We are pleased that Wilfried Sommer, Craig Holdrege and Jon McAlice are returning to work with high school and middle school science teachers in February 2017.
In the Waldorf curriculum, the development of a scientific understanding accompanies students as they make the oft stormy passage through puberty and adolescence. We want to look more
closely at this relationship and explore the question: What role does the practice of science play in this process? How does the thinking and experience of a sixth grader differ with the birth of the astral body from that of a tenth grader? What realm are we really trying to penetrate when we work with chemical experiments such as the oxidation of copper? What is the qualitative difference in understanding a plant versus an animal? How does an understanding of acoustics metamorphose in concert with the emancipation of the astral?
Wilfried Sommer taught physics, math and computer technology at the Waldorf School in Frankfurt before becoming a lecturer at the teacher training for Waldorf Education Kassel. He is now a Full Professor of the School of Education with an emphasis on the phenomenological
methods of teaching at Alanus University.
Craig Holdrege is the co-founder and director of The Nature Institute. His passion is to develop what Goethe termed a "delicate empiricism". Craig taught biology in Waldorf Schools for 21 years, and has been involved in teacher training since the 1990’s. He has a Ph.D. in sustainability education and completed a program in phenomenological science at the Science Research Laboratory at the Goetheanum, Switzerland.
Jon McAlice is a co-founder of the Center for Contextual Studies. His research in contemporary education (contextualization, the experience of meaning, the role of self-directed activity in learning) has born fruit throughout the Waldorf educational movement in the growing recognition of the significance of direct experience in the learning process.
THE CONFERENCE FEE has been calculated to cover the cost of hosting the conference including meals. This includes snacks, as well as lunch and dinner on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. The fee is set at $400. No one should feel as though they are prohibited from attending due to finances. For this reason we have reduced fee options available on the website until January 30.
QUESTIONS?
Email Beth at beth@summerfieldwaldorf.org