Research Institute for Waldorf Education

08/26/2026

Protecting parks starts young: From a former park ranger

From the baking flats of Death Valley to the frigid fjords of Glacier Bay, the U.S. National Park System is made up of some of the most extreme and disparate landscapes in the world. But walk into any visitor center in the country and you can expect to see the exact same sight: a child, hand raised, adorned with wooden badges, being sworn in as a Junior Ranger.

When children visit a national park, they can pick up an activity book from a ranger, chock full of games, puzzles and interactive lessons that encourage the child to really connect with the story of the park. Activity books in larger wilderness parks will often focus on conservation issues and endangered species, while historical parks have specially designed programs to teach children about challenging topics like slavery or the Civil Rights Movement. Upon completion of the activity book and after attending a national park ranger’s program, children bring the book back to the visitor center and take a pledge with a ranger, promising to protect nature wherever they go and to teach others the lessons they’ve learned. They’re formally presented with a Junior Ranger badge, specific to each park.

Click here to read more: https://www.childrenandnature.org/resources/fnn-protecting-parks-starts-young-from-a-former-park-ranger/

08/26/2026

How a Waldorf Teacher Teaches Compassion, from the Waldorf School of Cape Cod.

Second grade teacher, Ieeda Rico, shared the story of Saint Francis in The Wolf of Gubbio with her students. The story is one of forgiveness and compassion for humans and animals alike.

After she shared this story, the class visited some local animals in need at the MSPCA. The children brought items to the animals that the shelter requested to provide them with the care they need. This act of selflessness and compassion towards the animals was a way for the students to relate what they learned about Saint Francis to their own experience. When children are given this opportunity, they are interested, alive, and what they learn becomes their own. Waldorf schools are designed to foster this kind of learning.

Click here to continue reading:

Second grade teacher, Ieeda Rico, shared the story of Saint Francis in The Wolf of Gubbio  with her students. The story is one of forgiveness and compassion for humans and animals alike. After she shared this story, the class visited some local animals in need at the MSPCA. The childr

08/25/2026

Become an individual member of@awsna, Association of Waldorf Schools of North America:As an Individual Member of AWSNA, you are part of a movement to improve and transform education for children throughout North America. By becoming a member of AWSNA, you will be engaging in our community and partnering with us in spreading the message of Waldorf Education. Whether you are a parent, grandparent, alum, retired teacher, or currently practicing teacher, we welcome you to join us.

As an individual member, you will be kept up-to-date via Waldorf Education News, the official monthly eNews of the Association of Waldorf Schools of North America; receive early registration access to AWSNA conferences and, at the request of many of our members, a three-year subscription to School Renewal. But of utmost importance is your support of our schools and the children they serve.

Click this link to learn more and sign-up: https://awsna.waldorfeducation.org/WEd/Shared_Content/Shop/IndMember_Detail.aspx?utm_source=scoop&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=august_scoop

08/24/2026

This book is subtitled "a support guide for parents,' and its purpose is to reach out to give parents tools that they can use to further the results of the Waldorf classroom. The author addresses:

Different parenting styles
How to break bad patterns
Recognizing and meeting the children's cognitive needs
The complicated activity of properly observing phenomena
The benefits of setting healthy boundaries.
An insightful book on parenting a young child. Included are easy-to-understand chapters on the four temperaments, healing the past, learning to observe your child, recognizing and meeting the needs of children, setting boundaries, and parenting by temperament.

https://www.waldorfpublications.org/collections/books/products/copy-of-adventures-in-parenting

08/23/2026

As a journalist covering technology in schools, I had observed similar workshops for teachers and students that were funded or led by corporate giants like Amazon, Apple, Meta, OpenAI and Alphabet, the parent company of Google. Taking in this one, at the headquarters of the United Federation of Teachers, I was struck by how similar the sessions were to training I’d seen years earlier, while reporting on the health care industry: seminars for doctors, organized by pharmaceutical companies, that aimed to get physicians to prescribe the latest brand-name drugs.

“Industry funds what helps industry,” Dr. Adriane Fugh-Berman, a pharmacology professor at Georgetown University Medical Center who studies drug industry influence on medicine, told me recently, as I was reporting a book about A.I. and computer science education in schools.

These workshops have upsides. Big Pharma seminars can be useful for keeping physicians up-to-date on the latest patient remedies, and Big Tech workshops can similarly help educators keep current on the newest software tools. But Silicon Valley’s efforts to capture the attention of education professionals and provide student training materials can also double as marketing or indoctrination. They enable some of the most powerful corporations on the planet to spin rosy technology stories for administrators, teachers and students, giving them a sanitized view of industry practices and product risks.

Many parents would likely object if, say, Exxon Mobil wrote their children’s environmental science curriculum. Or if Purdue Pharma trained their children’s biology teachers. Yet, over the last decade, schools have often embraced the technology industry in similar ways with few questions asked.

To read more, click here: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/23/business/schools-big-tech-google-microsoft.html?unlocked_article_code=1.7lA.Kv3v.1ppSBNm8SBUp&smid=url-share

08/22/2026

Silicon Valley Executives Are Tech Fans. Just Not for Their Own Kids. At home, moderation and restraint are the rule for tech parents. Boredom is exalted. Maybe they’re onto somethingSocial media is bad for children.

That was the blunt verdict in a recent spate of high-tech court cases in California, Kentucky and New Mexico. At a moment when Silicon Valley has never been more dominant or ambitious, one of its signature products has all the allure — and the lawsuits — of ci******es circa 1990.

On Tuesday, opening statements begin in Oakland, Calif., for the latest social media trial. California and other states have brought a case against Meta, owner of Facebook and Instagram, saying the company “harnessed powerful and unprecedented technologies to entice, engage and ultimately ensnare youth and teens.”

Meta denies the allegations. But you know who else has some issues with social media, screen time and the addictive nature of devices? Quite a few of the tech executives in Silicon Valley, at least when it comes to their own households.

“I don’t generally want my kids to be sitting in front of a TV or computer for a long period of time,” Mark Zuckerberg, Meta’s chief executive, once said. Interacting with people is good, but passively consuming content — “just going from video to video” — was not associated with “the same positive benefits,” he explained.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/18/technology/silicon-valley-tech-fans-children.html

08/05/2026

New from Waldorf Publications: Spells and Wonders by David Weber.

Drawn from decades of teaching, this collection brings together stories, poems, music, and plays for eurythmy and the Waldorf classroom. It offers teachers both rich material to use and encouragement to create work of their own.
https://bit.ly/spellsandwonders

07/22/2026

The Power of Pausing and Presencing
An Introductory Webinar on Building Resilience
October 1st, 2026
5pm PT / 8pm ET

In our fast-paced world filled with constant demands, challenges, and distractions, how often do we truly pause to reflect, become present, and reconnect with ourselves?

You will explore pausing and presencing as foundational activities that open the door to greater self-awareness, inner calm, and resilience.
The Power of Pausing and Presencing
An Introductory Webinar on Building Resilience
October 1st, 2026
5pm PT / 8pm ET

In our fast-paced world filled with constant demands, challenges, and distractions, how often do we truly pause to reflect, become present, and reconnect with ourselves?

You will explore pausing and presencing as foundational activities that open the door to greater self-awareness, inner calm, and resilience.

Click here to learn more:
https://foundationforhealthcreation.org/the-power-of-pausing-and-presencing/

07/03/2026

Where Imagination Begins and Curiosity Grows!

At Seattle Waldorf School, we educate with intention. Whether your child is an emerging scientist, artist, or entrepreneur (or all three!), we recognize that each child is on a unique educational path. Our learning environment invites each student to engage in a vibrant curriculum comprising academics, arts, outdoors, and athletics to support their healthy development and build a strong foundation for success. Waldorf graduates pursue fulfilling careers in science, technology, health, and education, among others, and earn Ph.D.s at a higher rate than the national average for independent schools.

Click here to learn more! https://seattlewaldorf.org

07/02/2026

Author of the Month June

Fritz Julius (1902-1970) was a Waldorf high school science teacher who was held in very high esteem by those he taught and all who knew him. He had a special way of stimulating imagination and comprehension in his students' hearts and minds. Like the sudden lighting in the dawn of the world when the sun clears the horizon and brilliant light floods everything, so Fritz Julius would pull students into topics with his own keen interest and build imaginative pictures until the whole class lit up like the dawn.

Waldorf Publications cherishes the two books we carry of his: Fundamentals for a Phenomenological Study of Chemistry and, most recently, Alchemical Pathways of a Researcher and Teacher. The latter is a delightful collection of Julius’s ruminations on a variety of topics — precious metals, alchemy, ants and other insects, plants, myths, and the Dutch people, to name but a few.

Fritz Julius was born in Gulpen, the Netherlands, and lived there. He taught biology and chemistry for decades at the Waldorf school in the Hague and then taught at the teacher training seminar in Stuttgart, Germany, home of the first Waldorf school. He based his understanding of an effective way to teach life sciences and chemistry on the works of Johannes Wolfgang von Goethe and Rudolf Steiner. He seems to have had both a remarkable grasp of the sciences and insight into the hearts and minds of the teenagers and adults he taught. There is in his books a spark of light that compels the reader forward.

To read more, click here: https://www.waldorfpublications.org/blogs/book-news/author-of-the-month-june