1. Origin: Background of research on localization of Waldorf curriculum
Waldorf education began with the first Waldorf School (Waldorf School) founded by R. Steiner in Stuttgart in 1919 and has developed for more than a century. Waldorf education is one of the largest alternative education movements in the world after Montessori (Paull & Hennig, 2020). It can be seen that Waldorf education has been widely recognized and valued. The uniqueness of Steiner's educational philosophy is that he clearly puts forward the sequence of each stage of body, mind and soul and emphasizes education with an integrated view of development (Blunt, 1995). According to Steiner's educational philosophy, Waldorf has its unique curriculum and teaching design, as well as the ideals and related arrangements of holistic education, which are quite different from schools within the system (Barnes, 1991; Dahlin, 2010; Ogletree, 1996; Reinsmith, 1989). Therefore, it is of special research and educational value to study the curriculum teaching practice of Waldorf education and analyze its development direction.
As of 2024, the Waldorf education movement has developed for 105 years, and its core concepts and curriculum teaching practices are facing issues of the times. In terms of the context of globalization and the dimension of time development, since the 21st century, we have entered the digital era of time and space compression, and the way people learn has been significantly reversed. They have always consciously protected the sensory development of children during their growth, and tended to be more cautious. How does Waldorf education, which uses technology, face the rapid changes in communication methods and learning environment? Furthermore, in terms of the interconnectedness created by the globalized space, different cultures and countries can bring about cross-border, transnational, and cross-cultural exchanges through global circulation, which is more diversified and more complex at the same time. In the heterogeneous real world, how can Waldorf education with European cultural traditions, which originated in Germany, be deeply cultivated in different countries? And integrate the local culture of different local national conditions, diverse ethnic groups, and various communities, as well as the transnational mixed culture generated by migration? These are all time-space issues that need to be faced currently, and must be constantly reflected on from curriculum development and teaching practice.
Rawson (2024) pointed out that since the establishment of the first Waldorf school, the first curriculum of the Waldorf school was published in German in 1925. Since then, this curriculum has been translated into many languages and spread to areas with other cultural backgrounds, while maintaining the characteristics of Steiner Waldorf education. It has been an unspoken source of inspiration for Waldorf teachers for the past 100 years. However, Waldorf education curricula are facing many challenges. In many countries, it increasingly needs to explain and prove itself to the state and comply with education policy requirements. It is also faced with the challenge of adapting to the digital age and is required to adjust its original Western-oriented perspective to be more in line with local culture, while maintaining its universal humanistic ideals and its inherent qualities and functions. When we realize that curriculum is one of the most well-known features of Waldorf education, it is surprising that there is relatively little research on Waldorf curriculum and instruction.
In Taiwan, the Waldorf education movement has experienced more than 20 years of development. It needs to continue to face and respond to the times and local issues, keep pace with the times, and must constantly return to inquire about the core of Waldorf education. Therefore, courses are needed The space for dialogue and the scaffolding for curriculum innovation allow curriculum and teaching to develop into a community culture. As an artistic presentation, Waldorf courses certainly have various real possibilities depending on different time and space conditions and cultural contexts; but just like the curriculum thinking structure proposed by Dr. Martyn Rawson, all courses can cover Three levels of perspectives: the common nature of human body, mind and soul, the needs of specific environments and contexts, and various conditions in real teaching situations; and how these levels and aspects of curriculum design are thought about and intertwined in different disciplines design? How to dynamically adjust and support the development needs of contemporary children and adolescents in response to actual conditions? This is the core of the action research in this course.
Against this awareness of the problem and the background of the times, at the end of 2021, Teacher Cheng Hongfei sent an invitation letter to the concept of this research as the beginning of the pilot research:
"The Waldorf Center of Tsinghua University and Martyn Rawson will carry out an international cooperation project on "The Art of Teaching and Healthy Learning" starting next year. This project is to promote Waldorf teacher curriculum innovation into the future. The main purpose is to invite Waldorf teachers The seed teachers of the Waldorf School participate in an online Waldorf curriculum platform covering various grades and subjects. Through this platform, they can communicate with other Waldorf teachers and share their own designed curriculum, hoping to break the Waldorf standard in this way. We are currently hoping to recruit a number of seed teachers from several Waldorf schools to participate in this project. Two interested teachers join and form a teacher learning community. Seed teachers meet once or twice a month to learn and develop together. On the one hand, they design their own courses and on the other hand, they learn from each other with teachers from other schools. After one or two years, the seed teachers can introduce the research to teachers in the school to join in to promote curriculum innovation and exchange.”
In early 2022, this cross-school teacher study was launched by Director Cheng Hongfei of the Waldorf Education Center of Tsinghua University and in collaboration with Dr. Martyn Rawson. During this period, seven senior local Waldorf teachers were invited to share their experiences in Curriculum plans for different years and different fields, while showing their thinking and methods of curriculum development through dialogue and feedback, try to gather everyone's efforts and wisdom, and integrate the process of curriculum creation and transformation into what we can jointly do. Share and keep moving forward.
In 2023, this study once again invites Waldorf teachers across the country, as well as partners who are interested in the process of creating Waldorf education in the local area, through online sharing and dialogue, trying to pool everyone's efforts and wisdom to make China Telford Education is taking another step forward in taking root in Taiwan.
The curriculum design and thinking behind the seven Waldorf practical teachers in this study have become more mature and valuable after two years of tempering. Therefore, this study will invite them again in 2024 to write down the inner process of curriculum creation. We believe that the texts of these seven teachers are of great value in curriculum action research, so we excerpt their essence to highlight the unique meaning of each text and describe their mutual correlation and overall contribution. I hope that through this article, I can present a model for the development of a curriculum innovation research community.
2. Searching for the path of localization of Waldorf curriculum: philosophy, teaching, and curriculum
As a concept school that has been developed around the world for more than a hundred years, the curriculum of Waldorf education has its commonality. Today, one hundred and four years later, there is also a need for localized and diversified development.
Regarding the commonality of Waldorf education curriculum, Rawson (2024) pointed out in a paper "Translation, Dissemination and Transformation of Waldorf Curriculum" that all Waldorf schools follow a common curriculum, although the curriculum will vary according to different They vary according to national, cultural and geographical background, and will continue to change with social changes. The main common feature of the Waldorf curriculum is that it is a developmental structure containing activities, themes and content for different ages and is arranged on a yearly basis, which, to be fair, is the same as any Waldorf school in the world. Third grade or seventh grade would do something similar. Compared with many other curricula, which may focus on planning subject disciplinary knowledge that must be learned at a specific age, Waldorf education places more emphasis on arts, crafts, practical lessons and academics, and strives to support people. of whole-person development.
With the advent of an era of global connectivity and diversity and complexity, with the above-mentioned Waldorf education needing to be updated and transformed today more than 100 years later, especially the awareness of the development of the educational movement that uses local curriculum research as an important method, this study believes that , localization is an important concept and method for the development of Waldorf curriculum in the current society.
The meaning of "localization of Waldorf curriculum": concept education of rhizome development
What is localization of courses? The philosophy behind it is thinking with anti-Eurocentric and decolonial multicultural values. In the case of Waldorf education, which originated from the European system, this is related to the perspective of how we view this product, how it is spread, transported and delivered to different countries and places, and how it is applied. In a large study of the history of Waldorf curriculum development, Rawson (2024) distinguished two metaphors for Waldorf communication. The first is "arboreal", which means there is an original "tree" whose fruits can be transplanted to other places as plant xenogenes. The second metaphor is "rhizome," which represents an "invisible" root network underneath, allowing plants to grow wherever conditions permit. The "arboreal" metaphor explains the Eurocentric elements of Waldorf curriculum, while the "rhizome-like" metaphor promotes the possibility of localized growth of Waldorf curriculum.
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Figure 1: Metaphorical images of “arboreal” and “rhizome”
Source: Taken from Rawson (2022; 2024)
The above metaphor also brings up an interesting question: what kind of spread and growth method does Waldorf curriculum practice in different countries or regions show? This has to do with the perspective from which we focus on curriculum: are we stuck to the "typical Waldorf curriculum content" (content), or is it the spirit behind Waldorf curriculum methods (spirit)? On this point, Rawson (2024) quoted Henry Barnes as saying: "The characteristic of Waldorf education is not mainly its content, although these contents may be very interesting and innovative, but the spirit behind the curriculum and methods. Spirit" (Barnes, 1979, p. 4). This spirit is an attitude of inquiry that aims to "read" each student's personality and "recognize, respect, protect and encourage this inner nature." Our job as educators, in the broadest sense, is to facilitate its inner development, to liberate it from obstacles, to challenge and inspire it, but also to provide the resistance that the individual needs to grow independently and become internally strong. Power' (Barnes, 1979, p. 5). Such educational tasks are full of challenges and profound significance for teachers' work.
This kind of curriculum communication perspective actually reflects the "generative principles model" of Waldorf curriculum development proposed by Bransby & Rawson (2021), which represents their view of Waldorf education as a kind of continuous transformation. A newer practice, the practical art of teaching, Waldorf generative principles refer to a set of ideas that can be used to derive and evaluate practice. They relate to the nature of human development from an anthroposophical perspective, originally derived from the works of Rudolf Steiner, lectures and discussions with teachers from the first Waldorf schools, and supplemented by more than 100 years of experience. Such educational anthroposophy includes the interactive relationship between body, mind, soul and the core of human spirit, learning theory, and individuation process; the journey of human beings into the triadic nature of nervous system, rhythmic system and metabolic system; thinking, emotion and will The nature of and their interactions, different modes of sensation, different states of consciousness, and the role of education in directing and coordinating these processes. These ideas led to a set of learning, teaching and school organizational practices that are core to Waldorf schools around the world. Steiner Waldorf education is based on general generative principles which are used as directions for deriving, evaluating and developing practice. They have been fundamental to the development of educational processes (Bransby & Rawson, 2021).
2. The Waldorf teaching art of connection generation
The above-mentioned Rawson (2023) used the metaphor of "rhizome" to propose the possibility of future development of Waldorf education, bringing the development of Waldorf education to a new possibility, which also reflects the postmodern curriculum view.
Figure 2: “Rhizome” reflects the postmodern “decentralized” knowledge situation
Source: Rawson (2024)
From the perspective of postmodern knowledge context, postmodern curriculum is like a rhizome or underground stem (rhizome), which is multi-connected, constantly occurring, non-fixed, irregular, and has no specific starting point and end point. Each point on the underground stem can be connected to another point, flourishing in the space of different boundaries (in-between), and constantly changing. The structure of the rhizome is open and the relationship is fluid. Rhizome is also a becoming perspective on curriculum teaching. Such a rhizome image of postmodern curriculum is one in which teachers, students, and courses are all intertwined. All learning is generated in multiple ways. In a space that crosses borders, teaching is a dialogue and resonance of various possibilities between teachers and students. Therefore, curriculum teaching is a flexible and poetic journey (Roy, 2003). In this study, several university professors and Waldorf practical teachers jointly formed a platform for dialogue and exchange. The community space itself is also an open garden cultivated and a Waldorf teaching art community generated through connection and inquiry.
Such postmodern artistic thinking of "flexible transformation" can also be echoed from the classics of Anthroposophy: Return to "Anthropological Foundations" or "The Study of Man", a classic of Anthroposophy, 1919 In his "address" the night before the start of the lecture series in August, Steiner said: "Waldorf schools must be a real cultural action, with the purpose of revolutionizing our spiritual life today (Geistesleben)"; "Anthroposophy is not Our teaching content, however, will be dedicated to the practice and application of Anthroposophy, and we will transform what we have gained in the field of Anthroposophy into the actual teaching process.”
3. Waldorf curriculum development and design based on hierarchical thinking
With the awareness of generative curriculum, how can we further practice generative methods in curriculum development? In this regard, Rawson further developed a "layered curriculum development structure" (the layered curriculum) for Waldorf educational practice. Waldorf curriculum, in addition to the superordinate concepts we mainly based on in the past - originated from Anthroposophy and Chinese In line with the educational spirit of Telford School, in practice we can also develop curriculum design from the structure and analysis of the three-level curriculum, which are macro-curriculum, middle-level curriculum, and micro-curriculum (Bransby & Rawson, 2021):
Figure 3: Curriculum development structure of hierarchical thinking
Source: Rawson (2022)
• A meta-level curriculum: includes the basic generative principles and goals of education, based on the anthroposophical understanding of the general characteristics of developing people, and how various aspects of teaching methods affect the person's body, mind, and Spirit (or body, mind and subjectivity/uniqueness). These principles describe the prerequisites for healthy learning and development and contextualized pedagogy. The Upper Concepts course also outlines the abilities that a person can develop throughout life, and specifically how these abilities are learned throughout childhood and adolescence.
• A macro-curriculum: including comprehensive consideration of age-sensitive, developmental tasks and themes, which are intertwined by three axes of curriculum development: 1. Horizontal-level curriculum (a horizontal) - that is, the connection across subjects in the same grade; and 2. vertical curriculum (vertical) - that is, the development process set by each subject and ability throughout school life; and 3. in the structure A spiral curriculum (spiral) built one by one according to the theme == that key concepts are repeated and strengthened throughout the school career. The macro-level curriculum is composed of an entire developmental theme. These themes draw a development framework. Steiner's Waldorf education curriculum hopes to form a universal curriculum taking into account individual development (individual development) factors. Architecture (a general structure).
Martyn (2024) believes that most curriculum introductions in Waldorf schools (e.g., Richter, 2006; Rawson et al., 2014) are organized according to transverse horizontal and longitudinal structures, in which the transverse horizontal curriculum also carries children's Centered design. As Richer said
"The transversal curriculum attempts to describe the didactic coordination of the different subjects during a specific period of child and adolescent development. However, behind the individual teaching act, the child must always be seen, who creates for the teacher Actual "curriculum", actual "educational plan". Teachers must be child-centered” (Richter, 2006, p. 41).
• A meso-curriculum: This involves the ideal age-related type or teaching model, articulating the general themes of the macro-curriculum and the interpretation of current learning conditions, as well as the external social and cultural expectations that are integrated into the curriculum content. link. This also takes into account cultural factors as well as global issues such as the climate crisis, pandemics, digital media or sources of conflict. Middle level courses also take into account local national/statutory curriculum (syllabus) requirements where relevant. The middle-level curriculum provides a dynamically developing semi-permanent positioning structure in all these aspects, which is reviewed and continuously updated and adjusted to reflect the curriculum development space with specific historical, social and cultural context requirements. This is where topics such as de-colonizing the curriculum belong, because these topics are historically and culturally important.
• Micro-curriculum: refers to the curriculum development set by teachers for specific classes and learning groups based on individual students' differentiated learning styles, interests and needs. The development of the entire learning community can be considered based on the above levels. This micro-curriculum can be informed through regular professional discussions and reviewed and adjusted through internal and occasional external dialogue.
To sum up, this study educates and disseminates awareness with the concept of "rhizome-like" images, cherishing Waldorf education as a global education movement, while also taking into account the local nutrients of each culture, and cherishing the local rhizomes underground. Local courses developed through social networks. This kind of "localized" curriculum development specifically uses the "leveled Waldorf curriculum development and design" framework to allow the awareness of localized curriculum to emerge. The concept education of rhizomatic development, the teaching art of in-person generation, and the curriculum design of hierarchical thinking have become important images in this study's cultivation of "localized" Waldorf curriculum.
Participation and cross-school teacher action research context and research process
This study is an attempt to establish a cross-school "Curriculum Action Narrative Research" network of Waldorf teachers in Taiwan. After two years of action and community learning, the two-year research process of this study has been completed - from pilot research to cross-school An exploration of curriculum narrative in teacher communities, the description of the four action narrative stages is as follows:
1. Stage 1: Shaping a consensus between the cross-school community and "Waldorf Teaching Art"
As mentioned in the origin of this article, this research was issued by Professor Cheng Hongfei of the Waldorf Center of Tsing University at the end of 2021. An invitation letter from a senior Waldorf teacher has shaped the Waldorf teaching art research community. This study purposefully conducted interviews with seven senior teachers in the Waldorf community in Taiwan to consider the integrity of the twelve-year consistent whole-person education in Waldorf primary and secondary schools and the balance between humanities, society, and natural science and technology. In the preliminary stage of this study, seven teachers were identified for collaborative research: Teacher Li Hongzhe who teaches at Waldorf Primary School (Taoyuan Renmei Waldorf, the main course shared is: the main course of fourth grade "People and Animals"), Teacher Xu Boxun (Hsinchu City Waldorf, the main course shared is: the fourth grade "Place Inquiry" sub-course); Teacher Lin Xinhui, who teaches in the Waldorf Middle School (Yilan Compassionate Waldorf, the main course shared is: the ninth grade "Taiwan" "History" as the main course), Teacher Lin Yihui (Hsinchu Zhaohai Waldorf, the main course shared is: Grade 9 "People and Computers"), Teacher Qiu Yirui (Yilan Compassion Waldorf, the main course shared is: Grade 10 "Ancient Times" "History" main course), Teacher Yu Ruojun (Changhua Athena Waldorf, the main sharing course is: "Art History" main course for grades 9 to 12), Teacher Li Xinyi (Yilan Compassionate Waldorf, the main sharing course is: : "Chemistry" course for grades 7 to 12), this study collaborates with a group of teachers to strive for a well-organized arrangement of learning years and course topics.
At the end of 2021, this cross-school community team invited by Teacher Cheng Hongfei was called the "Teaching Art Cross-school Research Community" and also established the action research goals of this community:
Promote the curriculum update of Waldorf education and develop the possibility of curriculum innovation.
Develop a teacher learning community and form a teacher culture of exchange and sharing among partners.
Shaping action research teams.
2. Phase 2: Shaping and in-depth exploration of the curriculum practice research community (2022)
During the winter vacation of 2022, Professor Cheng Hongfei convened the first gathering of community partners, and Associate Professor Xue Xiaohua shared the key points of the book "Steiner Waldorf Pedagogy in Schools A Critical Introduction" written by Martyn Rawson (2021). Today, forty years after the publication of the classic Yellow Book of Telford Education, we need to explore Waldorf teaching from the perspective of hermeneutics. We should explore various aspects of practice and comprehensively understand and reflect on concepts and practices. Next, learn to ask important fundamental questions and explore together to become an internal reflector ("a critical insider"). We need to learn the activated Waldorf educational principles of inquiry together. This teaching view is interpretive and in dialogue It is constantly evolving and generated, so it is an art. In the first community exchange in the spring of 2022, Xue Xiaohua specially introduced the "layered Waldorf curriculum structure and design" developed by Rawson (2021) to the practical Waldorf teachers, and explained the layered method: " The "macro curriculum" can be said to follow the core purpose of Waldorf education, the "middle curriculum" responds to the local social context and local culture, and the "micro curriculum" meets the children in the class or learning group. From these three levels of thinking, Waldorf teachers are encouraged to develop retrospective inquiry into curriculum teaching actions.
Before the start of the semester, community partners established a two-semester study rhythm for one year: seven practical teachers will share case studies on course design and provide case studies on course development, implementation, and reflection; Join Dr. Martyn Rawson's lecture and feedback on the topic, and all teachers will develop an understanding and dialogue on the important principles of Waldorf education. Under this common understanding, in 2022, seven teachers, including Li Hongzhe, Lin Xinhui, Lin Yihui, Xu Boxun, Qiu Yirui, Li Xinyi and Yu Ruojun, will hold meetings on every Thursday in the upper and lower semesters of 2022 from 4:00 to 5:00 p.m. For 30 days, they took turns to share the courses they designed and implemented through online meetings with more than a dozen voluntary Waldorf teachers, including people and animals, local inquiry, Taiwan history, ancient history, people and computers, and chemistry. , and art history. The week after each online sharing, Martyn and teacher Cheng Hongfei commented and asked questions about the course shared in the previous week to deepen everyone's awareness and reflection on the course.
3. Phase 3: Sharing and promotion of curriculum practice research results (2023)
In 2023, we invite these seven teachers again, based on the experience of sharing and feedback from the previous year's courses, to publicly discuss Waldorf in Chinese areas at home and abroad on Thursday evenings from 7:00-8:30 once a month. Teachers published the results of curriculum action research, directed by Martyn Rawson, and hosted by Wang Zhihong, Xue Xiaohua and Cheng Hongfei. Through seven online sharing and dialogue sessions, the seeds of local creation of Waldorf curriculum were spread more widely. Participants in each session included dozens of Waldorf teachers from Taiwan, China, and Malaysia. Practical teachers wrote various questions and feedback in the group, forming a promotional inquiry for action research in this course.
4. Stage 4: The "localization" of Waldorf curriculum practice is reborn (2024~)
During the winter vacation in early 2024, Professor Cheng Hongfei once again invited seven teachers to share their experiences and reflections on actions in the course of the past two years and write a short article. Later, Martyn Rawson, Cheng Hongfei, Wang Zhihong, and Xue Xiaohua, four scholars who have been concerned about the development of the Waldorf education movement for many years, conducted meta-discussions and reflections on seven short essays on curriculum reflections of practical teachers, and combined them with The discussions on the development of global Waldorf education curriculum written by Rawson in the past two years have been in constant dialogue, shaping a localized image of Waldorf curriculum practice in Taiwan, and also a community image of cross-school action research: the localization of curriculum practice. ization, and root-based social networks.
4. Curriculum design and teaching implementation by seven Taiwanese Waldorf teachers
During the meta-reflection stage after the communication and discussion in the curriculum teaching community, three scholars from this research team, Cheng Hongfei, Wang Zhihong, and Xue Xiaohua, reviewed and reviewed the course appreciation summaries of seven short essays on curriculum reflections by Waldorf practical teachers. and short comments, which are described below:
1. My course - Localized practice and reflection on the main course "Humans and Animals" for the fourth grade of Waldorf -
Waldorf curriculum designer and teacher: Li Hongzhe (Taoyuan Renmei Waldorf School)
Course summary and appreciation: Xue Xiaohua
(1) Course summary
1. Inquiries and thoughts on the course:
People and animals have always been the main curriculum in the fourth grade of Waldorf schools. This research course and teaching participant, Teacher Li Hongzhe, tried to share his teaching experience in two different Waldorf schools in the past fifteen years - Taoyuan Renmei and Hsinchu Waldorf with the project team, hoping to use it as a Waldorf course An attempt to deepen and exchange research locally.
As the name of the main course "Humans and Animals" reveals, this course is not "zoology" in the natural field of elementary schools, but rather puts people and animals in an ecological relationship. More importantly, it is about returning to human beings themselves. In his life exploration, returning to Anthroposophy’s basic belief in human beings, Hongzhe positioned the main course of Waldorf education “Humans and Animals” as “My Curriculum – Humans and Animals in Waldorf Schools”, based on Waldorf education With his teaching spirit, Hongzhe regards the human and animal course as a "higher self" course that is jointly shaped by teachers and children, culture and region, ecology and environment - my course.
Hongzhe's thinking before starting each main course will be based on three levels of thinking: "Why → How → What": the spirit, goals, teaching methods and methodology of Waldorf education? What is the relationship between children’s consciousness development, teaching materials, and curriculum? Considerations in story (text) selection? Localized courses? Localized teaching materials? The relationship between people and courses? ...and other topics. Thinking about the subject of humans and animals in a localized direction, Hongzhe’s curriculum inquiry is: “What is the difference between teaching a course on humans and animals in Germany a hundred years ago and teaching a course on humans and animals in Taiwan a hundred years later? In the context of globalization and the post-epidemic era, what role do humans play in the natural ecology? What is the significance of the curriculum of humans and animals in contemporary Waldorf schools and what does it bring to children? "
Hongzhe first reviewed the curriculum design and teaching activities of the three human and animal courses, and then designed "my curriculum-curriculum design, and the perspective of evaluating the human and animal course"; finally, he proposed the children's reactions and feedback , and the reflections of educators.
2. Hierarchical thinking in course design and thematic teaching materials:
Hongzhe structured the course with reference to the three-level thinking of "macro, middle and micro" proposed by Martyn Rawson. At the macro level, the first consideration is the development of children. Hongzhe referred to the Yellow Book ("The Educational Tasks and Content of the Steiner Waldorf Curriculum") compiled by Martyn Rawson and Tobias Richter, which describes children as "fourth grade ( At the age of ten) children's focus begins to expand from themselves to the world around them."
At the macro-curriculum level, Hongzhe further structured the vertical and horizontal connections between the Human and Animal Ownership courses: "(1) Vertical connection: The Human and Animal Ownership course for the fourth and fifth graders is a natural successor to the walking classes for the first and second graders. Observation, and the natural fields of farming, construction, and traditional industries in the third grade. (2) Horizontal connections: The main courses in the fourth grade include "line drawing, Chinese, mathematics, local exploration, people and animals", and the selection of materials at the macro level. Regarding thinking, Hongzhe's first teaching was based on the meaning and description of specific animals in Anthroposophy: the archetypes of "eagle, lion, and ox" respectively symbolize "thinking, emotion, and will" in humans.
At the middle level curriculum level, Hongzhe compared it with the 12-year national education curriculum and saw that in mainstream schools, textbooks with animal themes in the field of natural science only appeared after the third grade. For the third time teaching the main course on people and animals, Hongzhe brought in elements of localization and future thinking, for example: Puxin Ranch has Dutch dairy cows, owls, Taiwanese sambar, and sika deer; squid The geographical relationship between Hsinchu and Hsinchu is why Hongzhe chose to localize the "People and Animals" activities. In addition, with global warming and Taiwanese society as a whole attaching great importance to ecological environment and animal conservation issues, the movies "The Eagle Wants to Fly" and "The Black Bear Is Coming" have also been included in the course content selection by Hongzhe.
At the micro-curriculum level, Hongzhe found from the review of the main course on humans and animals by the fourth and fifth grade students that the children in the class had experienced rich experiences and learning. And each child shows special feelings and preferences for various animals due to their different temperaments (wind, fire, earth, water). .
3. Student evaluation methods (teachers reflect and observe students)
Most Waldorf school courses use qualitative assessment. The assessment dimensions set by Hongzhe for the main course "My Course - People and Animals" are: "1. Attitude in class. 2. Enthusiasm for participating in classroom activities. 3. , The level of engagement in listening to stories or classroom content. 4. The ability to review learning content or what has been learned in class. 5. The ability to draw pictures and the quality of the pictures. 7. The accuracy of the writing and the quality of the text. Quantity. 8. Observation ability. 9. Worksheet and workbook completion. 10. Worksheet and workbook quality.
4. Teaching response, and the experience and significance of participating in the "joint inquiry process of curriculum localization"
Overall, Hongzhe looked at the children’s reactions and feedback in class. The children reviewed all the animals introduced to them in the fourth and fifth grades. He also believed that these learnings and experiences would help them view animals and treat nature in the future. , ecological and environmental literacy.
Hongzhe also recalled the invitation he received in 2022 from Director Cheng Hongfei of the Tsinghua University Waldorf Center to participate in the "Joint Research Community on Localization of Curriculum for Waldorf Teachers across Schools". The profound reflection gained from this is that during the process, Teacher Hongfei and Teacher Martyn Rawson encouraged senior teachers to reflect on and deepen their study of Waldorf courses, and to bravely try and challenge. ; In addition, Hongzhe also saw from community participation that as a Waldorf teacher, he saw the opportunities for his own teaching again.
(2) Course Appreciation:
Hongzhe is a senior Waldorf teacher who leads the third grade of elementary school. Compared with the elementary school science class in the system, Hongzhe’s main course "My Course - People and Animals" is placed in a broader perspective. As a tutor and children Cross-field education at work is also a whole-person course for growing individuals, self-exploration and the relationship with the world. From the perspective of curriculum development and teacher professional growth, Hongzhe's "My Curriculum - Main Course on Humans and Animals" particularly practices the worldview and epistemology of intersubjectivity: it can fully relate to children's development, the world of animals, and The encounter relationship between the two puts the cognitive process in an ecological perspective, from which we can see the holism of Waldorf education, the ecological view (encounter with local characteristics), and the cognitive process of mutual subjects.
2. Localized practice and reflection on Waldorf’s fourth-grade “Local Inquiry” sub-course-
Curriculum designer and teaching researcher: Xu Boxun (fourth grade at Hsinchu Waldorf School)
Course summary and appreciation: Xue Xiaohua
(1) Course summary
1. Inquiries and thoughts on the course:
The local inquiry courses in Waldorf schools are mostly placed in the fourth grade, following the "Farming and Architecture" course in the third grade, leading children to further connect to the objective world. Teacher Xu Boxun, who collaborated in this research, shared the "Local Inquiry Curriculum" he was engaged in at Hsinchu Waldorf Primary and Secondary Schools - this curriculum has gone through three transformation processes in Zhuhua, with three versions: 2017, 2020, and 2021. On the basis of Waldorf education, Bo Xun shared his curriculum plan in this study based on the three elements, four axes and five aspects:
(1) The triadic nature of Waldorf curriculum:
Bo Xun's "Local Inquiry Curriculum" first starts with the triadic nature of Waldorf education - will, emotion, and thinking, to think about how "Local Inquiry" can guide them to practice through "will: through action, and call for Its desire and challenge; Emotionally: Consider the resonance of the course story (text) with the self? How to connect to one's own life experience; Thinking: How to enable learners to have the ability to free, independent thinking, independent judgment, and actively explore and reflection.”
(2) Compare the four thematic axes of the social field of the 108 curriculum:
Based on the four thematic axes of the learning content in the 108 syllabus: "Interaction and Correlation", "Difference and Diversity", "Change and Cause and Effect", and "Choice and Responsibility", Bo Xun further unified and structured it.
(3) Five aspects of local inquiry courses:
Bo Xun also takes "I" as the origin, and then expands to the surroundings to form the mutual relationship between "self" and "others". Boxun uses five aspects: "1. Get to know the members of his family; 2. Get to know the campus and his home environment; 3. The geographical environment breeds different lifestyles and production structures; 4. The interaction and development of different races on the land ; 5. The new ecological appearance formed under the changes of time and space, making the content of the local inquiry course more complete.
2. Hierarchical thinking in course design and thematic teaching materials:
Boxun structured the course with reference to the three levels of thinking proposed by Martyn Rawson: macro, middle and micro. At the macro level, the first consideration is the development of children’s consciousness. Starting from the thinking of Waldorf education, Bo Xun believes that “when children enter the tenth year of their lives, they gradually begin to view the world from the perspective of self-awareness. Children in the first grade begin to enter the "heart of childhood." The goal of teachers and children is to meet the children's interests in specific knowledge areas... Local inquiry is to guide them in a whole-to-part manner, such as where they want to live. Where and how to build a home? "
At the macro-curriculum level, Boxun further structured the vertical and horizontal connections of the local inquiry sub-curriculum: "(1) Vertical connection: The foundation of local inquiry in the fourth grade is established through nature walks in the first and second grade to establish understanding of the surrounding environment. , description and observation; in the third grade, I started to practice land construction and hands-on construction to build a "home". This home is the home of the body. After understanding the definition of home and taking care of this home, I went further to explore places and got to know many homes. Even a community, a town, or a region has a common life, culture, history, etc. In the fifth grade, we enter Taiwan geography and the sixth grade East Asian geography. ”. (2) Horizontal courses: Bo Xun uses "cross-field curriculum cooperation to deepen the in-depth local inquiry courses, and coordinates with other sub-courses to provide assistance from three aspects such as life, production, and ecology. The local inquiry courses are connected horizontally Other courses in the fourth grade combine Chinese language exercises and class group activity work, allowing children to practice, record, and guide children to cook ingredients in groups and observe campus animal and plant activities at night.”
At the middle level curriculum level, Bo Xun compared with the 12-year national education curriculum and saw the axis of mainstream schools in the social field in the fourth grade. Because it is local inquiry, Bo Xun's three courses have consciously brought into Hsinchu's local context. Thoughts: "In the local inquiry course, the author's initial understanding of the Hsinchu area was mostly limited to general sightseeing areas or public facilities. However, after living in Hsinchu District for a long time, I developed my own knowledge of Hsinchu District's industrial activities (lychees, fishing ports) , glass, etc.), and the depth of ecological activities (wetlands, green grasslands). In selecting the appropriate content of the local exploration course, it has gone through three transformation processes, and each planning stage has made different adjustments and arrangements according to the student status at that time. .
At the level of micro-curriculum, since local inquiry is a sub-course of every class in the school at Hsinchu Waldorf, the micro-curriculum here is the local inquiry theme and class activities planned by Bo Xun from the four semesters.
3. Student evaluation methods (teachers reflect and observe students)
In terms of qualitative assessment, which is commonly used in Waldorf education, Bo Xun uses the three levels of "will, emotion, and thinking" as the assessment dimension. This triadic place explores qualitative assessment to construct the observation dimension. , and execution indicators.
4. Reflection on teaching and the experience and significance of participating in the "joint inquiry process of curriculum localization"
Bo Xun’s reflections after experiencing the teaching process and curriculum implementation of local inquiry are mainly: “1. I hope that in the future, by combining narrative texts with outdoor activities, children can explore more about the theme. 2. I hope to use the context of local studies in Bring it to children through narration or text. 3. Local exploration topic selection and exploration often fall into the introduction of humanities and history, and lack descriptions of terrain and scenery. In the future, richer arrangements and better handling are needed.”
Bo Xun looked back on the "joint exploration of localization of Waldorf teachers' curriculum" in which he participated. The community seminar went through personal sharing, inter-community discussion, teacher Martyn Rawson’s feedback, and sharing with the public. It gave him “a deep understanding of the rigor of the course, re-evaluation and organization of his teaching content, and the ability to make corrections.” It also gives the underachievers more resources to refer to and a new perspective.”
(2) Course Appreciation:
As the Waldorf teacher responsible for local inquiry teaching in the whole school, Bo Xun shared that the developed local inquiry curriculum is not only the main course for the fourth grade of the class, but also a school-wide sub-course. In terms of Waldorf curriculum design and teacher professional growth, The main features are:
The curriculum of local inquiry meets children and places: it not only meets the curriculum content required for fourth grade on the basis of human development, but also vertically connects the physical and mental status of children before third grade and after fifth grade, and can be implemented with Hsinchu Encounter with local culture.
3. Localized practice and reflection on the Waldorf ninth-grade "Taiwan History" main course -
Curriculum Designer and Teaching Personnel: Lin Xinhui (Yilan Cixin Waldorf Education Experimental High School)
Course summary and appreciation: Cheng Hongfei
(1) Course summary
1. The idea of the course:
Teacher Xinhui first developed the curriculum from the perspective of the development characteristics of ninth-grade students in three aspects: thinking, emotion and will. She observed that ninth-grade students "gradually formed an imagination and longing for ideals" but were full of doubts about reality. Therefore, I hope that in designing Taiwan history courses, we can provide emotional response and support to the doubts about "China vs. Taiwan" identity faced by ninth grade students, especially the "naturally independent" young generation. The historical narrative of "the people who worked hard to carve out life on the island of Taiwan" "presents the identity of the land in Taiwan's history." And start from "knowing that these things happened in the past" (objectively telling historical events), then analyze "why it developed like this" (practice thinking and analysis with your own point of view), and then return to "how do I evaluate these" (learning Subjective self-thoughts are proposed) to learn professional historical thinking methods.
2. Course structure:
Xinhui structured the course with reference to the three levels of macro, meso and micro proposed by Martyn Rawson. At a macro level, the consciousness development state of ninth graders needs to find a balance between the polarity of reason and emotion. Therefore, objective facts about the portraits of historical events in Taiwan are introduced, and dialogues with the students’ life experiences “provide a basis for shaping the future.” "Preparation for Taiwan's subjectivity." The horizontal courses echo the modern history, farm internship, art history, and drama classes of the same year. The focus of the vertical curriculum is that the ninth-grade Taiwan history course corresponds to fourth-grade local inquiry, fifth-grade Taiwan geography, sixth-grade Asian geography, seventh-grade Taiwan in the Age of Discovery, eighth-grade world history and industrial development, and tenth-grade ancient times. Civilizing Taiwan’s aborigines and grades 11 and 12 prepares students for the interactive relationship between themselves and Taiwanese society.
In the middle-level curriculum, Xinhui chose not to follow the usual arrangement of Taiwan history in Taiwan’s current 108 curriculum, that is, “ancient times – aboriginal people – the Dutch and Zheng period – the Qing collar period – the Japanese occupation period – the post-war period”, but In reverse order, "from the social and cultural phenomena of modern Taiwan, we will lead students to explore the historical context of cultural formation" and during the course, "guide students to think about the cultural factors of various eras in today's Taiwanese society, echoing the establishment of the identity of the Taiwanese subject." .
In the micro-course part, students in the class have accumulated prior knowledge about Taiwan and collaborated with music and art teachers to introduce "my own Taiwanese totem design" and "Taiwanese, Hakka, aboriginal and music chorus". Try to lead students to understand how their ancestors found themselves and established themselves on this land. "After hundreds of years of dialogue, cooperation, and conflict, most Taiwanese people today can naturally say "I am Taiwanese" "Words."
3. Course outline
The "Taiwan History" main course designed by Xinhui includes seven topics, namely: 1. How did Taiwan become what it is today? (Taiwan history, Taiwanese identity, and the historical relationship with China; songs by Atao, Hu Defu, and Wu Zhining, and poems written by teachers) 2. The stories the island tells us (aboriginal myths and legends, Austronesian languages and aborigines, Where did the Taiwanese come from? ) 3. Taiwan in the Age of Discovery: Hans, Japanese, Spanish, Dutch, and British (15th to 17th centuries) 4. "Tangshan Crosses Taiwan, Xingan Jiegui Wan" during the Qing Dynasty ( 1682 -1860) 5. "Foreigners" are back! The late Qing Dynasty (1860-1895) (foreign businessmen and missionaries, the Peony Society Incident, and the new situation in East Asia). 6. Period of Japanese occupation (Yiwei’s resistance to Japan, colonial rule and modernization, Taiwanese consciousness, Chiang Weishui, Lin Xiantang, the Taiwan colony under World War II, Wu Zhuoliu) 7. Postwar Taiwan—Who are we? (228 and White Terror, Chen Chengbo's "Torch in the Soul"; Taiwan's Democratic Process: Formosa, Zheng Nanrong, Wild Lily and Sunflower, Today's You). In addition, students are also arranged to explore places near the school, see through their own eyes, hands and feet the interference of humans in nature, and discuss the relationship between mountains, rivers and people.
4. Student evaluation methods (teachers reflect and observe students)
(1) Thinking: participation, conversational interaction content, workbook, text absorption and digestion, question and reflection on the overall content; (2) Emotion: peer participation, learning attitude; (3) Will: completion of workbook, sense of responsibility for learning, Self-worth recognition. (4) Quality evaluation: From the four aspects of evaluation (grasp of historical facts, the cause and effect of the event's change process, the special context and correlation of the event, and the shaping of one's own identity).
5. Response after two years of the course
This course will be held in ninth grade in two schools, Beiping and Zhaohai, in 2021 and 2022 respectively. I have the following reflections upon re-reading this course in 2023:
Different from the martial law period from 1949 to 1987, "the awareness of identity is oriented towards the mainland." "Nearly 90% of Taiwanese people today no longer think that they are related to the so-called "Chinese" (including the teacher himself), even if they do Just a cultural connection. ” Therefore, the course of this Taiwan history course “does it also reflect teachers’ own uncertainty and anxiety about the process of Taiwan identity?” “Is it necessary to set “Taiwan identity” as the main axis of Taiwan history course?”
The subject of curriculum content is children, but the subject of curriculum design is teachers. What is the impact of teachers’ subjective thinking on children? "Can the teacher's subjectivity withstand the teacher's own spiritual and moral inquiry?" "It is very necessary for teachers to respond to this question through daily observation and reflection, and even adjust the course content in a timely manner." "The subject and object in the course, teachers and students , is not a class power relationship, but a process of artistic co-creation.”
(2) Course Appreciation:
Professor Cheng Hongfei’s feedback on this course said: From the students’ classroom reactions, Xinhui found that students had a sense of alienation from Taiwan’s early history, so she decided to jump directly to post-war Taiwan and follow the life experiences of students and their previous generation of family members. Connect, trigger dialogue, understand the process of opposition and conflict between different ideologies, and then proceed from this to trace Taiwan's earlier history. Xinhui did not teach history according to the mainstream national curriculum. Instead, she used a large number of historical documents and poems to explore how Taiwanese people in different eras formed their current self-identity, echoing the "natural independence" of the young students in front of her. ” state of consciousness, as well as the polar tendency of reason and emotion. Xinhui's thinking on history courses has broken away from the past tendency towards Chinese identity and focused on the current Taiwanese identity, which is also her own way of identity. It is worth noting that she also began to reflect on whether the teacher's own identity orientation is passed on to the students through the courses she designs. Is there a power dominance relationship that requires vigilance? In addition to focusing on Taiwanese identity, Taiwan history courses have a more meaningful axis to help children develop their consciousness? This is really a question worth pondering.
4. Localized practice and reflection on Waldorf’s tenth grade “Ancient History” main course -
Curriculum Designer and Teaching Personnel: Qiu Yirui (Yilan Cixin Waldorf Experimental High School)
Course summary and appreciation: Cheng Hongfei
(1) Course summary
1. The overall learning objectives of the ancient history main course
Teacher Yi Rui's image of the ancient history course is to prepare imagination and empathy for the study of history, and to make inferences through the use of materials and viewpoints. Have an understanding of the origins of civilization and the advancement of geographical space, climate, farming and handicrafts. Be aware that myths and cultural memories can reflect the development attributes of a group, and then be able to think about doubt and inquiry, and discover the interconnected influence between the origin of civilization and world history. For the hypothesis of historical periodization, we can have a modern understanding perspective. Have an understanding of the patterns and norms established by Chinese culture in ancient historical periods.
2. Basis for course conception
When Teacher Yi Rui first started taking middle school history courses, he referred to the age-based curriculum listed in the book "The Educational Tasks and Content of the Steiner Waldorf Curriculum" compiled by Martyn Rawson and others, so that he could see A structural deduction of the history curriculum in British Waldorf schools. Then I was inspired by Christoph Lindenberg's "Teaching History" and regarded history as the process of inner manifestation and transformation of human soul and spirituality. Later, he served as a Waldorf teacher training instructor and began to think about the urgency of creative courses and localized courses. He decided to abandon Waldorf textbooks translated from Europe and try to introduce Western history and the interactive relationship between the East and the West from another's perspective. . Through extensive reading, Teacher Yi Rui continues to try to understand world history from a more diverse perspective, absorbing contemporary new cultural history and global history trends, looking for scholars who can travel from the study of ancient Chinese history to modern historical methods, and through contemporary Western The new method of history re-visits ancient China, and also involves the fields of sociology, economics, anthropology, archaeology, and mythology. Teacher Yi Rui later participated in Martyn Rawson's high school history teacher training, systematically discussed the history curriculum for grades 5-12, and added a stable scaffolding support for the shaping of localized curriculum.
3. Reflect on the context of Taiwan’s history education
Teacher Yi Rui realized that almost all Waldorf teachers came from the same history education training, which was a unified history textbook with the party-state consciousness and the Han nationality as the core. Following the lifting of martial law in Taiwan in 1987, the democratization movement and Taiwanese consciousness gradually took shape. As social voices strived for more Taiwanese self-identity, a trend of de-Sinicization of politics also emerged. While we are delighted that Taiwan's subjectivity is growing stronger, the discussion of cultural continuity in the historical context is gradually being cut off. In addition, Teacher Yi Rui believes that if we directly use the rich and imaginative European historical materials of Western Waldorf teachers to teach Western history, the result will be that through the natural authority and artistic influence of teachers, in the globalization and digital media In today's era, our students have accumulated a strong European identity since childhood and are almost unable to detect the attributes of their own culture.
4. Course objectives
Cultivate cultural memory and historical identity (how to lead tenth grade students to have a sense of connection when facing ancient historical materials, the background of the emergence of their own culture; what is the other and the foreign? How to blend?)
Cultivation of historical literacy - how history is formed (methods and origins, whether it is possible to update or reinterpret historical discoveries. Changes in vision after the introduction of anthropological and archaeological materials)
Develop multiple perspectives (diversity of possible expressions of human consciousness, civilization theory and cultural history, aesthetics)
Understand the relationship between human society and the geographical environment (comparative civilization orientation, critical perspective of concepts, global history perspective)
Discuss the origin of Chinese civilization? How to avoid the Han nationality center/Huanghuai Plain center, and how to establish a multi-regional perspective on the origin of civilization.
5. Teaching materials and content
Explore mythological narrative materials and try to include the fields of early witchcraft and ritual in different regions, as well as the background in which the myths were written. Explore the characteristics of the Eastern soul through archaeological materials - from totem myths, murals, painted pottery, bronze decorations to text formation. Through ancient historical documents, ideas, art, and artifacts, we can discover how Han civilization evolved? How society transformed? How the world of cultural memory we live in was formed. Compare Western civilization and understand how humans advanced evolution in ancient times.
6. Learning Assessment
(1) Basic description of work
Whether the course context can be sorted out in a structured way and presented in the table of contents, chapter titles, and secondary titles. This includes the space for custom titles and the judgment of logical composition; the ability to describe the subject content itself; the ability to enter the classroom proposition Ability to describe situations; be able to explain content in your own way of expression.
(2) Demonstration of the ability to present conceptually: Paragraph statements about the subject content can produce continuous inferences; be able to give the subject an appropriate conceptual conclusion; be able to appropriately quote illustrations, timelines, concept maps or tables to integrate information or supplement it Description; can echo the association and experience integration brought by the subject content (preface and conclusion).
(3) Classroom participation and interaction: classroom review, summary, oral description and group discussion, group topic discussion, doubts and questions, opinions and other interactive expressions.
(2) Course Appreciation:
Professor Cheng Hongfei reported that in addition to being inspired by Lindenberg's work, Professor Yi Rui's ancient history course "views history as the process of inner manifestation and transformation of human souls and spirituality" and also consciously breaks through the Eurocentric view of history. At the same time, it also put aside Steiner's stage theory of the development of human civilization to a certain extent. It also tried to get rid of the political ideology of Greater China or going to China. Through a large amount of interdisciplinary reading, it used archaeological artifacts as the main material to connect with contemporary times. The historical trend of thought develops the perspective of the origin of multiple regional civilizations, explores the development process of Han civilization, and uses the development of Western civilization as a reference to try to understand the overall picture of the development of human civilization. Teacher Yi Rui's ancient history course has a broad intellectual horizon, but using the development area of Han civilization as a scene, can it fully respond to the question raised by Taiwan Waldorf middle school students: "Why do we need to learn the history of that country, China?" "Involving the complicated positioning of Taiwan's subject identity, there may not be a simple answer. It is still a process that requires continuous dialogue and joint exploration. Teacher Yi Rui’s curriculum experiment has opened up a development space for such dialogue and exploration.
5. People and Computers: Localized Practice and Reflection on Digital Media Education in Waldorf Schools-
Curriculum Designer and Teaching Personnel: Lin Yihui (Hsinchu City Zhaohai Waldorf Education Experimental Institution)
Course summary and appreciation: Wang Zhihong
(1) Course summary
1. Course ideas
This article starts from the current rapid progress of AI and digital technology, and considers how to respond to the increasing technological dependence and virtualization activities faced by the new generation, or the arrival of the so-called "fifth economic model change"; at the same time, Thinking about human mental health, critical thinking ability, connection between people and the world, imagination and creativity, etc.
Waldorf education is generally misunderstood as disapproving or even rejecting the use of technology products, but this is not the case. The principle is to use technology consciously at the right time to meet real needs, so that children can learn to use technology correctly instead of being restricted by it.
2. Course design and objectives
The goal of this course design is that ninth-grade students must learn to see the world from various perspectives and connect it to real life, understand the relationship between the evolution of science and technology and the development of human civilization, and understand that the development of science and technology is the result of the efforts of many people to promote human welfare; In addition, we hope that students will learn to distinguish between wants and needs, practice healthy and conscious use of technology products in life, and understand that technology is not everything.
The course design adopts Martyn's three-level structure, which are macro, meso and micro levels.
The macro level considers the age and development status of students, including horizontal curriculum response, vertical curriculum continuation, and spiral topic discussion and skill development. The middle level corresponds to the Hsinchu area where the school is located, which has a very unique technological city atmosphere and conditions, so it can make good use of surrounding related technological resources; it also corresponds to the various connotations of technological literacy in the 108 curriculum; the micro level is about the current use of technology, and Experiences used by students, such as Internet culture, social media, video games and e-sports industry, addiction issues, etc.
The course content includes the history of the development of computer technology, the development of software and hardware, the history of the development of human factors technology, the development of current technology, applications and related issues; it also explores topics such as information utilization, Internet ethics, etc.
3. Teaching practical experience
In actual teaching, Yihui starts from stories, games, and experiments, echoes students' previous starting point knowledge, and constantly observes students' reactions to adjust subsequent courses. When teaching the carry method and designing passwords, students discovered that they didn't hate mathematics so much. The stories of many inventors in the history of science and technology allow students to feel the great spirit of promoting civilization and serving mankind in addition to technology.
Yihui shared an example of students' reactions when they heard the sentence "Computers can teach you how to write "hug", but they cannot let you experience the beauty and risks of a real hug." Discussions on technology dependence or addiction, detachment from nature, Internet ethics and literacy, etc. all received a lot of positive feedback from students. It has achieved good results in terms of broadening students' horizons, self-awareness, and technological self-discipline.
4. Teaching reflection
Yihui reflects on her 20 years of experience as a programming system designer, which was of great help in designing and conducting this course. She integrates these rich life experience elements into teaching and brings students a sense of life. Through Waldorf education, Yihui was able to combine her own scientific and technological knowledge and experience and more consciously bring it back to "human life" without forgetting the original intention of technological development.
When faced with students who use technology products quite frequently, Yihui reminds them to talk to them in a neutral, non-judgmental and respectful manner. In every class, asking questions and starting conversations are art.
(2) Course Appreciation
1. Become a master of technology
Yihui's course solidly and concisely presents Waldorf education's views on science and technology education at the secondary level, which is to "make people the masters of science and technology." "Those who have deep desires have shallow secrets." Zhuangzi 2,000 years ago Already warned. If a person does not understand the tools in his hands, it is equivalent to being controlled by them; just as he is not aware of the source of his thoughts and words, he is restricted by habits.
Yihui's professional background is in programming systems engineering, so it is particularly meaningful for her to shed light on this issue. She emphasized that in the history of scientific and technological development, a powerful driving force is the goodwill and will of inventors who want to contribute to human civilization. If science and technology education blindly emphasizes its application orientation and economic value, it will unconsciously fall into more competition and consumption; but if we can grasp this original intention, people will still be the masters of technology and invention.
2. Positive science and technology education close to the living world
Yihui's teaching includes many practical operations, such as dismantling computers, PDAs and mobile phones, directly discussing the relevant issues of mobile phone addiction, mobile games and e-sports industries, logic circuit design and implementation, etc.; as well as those inventions The story of family must be very relatable to students who have heard the story since childhood. Technology education can be so close to life and have feelings. Students will naturally have a sense of the advantages and disadvantages of technology.
6. Local practice and reflection on the chemistry main course -
Curriculum Designer and Teaching Personnel: Li Xinyi (Yilan Cixin Waldorf Education Experimental High School)
Course summary and appreciation: Wang Zhihong
Course Summary
1. Course core
My favorite teacher believes that Waldorf science education is an integrated teaching that must respond to the status and needs of students' development stages. It uses problem inquiry as the main method to explore the relationship between phenomena, and ultimately builds a relationship between oneself and the world starting from oneself. relation.
I believe that the science curriculum for grades 1 to 12 is holistic, connecting humans with other components of the world from near to far; realizing the interdependence between oneself and all things, and cultivating a sense of responsibility and reverence. The method follows the same principle: starting from physical sensory experience and then entering into abstract speculation.
2. Course structure
This teaching list lists the recommended teaching topics for Waldorf chemistry courses from grades 7 to 12, which are combustion in grade 7, food and nutrition (food chemistry) in grade 8, organic chemistry in grade 9, and inorganic chemistry (acids) in grade 10. Bases and salts), Atomic Theory and Periodic Table for 11th grade, Biochemistry for 12th grade. He also proposed the characteristics of the Waldorf chemistry curriculum: starting from phenomena that arouse curiosity, connecting daily life and applications, creating sensory experiences to trigger emotions, repeating and connecting the same themes in different grades, from concrete to abstract, and from abstract symbols to ten. Introduced in first grade.
Xinyi proposed that all Waldorf schools use textbooks compiled by teachers, which will test teachers’ professional knowledge and qualities to a certain extent. When she designs courses, her core goal is to let students learn how to learn. She repeatedly thinks about the following aspects every time she prepares a lesson:
WHY? Why these themes? What is the relationship between age and themes? What is the vertical relationship between themes?
WHAT? What are the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that students must learn in the course topics? What content should be taught?
HOW? What teaching methods should be used for this topic? How to select materials? How to teach?
3. Teaching strategies and evaluation
In terms of teaching strategies, I first set the "core questions" of the course theme, design relevant experiments, and then extend and develop a staged conceptual ladder through questions and discussions. The actual implementation is not limited to course design, but can be flexibly extended according to the classroom situation. The process corresponds to the three-stage teaching method of "conclusion, judgment, and concept", and is gradually integrated from conceptual units to the overall image of the theme.
Taking the seventh-grade chemistry class as an example, focusing on combustion, a familiar phenomenon in life, through experimental observations, we explore how the power of fire transforms matter, creating upward airflow and downward ash; combustion is both a chemical reaction and a The art of transformation; closely related to human life and even civilization. Students experience respect for materials, the beauty of nature, and the meaning of learning itself.
Combustion also creates another type of polarity, namely acid and alkali substance products; at this time, we can explore the acid-base phenomenon in life and also connect it to the lime cycle phenomenon in nature. The individual and the natural whole are once again unified.
The teaching evaluation method is set simultaneously at the beginning of the course design. Through discussion and concept condensation in the daily teaching objectives, practical tasks (inquiry-based task-oriented experiments) are set, and teaching is tested based on student learning effectiveness. quality, allowing for flexible adjustments.
4. Teacher reflection
The Waldorf science curriculum emphasizes teaching from a "phenomenological" perspective; Xinyi has profound questions in this article. For example, phenomenology abandons the reduction theory of mechanistic science and emphasizes returning to the phenomenon itself. However, how can we get closer to the essence of things? Waldorf chemistry education does not want to accumulate cold models and knowledge, so what is its real intention? What abilities or qualities does the phenomenological method of teaching want to cultivate in students? How to carry out the teaching method through sensory experience? "Essential Inquiry" What is the connection between the method and modern chemical knowledge?
Regarding teachers' self-compiled teaching materials, novice teachers often ask themselves "Is it Waldorf enough?" or "Is the teaching content the same as other teachers?" What is really important is that the teacher has an in-depth understanding and interpretation of the course content and is able to make full use of teaching methods. . In order to integrate local resources, identify students' status, and respond to students' development needs, teachers must have the freedom to interpret the curriculum and discuss the Waldorf curriculum; however, this may also lead to chaos where everyone insists on their own opinions. To avoid falling into either end, I suggest that we should promote the establishment of a professional team of teachers and conduct more dialogue and reflection.
(2) Course Appreciation
Xinyi has rich experience in Waldorf science education and has a deep understanding of Anthroposophy. The curriculum design is comprehensive and complete, and she deeply grasps the process from external scientific phenomena to students' scientific concepts, rather than accumulating established scientific knowledge. Consistent with the core concepts of the Waldorf curriculum, the main goal of the chemistry curriculum is also to meet the status and needs of students' developmental stages. Taking seventh grade as an example, my favorite teacher specifically pointed out that teachers must understand the mental state and diversity of early adolescence. Through the course, students are guided to look outside and encounter the world and others, so as to prevent them from paying too much attention to the body and being controlled by emotions.
In this article, My Favorite Teacher demonstrates a science teacher’s curious attitude and inquiring spirit towards the world. In addition to asking questions about the principles and methods of science and teaching, she particularly reflected on the inner attitude of a teacher, how to think comprehensively and get yourself to zero when preparing lessons; knowing students is more important than sticking to the curriculum; how not to stick to dogma, while not over-interpreting.
Finally, I talked about the so-called "scientific education based on phenomenology", which is the fundamental spirit of Waldorf education and the world view based on anthroposophy. Although this article mainly discusses science education, we can also get a glimpse of the core goal of Waldorf education as a whole. , that is, towards the maturity of individual inner life and the freedom towards internal and external balance.
7. Local practice and reflection on art history through the transformation of the soul-
Curriculum Designer and Teaching Personnel: Yu Ruojun (Institute of Educational Art and Healing, Mingdao University)
Course summary and appreciation: Wang Zhihong
(1) Course summary
1. Course core
Teacher Yu Ruojun always focuses on the two main axes of "the development of human consciousness" and "students' development stages and learning tasks" in the course of art history. "Putting aesthetics and art history at the beginning of Waldorf high school education has a sense of ritual as a coming-of-age ceremony, allowing the art of Waldorf education to warm up to the stage when young people's thinking power is gradually maturing." And the development of art History corresponds to the development process of consciousness and civilization in the long history of human beings. Through the perspective of art, students can have a glimpse of the trajectory of civilization evolution and gain strength and inspiration from it.
2. Course structure and content
The art history course for ninth grade students lasts for six weeks and can be regarded as the "science of art appreciation". Facing the painful stage of life transformation in adolescence, that is, at the moment when the soul life (or astral body) is born, students can learn art through artistic skills. The experience compensates for the pain of life. In the course, we appreciate, copy, and analyze great works in the history of civilization, and make full use of the emerging rational thinking skills. "When young people practice judgment and rational thinking, they start from the emotional qualities such as warmth and beauty."
Compare the different characteristics, evolution and relationship between different stages of human history, and explore the correlation between artistic styles and geography, climate, and economic conditions; the influence, ideological state and evolution of different civilizations, the differences between Eastern and Western art, and Compare and so on. And try to express it in your own words.
The tenth grade theme is "Art Observation and Creation of Ancient Civilizations, Poetics, Poetry, Calligraphy and Painting", looking for "the power of civilization" among the arts of various civilizations, regions and religions. The different perspectives and viewpoints in Eastern and Western art are also of special significance.
The consciousness of students in the eleventh grade has developed into a certain duality. Generally, Waldorf courses recommend conducting music history at this time and echoing each other through art appreciation courses. Considering the phenomenon of cultural globalization brought about by digital media technology, the materials can be more diverse and pay attention to cultural differences.
The twelfth-grade art course comes to the stage of architecture and modern art; architectural art is the place where aesthetics, science, and technology combine; it explores the relationship between humans, the natural environment, and the forces of the universe in different civilizations and stages, as well as the philosophy and aesthetics involved therein and cosmology. Modern art, contemporary art and future art explore how human beings can use art to meet various issues and challenges of the times and create the power of transformation and healing.
3. Implementation process
Ruojun constructs the core approach of this course through "action and reflection"; several of the main inquiries, such as localization issues, tradition and modernity, cultural origins, etc., revolve around "the universality of the evolution of human consciousness and the individual origins of culture" "Sex" axis.
This course adopts a "learning community rich in action research spirit" to conduct course teaching, and develops a mixed-age "art learning master-apprenticeship" or "workshop" format to meet the diverse needs of individuals or groups. In addition to appreciating, analyzing and discussing works of art, students will also actually visit museums and art galleries, and observe and sketch in front of physical artworks.
4. Teacher reflection
Ruojun reminds you that Waldorf education is not for teaching, but for awakening; and teachers must be able to awaken themselves. In the face of a constantly changing generation, the most important task of teachers is to move forward humbly and bravely under the unique manifestation and guidance of the children in front of them.
(2) Course Appreciation
The course itself is art
1. The curriculum responds to the status and needs of students’ development stages
Ruojun presented an art history course titled "Transformation Through Transformation" and highlighted two important "transformations", which echoed the perspective of anthroposophy. One is the growth and transformation of personal life, and the other is the evolution of human civilization consciousness.
The first is personal life, which is the "transformation of the adolescent growth stage"; adolescence means that a person is about to transform from a child to an adult. In this stage, the strong growth motivation will be accompanied by strong uneasiness and restlessness, which is both detrimental to the existence of one's own life. Confused about meaning and at the same time questioning the unknown state of the world at large. This huge doubt reflects the strong vitality and will within the individual. It can be described as a positive and healthy "doubt" and an important key to individual freedom. Furthermore, from the perspective of the development of human civilization and consciousness, the trajectory of transformation and transformation shows human courage, wisdom and creativity; of course, it also presents the current crises and issues. This is crucial for teenagers. From the perspective of individual teenagers or civilization as a whole, transformation is an eternal dynamic process; correctly understanding it and finding the method and power to transcend is the core meaning of this course.
2. Cross-domain integration and real correspondence
Ruojun regards the art history course as a link in the sequence of art themes, and adopts an inquiry method in the spirit of action research during the course. Each theme is interconnected with other courses, such as ancient civilization, ecology, ocean and geography courses, etc. Through overall teaching extension and interaction, the meaning of the course itself may be based on real feelings and thinking. Cross-domain integration is naturally reflected here.
5. Comprehensive discussion: the practical significance of “localization” of Waldorf curriculum
To sum up, the curriculum design and teaching process carried out by seven Waldorf practical teachers in this study showed several common practical significance of "localization":
1. Topics that respond to changing times: "Global and local" become the background context of the course
One of the goals of Waldorf education is to help people practice the freedom of life. This lofty goal is facing unprecedented challenges in the contemporary era. One of the reasons is that technology, with its extremely powerful application functions, tempts humans to give up on themselves. . This is a major crisis for modern civilization.
Reflection on current science and technology education and civilization, from a macro perspective, the scientific and technological challenges faced by current civilization will be an unavoidable major issue for the next generation. Human beings are wielding more and more powerful tools, and most people even have no idea how the tools work. You can imagine what kind of dilemma this will cause. From the perspective of consequentialism, the dilemmas caused by science and technology are unprecedented. Whether it is the collapse and disorder of the natural environment, or the extreme polarization, opposition and conflict of the international society, mankind has faced the dual combination of natural disasters and global nuclear war. Doomsday threat? At this time, the scientific and technological perspective in Waldorf education, a more comprehensive and responsible education that considers the value of civilization as a whole and human nature, will become more important and is an urgent task for educators.
In the face of digital technological changes, most of the Waldorf courses in this study lead students to learn to observe, integrate, judge, infer, and form concepts based on the most intuitive sensory experience, so as to obtain their own living knowledge and construct The healthy relationship and meaning between oneself and the world is the so-called "learning how to learn correctly"; this is of particularly profound significance in the postmodern knowledge landscape, and even in the contemporary world with the rise of AI technology. As Wang Zhihong (2019) pointed out, AI will definitely make humans further away from life and spirituality, and Waldorf education is a new education under the contemporary spiritual movement, and may also be the way out for new education and new science in the future.
In response to the challenges and creations in the era of globalization, "digitization" has become an important contemporary issue, and digital media has penetrated almost infinitely into every corner of daily life. The powerful ability of AI to generate images also challenges the artistic views and even values of the new generation. What is left of art at this time? What is left of humanity at this time? This is an issue that the new generation of humans, especially educators, cannot avoid. Waldorf courses not only help students gain understanding and judgment on the topic of "consciousness and civilization development", but also help students face contemporary scientific and technological issues from a humane, warm, and aesthetic perspective. Actively integrate technological tools to obtain or even create new artistic experiences.
2. Curriculum development of hierarchical thinking: middle-level courses as a transformation bridge for “localization”
Returning to the "leveled curriculum design" method that this article has worked on in the direction of localized curriculum, the Waldorf practical teachers in this article have mostly used hierarchical curriculum thinking to develop "local" thinking and local characteristics. This is of great significance to the curriculum and teaching development of Waldorf teachers. Especially the "middle-level curriculum" needs to consider the local or cultural context. When teachers face the curriculum topics, local issues emerge, such as "People and The main course "Animals" considers the local animal species in Hsinchu and Taoyuan; the main course "Local Research" uses Hsinchu as a local connection; the "Taiwan History" theme course deeply faces the historical situation of "Taiwan itself"; the main course "Chinese History" The "Chinese Culture" and "Ancient Eastern Civilization" are traced back to the ancient times of China; the "People and Computers" course also considers the context of the school's "location" in "Hsinchu Science and Technology City"; the combustion experienced in the chemistry class also meets Yilan's The characteristics of "local nature" and the design of these "level courses" make the "middle-level courses" a bridge for the creation of "localized" course images, and this "place" (place) is diverse and is the local community. , it may be native to Taiwan; it may be Chinese culture, it may be ancient oriental civilization, oriental cultural elements, etc., becoming a diverse "localized" image.
3. The teaching art of flow of phenomena: "localization" becomes the multiple connections that transform grand narratives
The "phenomenological perspective" adopted by Waldorf education is also presented and used here. See the phenomenon, observe and discuss it with real feelings, dialogue, dialectics, refinement, and obtain new and meaningful things that are meaningful and warm to the individual. Concepts will not only grow in knowledge, but also be connected to emotions, becoming the source and power of students' future actions. The local Waldorf curriculum in this study provides a positive and effective practical case in the overall education of thinking, emotion, and will, in combining individual and holistic topics, as well as individual freedom and responsibility in facing the world.
Teachers should be able to keep pace with the times and educate themselves; teachers must train themselves and let their senses and imagination become research tools... Teachers are the guides for students to enter the broad world and the palace of knowledge, and their inner posture has a great impact on students. Facing science and knowledge, being confident but not arrogant, mastering the principles of learning while always being curious and open, being sensitive to self-reflection, being diligent in dialogue and self-correction, these are all mottos for teachers. "Once the curriculum is standardized, it comes to an end." Every teaching design and practice, and every class occurrence, are unique! This is not just an art course, the course itself is art. Every lesson that happens is a work of art.
Waldorf teachers need to use a high degree of reflective ability and creativity, combined with artistic knowledge and literacy, to fully demonstrate the essence of Waldorf education. The Waldorf curriculum in this research team provides an open, reflective, and creative curriculum appearance, on the practical road of localization of Waldorf curriculum, and on the Waldorf cross-school exchange community. , I believe it can give on-site teachers the confidence to create and act.
4. Diverse evaluation of integration concepts: "localization" becomes the integration of Waldorf education and national curriculum
The Waldorf teachers who collaborated with this article on curriculum research often mentioned the Waldorf curriculum evaluation of the three-dimensional design of "will, emotion, and thinking" in curriculum design. Here we encounter the prospects of "localization" of the national curriculum. From a practical point of view, as Fan Xinxian et al. (2016) pointed out, Taiwan’s 12-year national education curriculum takes literacy-oriented courses and teaching as the main axis, emphasizing “the integration of cognition, skills, and attitudes” and “contextualization”. There are four major principles: "learning", "learning strategies and methods", and "application of practical performance". Therefore, we also advocate "literacy-oriented assessment" based on the principles of literacy teaching, emphasizing integration, situational utilization, and through practice, the flexible application of "learning by doing/learning by doing", comprehensive performance, and reflection and dialectics.
The "evaluation of three-dimensional design" in the localized practical courses of Taiwanese Waldorf teachers in this research team can be said to be a clever reflection of the literacy-oriented evaluation of the 12-year national education curriculum, and it is also deeply rooted in Waldorf education. Features
Land, conclusion and enlightenment: the practical significance and prospects of localization of Waldorf curriculum
Finally, this study is of great significance in practice as a collaborative practical inquiry, the development of localized courses in experimental education, and new thinking on Waldorf education paths:
1. The practical significance of Waldorf education action research and cooperation with university teachers
Just as Professor Cheng Hongfei, the inventor of this research team, issued an article in May 2021 to make this appeal: "It can be seen from the important discussions in foreign Waldorf education journals that Waldorf research, on the one hand, attempts to demonstrate self-criticism and innovation Some imminent issues of social justice and ecological justice have become the real social conditions that the younger generation is most concerned about. All education must actively face them, and Waldorf cannot look from the outside, dealing with the weak, marginalized and oppressed. Individuals or groups must take more active actions" (quoted from Xue Xiaohua, 2022). This study brings in the topics explored by seven Waldorf teachers in various years and fields to explore Waldorf education issues. Deeply meaningful.
Rawson (2024) further quoted Rudolf Steiner in 1923 on the significance of the work of teachers in Waldorf schools, "We can think of teacher studies as an ongoing university for the college of teachers. In order to make Practical education can be examined, evaluated and further developed, and enables teachers to develop knowledge for their practice. The work Steiner describes is today known as action or practitioner research, also outside of academia. Practical teachers often find it difficult to carry out systematic research on their practice outside of the qualification framework or work carried out by Waldorf teacher training providers, which highlights the collaboration between Waldorf teacher training institutions and schools. importance." This study is a collaboration between university scholars and cross-school Waldorf teachers to explore their teaching practices, which reflects the practical significance of such a "teacher's college".
2. The significance of localized Waldorf curriculum practice in experimental education
In Taiwan, experimental education has been pioneering and cultivated over the past thirty years with the reform of private education. With the announcement and policies of the "Three Methods of Experimental Education", Taiwan has become a pioneer in experimental education in Asia, with the development of conceptual education for more than a hundred years worldwide - such as Montessori. Education, Waldorf education, free schools, and in recent years, Jena education, KIPP, etc. have been introduced to Taiwan, becoming experimental education and nourishing the diversification of education, and also bringing the international perspective of the global education movement.
Xue Xiaohua (2022) once pointed out that the further dialogue between global concept education and local practice is a very important topic in the practice of global alternative education. This is even more important in the era of reflection on global multiculturalism and post-colonial discourse. In practical terms, global localization is a multicultural social value and practice that needs to be consciously protected. The teaching art team of this study "Located Waldorf Curriculum Practice" has used Anthroposophy, which contains rich teaching artistry, to use a broader perspective and local cultural teaching to produce dialogic curriculum action practices. , the collaborative action research on "local flavor" Waldorf teaching adapted to local conditions can be said to be an important experimental education research attempt from the perspective of "global localization".
3. The significance of localized Waldorf curriculum actions in the global Waldorf education movement
Regarding the localization of Waldorf courses, New Zealand scholar Neil Boland and British scholar Martyn Rawson have long made calls for the value of multiculturalism. From the multi-ethnic situation in New Zealand, Boland (2015) called for the need for Steiner education to develop multicultural topics. Therefore, the "localization" of Steiner education or Waldorf education can be reflected and examined from three dimensions. Any effective teaching should have: "1. Education should be connected to the place where people live; 2. Education should be connected to the era in which people live; 3. Education should be connected to the people around us." Bransby and Rawson (2021) specifically pointed out in an article titled "Waldorf education for the future: A framework for curriculum practice": "Waldorf schools It is an inclusive space that respects differences, has a strong caring and practical ethics, and encourages a continuous focus on the improvement, development and renewal of school culture” (Bransby & Rawson, 2021). The localized Waldorf teaching team studied in this article can be said to have responded to such a broad, diverse, updated and transformed Waldorf education practice development path, and also retained the spirit contained in the first Waldorf school. Towards an ideal of inclusive social space.
7. Conclusion and outlook
Finally, this article believes that such rhizomatic localization concepts and community attempts, the art teaching thinking of postmodern courses, localized Waldorf educational inquiry dialogues, and the philosophy of Anthroposophy are still connected with freedom of mind .
As Cheng Hongfei and Zhang Weiguo (2019) quoted Steiner's true meaning of "freedom" (Steiner, 1964), they believed that "a truly free teacher is one who can carry out a kind of teaching in each unique and complex situation." What Steiner calls living thinking is the ability to have a warm awareness, to gain insight into the fundamental core in the fusion of subject and object, and then to make brave decisions and take actions of love.”
Rawson (2024) quotes Steiner's words at the "Spiritual Values in Education" conference organized by Millicent Mackenzie in Oxford:
"I have said many times that the principle of running a Waldorf school is not to establish a school to promote a specific philosophy or a specific educational concept, but to establish a method school. Through An approach based on human knowledge that aims to make children physically healthy, strong, psychologically free and spiritually clear.”
(English Steiner, 2004, p. 116, German GA 305, 157, Rawson translation).
In the classic Anthroposophical book "The Study of Man", in the last fourteen lectures, Steiner even mentioned his motto as a teacher as an encouragement for creativity, truth and responsibility:
Fill yourself with the ability to create images; have the courage to pursue the truth; sharpen your sense of responsibility in your soul.
沉浸式翻譯