By Lauren Smith, 7th Grade Class Teacher

The seventh grade year, a year full of the dramatic transformations of adolescence, is a perfect time for chemistry (and physiology, physics, Renaissance history, geometry, algebra and creative writing.) The class set-off to Hurricane Island in Maine to spend the week learning about coastal ecology. The week included a long boat ride to the island, tide pool exploring, lobstering, scallop farming, a microscopic view of zooplankton, and learning how to appreciate the taste of filtered pond water and live with outside composting toilets and solar electricity. By the time we returned to school to start chemistry in the classroom, we were very aware of water as a habitat and as a resource. The campfire under the full moon the night before we left, made a nice segway to our classroom work at the science bench.

We started our observations of various phenomena by investigating fire. Even inside the classroom, we strive for a direct observable experience of the phenomenon allowing the students’ observations to lead to their own conclusions about the properties of the chemical elements. Yes, I mean the elements. The same ones you know from Dmitri Mendeleev’s Periodic Table. (But don’t bring that up with the students yet. Starting with the synthesized construct would deprive them of making their own discoveries.) After replicating some of Faraday’s investigations of a candle burning, and combustion of all sorts of materials, we moved on to water.

We saw water in action: as a catalyst and water as a solvent through lab demonstrations, but then we began to look for examples in the world around us. Looking back to the geological study of 6th grade, the Hurricane Island experience, and our immediate surroundings, gave us a lot to think about. Heidi Davis, an environmental scientist who works for the State of Massachusetts in Regulation and Preservation of Wetlands, came to the class to talk about the water around us and its importance to our environment. Ms.Davis brought local historical topographical maps and showed the students the topography formed by glacial movement, the wetlands and other features. She showed the students that all those wetlands were considered wasted space and filled in for development. Now with many fewer acres of wetlands to absorb flood waters and filter contaminants, we have come to understand their significance.

With Great Meadows Conservation Land outside our door, we had to see first hand! Ms. Davis led us on a walk through the wetlands to see what was going on under all that grass, and above and around ... (The fifth grade tagged along as they are diving into botany this year.) After seeing many species of plants, some native and some invasive, finding peat, and noticing the active habitat, main lesson ended for the day. The next day the students digested the information through discussion of what they remembered and drawing their own diagrams.

Using water as our lubricant, we flowed on to the salts. We used water to filter pure salt and hold it in solution. After more investigations of salts were under our belts, we were ready for some purple cabbage. No, not to eat with the salt, rather, to use as a natural pH indicator. After tasting some acids and bases, we used the purple boiled cabbage water to indicate which substances could be categorized accordingly without tasting. The students were awed by the beautiful and dramatic color changes from purple to pink to clear then green, and yellow. Relating the color indications to what they had experienced while tasting, they deduced that substances can be placed on a scale that ranges from acidic to basic and even back to neutral.

Waldorf teachers often like to end main lesson blocks with a big finish and you can’t get much bigger than building a 1,400 degree lime kiln and transforming some limestone and marble. When working with adolescents, it’s not just about what you see on the surface. The beauty of the Waldorf Curriculum is the elegance with which the academic content nourishes the tender soul. With Yom Kippur approaching, we thought back to Rosh Hashanah, the day of apologies, and let go of some of our behavior that caused regrets. We spent some quiet time in reflection and students who chose to do so wrote some regrets on paper to throw into the oven. After the fire was lit, the students quietly cast their crumpled message into the fire. Only they knew what had been written, what they hoped to leave behind in the ashes of the old year. After watching her second piece of folded paper fall into the steel barrel, one student solemnly remarked, “there’s a lot of heat in that fire!”

Fire
Yea, my origin I know
Hungry as the fire’s glow,
Burning and consuming me,
Light it is to which I cleave,
Carbon only when I leave
Fire am I, certainly.
—Fredrick Nietzsche

Seventh Grade Chemistry