Marine Biology Week for Waldorf High Schools: An Experiment in Collaboration

The seniors of the Great Barrington Waldorf High School - a group of students that included my son - recently returned from a week at Hermit Island in Maine.

For the past twelve years senior Waldorf students from all over the east coast have joined together in a weeklong marine biology trip on the Maine coast. This unique adventure joins several Waldorf high schools in collaborative academic work and shares the broad expertise brought by teachers from different schools in North America.   It combines phenomenological study of invertebrate zoology—part of the twelfth grade Waldorf curriculum—with marine-based science labs and artistic activities.

Edward Edelstein, who initiated the Waldorf Marine Biology Week, describes the genesis of the program: “That first trip in September 1996 involved two schools—Toronto, where I was teaching, and Kimberton, where Andy Dill teaches.  We began Sunday evening with a ritual story about the four elements around the island.  The academic work began in earnest early Monday morning.  The days were divided into three parts: main lesson, artistic workshops or science labs, and tide pool observation.  Each evening we had a campfire.  At night that first year, the bay glowed with blue-green phosphorescent plankton.  Some students went swimming, their arms like angel’s wings in the iridescent sea.  The students were awed by the beauty of the place and by the marine life they held in their hands.  They loved getting to know other Waldorf seniors who could share in the experience of this unusual and rich educational system.

“Andy and I encouraged other schools to join us, and the trip has steadily grown.  The expanded format included tide pool work, main lessons, and six different artistic and science lab sessions.  Surprisingly, main lesson for 113 students works very well in the Kelp Shed.  We appreciate the kind support of both the Island’s owners, and the campground manager, Donny Wallace, for allowing us to work there each year.
“By the week’s end each student completed a seascape painting or pastel, composed sea poetry and participated in a geology lab.   They all sketched living organisms seen under the microscopes, learned botany or beach and dune ecology, and studied life in the mudflats.  With the help of Ronnie and other area naturalists, and aided by the nine foot “spring tides”, the students identified more than fifty tide pool organisms.

“On Friday, the students reflected upon the week by completing a two-hour solo main lesson.  Afterward, they met in the Kelp Shed to conclude with the annual “Hermit Island Student Art Show and Poetry Reading.”
Each year, the students respond with phrases such as the “best ever”, or “this hands on is the most meaningful kind of learning for me.”   One year, one student, Celeste Thom of Chicago, wrote :
“I stood with a classmate out on one of the heads and watched my first Maine sunset and we were blown away by the beauty…  I got to see my first wild sea star and my first wild living crab.  I heard the sound of the tide coming in, crashing on the rock as my nightly lullaby…I surprised myself by realizing that I was able to just exist here.  I was able to just be!”

This trip has grown to full capacity; the experiment is working well.  This year, other schools have joined and we have added a second week to accommodate them.  The experience successfully integrates phenomenological science and artistic activities in a beautiful setting, while creating a healthy social atmosphere for our seniors and faculty.  Teachers from eight schools enjoy working and learning together and have coalesced into a core faculty.”

I agree with Edward Edelstein when he says that this collaborative, field-based academic trip meets the needs of today’s adolescents in a way that no classroom can.”

To find out more go to Great Barrington Waldorf HighSchool.