| A continuing education program for high school science teachers
First Summer Session: July 6 to July 12, 2008
Teaching science in high school is a challenge. And teaching it in a manner that allows students to experience and question the world is an even greater one. Too often their world is one in which receiving information takes precedence over active, self-directed exploration, a world in which nature unfolds its splendors in digitally enhanced magnificence on a flat screen, a world in which science is more a matter of answers than questions. How do we awaken in students a sense of wonder for direct experience? How can this grow into true interest that stimulates exploration and leads to deeper understanding and engagement in life?
Unfortunately, our modern culture and educational system do little to prepare us to guide students along this path of experience-based learning. To question what we take for granted and to engage in open-ended inquiry is as much a struggle for the teacher as it is for students. Too many explanations can cloud our vision, just as too little insight can leave us blind. How do I as a teacher learn to see with fresh eyes? Can I learn to practice the capacities that I hope the students will attain?
Bringing Science to Life is a course that wants to address these questions in relation to high school science education. It is for practicing teachers and will run over three summers with a one-week course each year. The summer sessions will be a mix of seminars, group project work, and dialogue. The seminars and projects will explore the concrete practice of phenomenological methodology, the living relation between experience and scientific concept formation, and the spiritual psychology of learning.
Collegial dialogue will be an important part of this course. Since peer exchange and active involvement in the learning process is an important and often neglected component of effective adult education, there will be opportunity to consider educational questions that the attending teachers feel to be most pressing in their day-to-day work.
First Summer Session
July 6 to July 12, 2008
The course begins Sunday, July 6, at 6:00 p.m. and ends Saturday, July 12, at 12:30 p.m.
| Morning seminars: |
- Demonstrations and exercises in phenomenological science
- The psychology of experience-based learning
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| Afternoon activities: |
- Project work in small groups
- Presentations by participants: The art of forming concepts
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Course Staff
Craig Holdrege is a biologist, educator, and the director of The Nature Institute. He was a Waldorf science teacher for 21 years and has been involved in teacher education since 1994.
Henrike Holdrege is a mathematician and biologist, and a Nature Institute staff member.
Jon McAlice has been active in the international Waldorf school movement for many years as a teacher and lecturer, and has a special interest in teacher development.
Tuition: $520. Tuition includes all materials, as well as morning and afternoon snacks.
Registration Deadline: June 1. Please send in the registration form and payment in full.
Early Registration Benefit: If you register before May 1, subtract $30 from the course fee.
Cancellation Policy: If you cancel your registration more than two weeks prior to the beginning of the course, you will be refunded the course fee minus $50. If you cancel less than two weeks before the course begins, you will receive a refund of the course fee minus $100.
Lodging and Meals: We can refer participants to local families who rent rooms ($25 to $50 per night). Camping at nearby state parks is approximately $15 per night. Participants will be responsible for their own meals. The Hawthorne Valley Farm Store is within walking distance and has extensive organic grocery and deli selections.
To print out a registration form, click here.
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