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Adolescent Studies and High School Research Focus Area with Douglas Gerwin
Once a brief transition out of childhood into adulthood, adolescence has grown during the last century into a phase of human development spanning a decade and more. At one end we encounter elementary school "tweens" who anticipate adolescent behavior and sexual puberty; at the other, we hear about "rejuveniles" who return home after graduating from college to live out a few more years of pre-adulthood. But more: adolescence has come to represent a mind set -- and a commercial market -- that lingers well into the adult years, especially in Western industrialized societies.
This expansion of adolescence sets up two questions for experienced educators:- How did this change come about, and what does it tell us about the evolution of human consciousness in the last half-century?
- In light of these developments, how does our teaching need to change so that the children and teenagers of today become fully adult tomorrow?
These questions stand as backdrop to a new Masters program of "Adolescent Studies and High School Research" starting in the summer of 2009 at Antioch University New England. In addition to fulfilling the general requirements of this program, participants will undertake advance-level courses in adolescent development and curriculum studies. We will examine three levels of intelligence--cognitive, emotional, moral--and ways to cultivate them during the high school years. We will ask how female and male teenagers take hold of their physical and psychological bodies, and which struggles they face as they add weight to the one and depth to the other. We will explore the social and anti-social consequences of sex, drugs, and technology in their lives.
Most teenagers today face obstacles--physiological and emotional--to their learning processes. We will take up recent research into different styles of learning as they apply to the high school years and deepen our understanding of various academic remedial needs.
As the number increases of Waldorf high schools across North America and around the globe, Waldorf teachers are experimenting with new forms and curricula: academic, artistic, practical. We will ask: What are they trying out and what are they learning from their new ventures? In a related vein of enquiry, we can also ask, based on the results of four recent surveys of Waldorf alumni: Where do Waldorf graduates go after completing high school and how do they fare in the world at large?
In addition to small-group seminars and individual presentations, each participant will design a research question and conduct fieldwork as well as academic research over the course of an entire year. Students will be matched with experienced professionals in the Waldorf movement to support and mentor the process; the final Masters Project will be submitted for peer critique and presentation before a special symposium during the second summer residency. Artistic workshops in the performing and fine arts, as well as advanced-level seminars on the craft of teaching, will also form part of the program.
Douglas Gerwin, Ph.D., is Director of the Center for Anthroposophy, including Chair of its Waldorf High School Teacher Education Program, and Co-Director of the Research Institute for Waldorf Education. Himself a Waldorf graduate, Dr. Gerwin has taught for 30 years at university and high school levels in subjects ranging from biology and history to German and music. He is editor of four books related to Waldorf education --For the Love of Literature: A Celebration of Language and Imagination; Genesis of a Waldorf High School; The Andover Proceedings: Tapping the Wellsprings of Health in Adolescence; And Who Shall Teach the Teachers: The Christ Impulse in Waldorf Education -- as well as author of various articles on adolescence and the Waldorf curriculum. Most recently co-authored Survey of Waldorf Graduates, the first comprehensive look at how North American Waldorf graduates fare in college and beyond.
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