community, should feel part of this natural alliance. As a next step Steiner suggests making a comparison between the various stages of the plant kingdom and those of child development: from the fungi to the flowering plants. It is important here, however, to avoid simply drawing superficial analogies, as this would make for lessons consisting only of well-illustrated banality. The thing is to characterise each plant species or family with artistic imagination, and to engage the children’s nascent sensibilities and thought processes through the quality of this experience.
Suggested lesson content
Animal study continues. The threesome of eagle, lionand ox can be the point of departure.
From this initial threesome the transition can be made to looking at associated groups of animals:
- from the eagle
> to singing birds (strongly related to aspects of their surroundings: seasons, the course of the day, nest-building, song)
> to birds of prey (acrobats of the air)
> to water birds and ground-dwellers (swimmers, divers, waders and runners)
> to the bear (primordial form of limbs)
> to other predatory cats
> to the wolf and the fox
> to animals of the high mountains (mountain goat, ibex)
> to animals particularly sensitive to their surroundings (deer, antelope)
> to the giraffe with its relationship to wide horizons (dominance of leg and neck growth)
> to animals rather stuck in their own heaviness (hippopotamus, rhinoceros)
> to animals, which are highly sensitive feeders (pigs)
Botany
Notes and suggestions on content and method
The work on plants continues. Since by this time the child has arrived at “the threshold of causality”, this opens up an interesting array of interdependent perspectives for the teaching of nature study. Now the various growth forms of plants, their habitats and “periodicity” can be viewed in relation to each other. At the same time, however, this must all be seen within the context of a higher perspective. This arises from following plants through the course of the year: many of the characteristic plant families reach the culmination of their development, i.e. blooming, at different times.
Geography provides essential perspectives and points of departure both for botany (in relation to the vegetation zones) and for the “physical realm” now opening up in nature study, namely, mineralogy. As already mentioned, in grade 6 the logical aspect of this subject is central to the teaching of mineralogy. In turning our attention to the mineral world we are entering upon a realm of nature that is furthest from human nature.
“Earlier teaching about the mineral kingdom in any other form than this – namely, that plants grow out of the mineral world which they depend on – injures the child's mobility of soul. That which has no relationship with man is mineral. We should only begin to deal with the mineral kingdom when the child has found his own relation to the two kingdoms of nature which are nearest to him, when in thought and feeling he has grasped the life of the plants and his will has been strengthened by a true conception of the animals.” (Rudolf Steiner GA 307, 15.08.1923 (German edition 1986, p. 194)
Suggested lesson content
Botany
Zoology
Mineralogy
Notes and suggestions on method and content
In class 7 nature study returns entirely to consideration of the human organism. The world at large is also part of the picture, however, when the topic dealt with is nutrition and health. Both are directly related to the environment, from which human beings draw their sustenance and which influences human health in a host of different ways. In this connection it is probably also a good idea to look at the properties of certain plants.
The moment chosen by the teacher for this return to the study of the human being is not a matter of chance; Steiner designates it as the last opportunity to take advantage of the child’s natural sense of what is good food and healthy living, since with puberty this tends to disappear.
After sexual maturity reason has to perform what used to be taken care of by instinct. Then the problem also arises that questions of health and illness, as well as diet, come to be regarded as “personal matters” – in other words, they become coloured with egotism.
“What the child learns later, after puberty, about matters of nutrition and health, makes him egotistical. It cannot but produce egotism. […] But the human being is less exposed to the dangers of egotism in later life if he is instructed in nutrition and health in his last years of primary school, when the teaching of this subject does not yet provoke egotism, but is concerned with what is natural to man.” (Rudolf Steiner GA 294, 05.09.1919, lecture 14 (German edition 1990, p. 187))
Suggested lesson content
Notes and suggestions on method and content
In young people of 13 to 14 years of age the whole bodily, mental and spiritual constitution goes through a process of re-organisation which effectively signifies the end of childhood. Steiner called this the phase of “earthly maturation” (“Erdenreife”) (®Pre-adolescence – age twelve to fourteen)
The teacher’s task here is to find appropriate ways of meeting this far-reaching step. Consequently, human biology is once again given centre stage with the spotlight on those organs whose functions most deeply reflect physical laws, namely, the sense organs, voluntary musculature and skeleton. “In grade 8 your task is to portray the construction of the human being in such a way as to demonstrate what has been built into it from the outside: the mechanics of bones and muscles, the inner structure of the eye etc.” (Rudolf Steiner GA 295, 27.08.1919 (German edition 1984, p.65))
Through its focus upon the mineral phenomenon of the skeleton this main lesson has a strong “earthing” effect on young people. In the very act of confronting gravity they experience their ability to overcome it through the wisdom of the self-activated body. Everything the class-teacher brings should be couched in imaginative and artistic terms.
Suggested lesson content
The topics for grades 8 and 9 are similar. Thus there needs to be consultation between the class teacher and the grade 9 biology teacher.
The scope of this subject encompasses both biology and ecology. The related area of palaeontology is covered within the context of geology, which in turn is a branch of geography. The intention to provide young people with appropriate pathways into various subject areas determines not only decisions about content but also about method. For biology as a life science this has far-reaching implications. It is not a question of how to distribute the content to be covered over the time available, but of choosing, out of the vast canon of biology, those themes which will serve young people in their attempts to understand themselves and the world. The students are not there for the subject, rather the subject is there for them.
One inner aspect of puberty is the emergence of the power of individual judgement, and with this awakens a basic desire for knowledge, accompanied by initially inarticulate ideals as part of the search for one’s future identity. This subject, if well taught, can meet both these needs: on the one hand, it provides acquaintance with, and understanding of the qualitative richness and order of the kingdoms of nature, and, on the other, it addresses “latent questions” (Steiner) the adolescent soul may be carrying. The deep-seated need to find a connection to nature is given due recognition, in that, in the first two high school classes, the characteristics and lawful regularities of the living world are approached anew through the way they manifest in the functions of the students’ own bodies. Thus in classes 9 and 10 human biology is once more the main focus. Then from class 11 on, beginning with the simplest forms, the various levels of non-human life are considered.
It is helpful here to pay due heed to the historical nature of science. The baroque era, for instance, practised teleological reasoning (Linnaeus). The triumph of mechanistic thinking in the 19thand 20thcenturies estranged us from the biosphere, which was thus reduced to a mosaic of interacting factors. This led to the idea of knowledge simply as the power to manipulate and exploit, not as an attempt to understand. Ecological destruction is the direct consequence of this mentality. Goethe, by contrast, put forward an entirely different way of seeing, whereby phenomena are viewed as complementary expressions of the whole, of which the human being is also an integral part. This he suggested as a method appropriate for dealing with biological questions.
Environmental science is widely in demand. Often, however, it is too quick to make a distinction between organism and environment, thus verbally rupturing the complementary relationship between phenomena. It would perhaps be better, therefore, not to speak of “the environment”, although there is no easy alternative term (the term suggested in German is “Mitwelt”). The ecological crisis cannot be remedied by means of ethical measures derived from the same, unchanged mechanistic mentality, but by a holistic, ecological way of seeing, which must be learned in school primarily by the method used in the teaching of biology. Otherwise moral demands come across as demands made on others, and end up producing only complacency. The separation between biotic and abiotic components of nature should be seen as carrying just as little weight as the artificial distinction between inorganic and organic chemistry. Monistic perception that apprehends relationships is the main aim to pursue.
Notes and suggestions on content and method
In high school, we have to accomplish a thoroughgoing change of method from the way science was done in middle school. This becomes immediately obvious when similar topics to those of class 8 are dealt with – especially human biology – but now with exact anatomical terminology, and physiological descriptions that may even be taken as far as yielding insights into certain illnesses.
The senses, the skeleton and its musculature are the primary focus, because they are all directly connected to the physical world and the laws of mechanics. Pedagogically speaking, the work on the skeleton in particular is a help towards the ultimate goal of “earthly maturity”.
Next to focusing on scientific exactitude, both teachers and students would do well to make their presentations as aesthetically appealing as possible. The primary objective is to achieve depictions of the organs which are full of imaginative life. For certain difficult questions the expertise of the school doctor can be called upon, if he/she is not already delivering the lesson, as Steiner recommended.
Suggested lesson content
Notes and suggestions on content and method
Young people of this age are now much more capable of observing and articulating the processes of their own inner life. This also means that they are better able to view the relationship between their own body and mind from an inner perspective. To take a morphological-anatomical approach as a point of departure here would be a good idea. The physiological and psycho-somatic perspectives on the various organs can then be gradually added in: “The physical human organism in the form and function of its organs in relation to soul and spirit.” (Rudolf Steiner, GA 300b, 17.06.1921 (German edition 1975, p. 27)
The organs contained in the body cavities are the central focus of the main lesson. Compared to the organs dealt with in class 9, these ones have a much higher degree of physiological autonomy, and this comes to morphological expression in the prevalence of hilus formation and similar structures (in the lungs, liver, spleen etc.). In the description of each organ possible pathologies will be part of the picture. The school doctor can contribute to this, by clarifying in each case how far lay medicine can go in treating illnesses, and where professional medical help becomes necessary. These aspects of the main lesson are backed up by a practical first aid course (which can also be done in class 11).
It is recommended that this biology main lesson be preceded by the chemistry one.
Suggested lesson content
Notes and suggestions on content and method
Upon entering the last phase of adolescence seventeen-year-olds will have attained the beginnings of maturity in their power of understanding. It is not just that they expect logical coherence and intelligibility, but also that their thought processes increasingly touch deeper levels of their developing personality. This emancipation of the power of thinking is accompanied by an increasing degree of social maturity. Their relationship to their peers, to parents, to the school and their wider social and natural surroundings becomes more flexible and independent.
Now in biology the manifestations of life in all its forms can be tackled. All the fundamental questions are now on the agenda. Young people at this age are busy with the construction of their own personal worldview. Knowledge of the phenomena of life can help them find their way in this. There is, therefore, regular use of microscopes to observe both living organisms and specimens that the students will ideally have prepared themselves. A biographical element can also come in by including historical accounts of biological discoveries.
Open questions: narrowing the field of vision into the microscopic dimension naturally calls up the need to introduce the macroscopic perspective of the comprehensive interdependence of phenomena. From their first sallies into projective geometry the students are already familiar with the “ins and outs” of such dynamic relationships. To begin with, microorganisms and then “widen the lens” to show their immense ecological contribution to the biosphere as a whole, is of obvious relevance here.
On this matter Steiner advised: “Make the cell theory cosmological in the way you present it.” (Rudolf Steiner, GA 300b, 21.06.1922 (German edition 1975, p. 105)) For students at the age we are currently speaking of we should never present the cell theory without aligning it with cosmology […] Naturally, as regards the cell nucleus and the various organelles in the cell, nothing should be presented other than views of which one has become personally convinced.” (Rudolf Steiner, GA 302a, 21.06.1922 (German edition 1993, p. 78f)) A practically tested approach to treating this theme within the time-frame of a main lesson does not yet exist. For the purposes of viewing the cellular microcosm in relation to the extra-telluric macrocosm the necessary cosmic phenomenology is lacking.
Suggested lesson content
> from the discovery of the cell to general cell theory
> fine-structure of the cell, organelles, chromosome stability, chromosomal theory of heredity, mitosis in plant and animal
Notes and suggestions on content and method
Waldorf schools support the idea that everyone should have the right to twelve years of schooling. This means that, regardless of their level of ability, all students can expect appropriate forms of teaching in terms of this right. At the end of this period, therefore, the teachers, while taking the wide range of individual variation in the students’ powers of assimilation into account, are faced with the task of creatively revisiting all that has been taught in the preceding years, and of enlarging upon it in a developmentally appropriate way. From a survey of the kingdoms of nature put together in such a way, the question of human nature and its place in the world readily emerges as a topic of discussion. Such discussions may well help the students with the process of forming their own philosophy of life. Thus in this last year of the Waldorf curriculum there are two main themes in biology: in botany, the higher plants; and in zoology, the whole animal kingdom, finally focusing on the human being.
Just as the growing child in the primary and middle school was led by a trusted individual step by step down through the kingdoms of nature, ultimately arriving in the mineral realm, so in the upper grades the opposite path can be taken: Beginning with the simplest forms of life, the ascending sequence through the various realms of nature is followed, culminating in the question as to the nature of the human being. Through the insights thus gained themotif of evolutionary developmentcan be discerned as something of essential significance.
Suggested lesson content
Botany
Zoology
Bernd Rosslenbroich: On the Origin of Autonomy Springer New York