Science - The BEarth Institute

Transforming Free Public Worksheets into Waldorf Inspired Lessons

Posted on January 18, 2017 by thebearthinstitute in Animals, Carschooling, Field Trips, Nature Walks, Science, Wildlife Education

How to Plan an Earthschooling Educational Excursion: Part Two All photos copyright Kristie Burns On our recent educational excursion (see part one here) we visited many wildlife preserves. One of the preserves, the Lee County Manatee Park, had a great website with a lot of “downloadable” educational documents. These documents...

Nature Walks in The Upper Grades

Posted on July 30, 2015 by thebearthinstitute in Animals, High School, Nature Walks, Science, Sunii, Wildlife Education

Nature walks are a much talked about feature of early childhood programs in Waldorf inspired schools. They are also an important part of the educational day for children. However, nature walks can and should continue into the upper grades and even high school. This essay by my student Sunii, illustrates...

Will a Cell Phone Cook Your Brain (& Other Science Projects)

Posted on April 15, 2015 by thebearthinstitute in Science

A few years ago my friend’s friend who teaches a college level science class told him about how he impressed the students with this simple experiment. This may already be “been there done that” for everyone but the idea impressed me because someone we know actually used this in their class...

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Is the Natural Healing Revolution Over?

Posted on March 28, 2015 by thebearthinstitute in Farming, Science

In an article I was reading the other day it says, “One of the driving forces that has resulted in mainstream acceptance of phytomedicine in Germany is the inclusion of phytotherapy in the medical and pharmacy school curricula. In the opinion of several medical groups, “modern phytotherapy is not perceived...

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Be a Citizen Scientist

Posted on December 1, 2014 by thebearthinstitute in Animals, December, February, January, Nature Walks, Science, Winter

There are so many ways to be a citizen scientist in our area. As an adult I love participating as a way to be outdoors, give back to the community, further my education in the sciences, and meet other people who are interested in nature. When my children were younger they...

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Ten Things to Do with a Rosemary Tree

Posted on October 11, 2014 by thebearthinstitute in Aromatherapy, Christmas, Farming, Herbal Healing, Science, Winter

I was walking out of the grocery store today and I could not resist this adorable little rosemary tree! I have never taken the time to shape my rosemary plants and I thought this was such a wonderful way to display this herb! To keep the shape I will trim...

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Out of the Classroom

Posted on October 1, 2014 by thebearthinstitute in Field Trips, Fourth Grade, Multiple Grades, Nature Walks, Science, Sixth Grade

I love Earthschooling because we spend so much time out of the “traditional classroom”. I adore books and have shelves filled with them. However, what always amazes me is how easily and effortlessly we learn outside of the traditional “textbook and classroom” methods. Today was a perfect example of getting...

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Three Apple Harvest Activities

Posted on September 15, 2014 by thebearthinstitute in Arts, Crafts & Handwork, Autumn, Farming, Science, September, Stories

Today* for our EarthSchooling Enrichment class we made apple-pickers, told the apple star story and made apple crisp! All the fruit on the lower branches has been snacked away by Sofi and her friends so we had to reach a little farther into the tree 🙂 Making the apple pickers...

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Spring “Egg” Hunt

Posted on April 3, 2014 by thebearthinstitute in Easter, Nature Walks, Science, Spring

As a healer I always try to find that “perfect herb” that fits the needs of my client’s emotions, my clients physical body and my client’s spirit. As a teacher I am always trying to find that “perfect task” or “perfect lesson” that fits the needs of the day, the...

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Why Waldorf-inspired Education Creates Great Scientists

Posted on October 25, 2013 by thebearthinstitute in Curriculum, Eighth Grade, Farming, Field Trips, Fifth Grade, High School, Housebuilding, Lesson Blocks, Math, Middle Grades, Nature Walks, Ninth Grade, Science, Seventh Grade, Sixth Grade, Third Grade, Toys, Uncategorized, Waldorf Philosophy, Woodworking

One of the many reasons we decided to base Earthschooling on Waldorf-inspired principles was because of the strong science base Waldorf-inspired education provides. When I share this thought with parents and teachers the first questions they ask is (something like), “How can Waldorf-inspired education create great scientists? And what do...

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Science in Waldorf Education: Wisdom from the Iowa Academy of Science

Posted on October 12, 2012 by thebearthinstitute in Science

This Tuesday I presented the new Wildlife Curriculum “Predator, Prey and People” to the Iowa Academy of Science. It was an honor to present at the conference and was inspiring to meet all the teachers, hear their stories, share ideas, answer questions and observe. It would be impossible to share...

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Wildlife Rescue and Education

Posted on March 30, 2012 by thebearthinstitute in Animals, Nature Walks, Science, Wildlife Education

Springtime is here and at the wildlife center we have baby opossums! They are so adorable! The even better news is that all of our baby animals come from captive breeding facilities (these facilities are set up around the country to support a diverse population of wild animals in captivity...

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Kristie Burns Teaches Wildlife Education

Posted on March 16, 2011 by thebearthinstitute in Articles ABOUT Us, Earthschooling in the News, Science, The BEarth Institute in the News, Wildlife Education

A class I taught about skunks at a local library was featured in the Des Moines Register. You can see some photos HERE. The caption reads: Lisa Fernandez/The Register Kristie Burns, of Red Rock Wildlife Education Center, talks about Flower the skunk during a furry friends program at the Franklin...

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Sweet Sue and Snuggly Thumper

Posted on December 10, 2010 by thebearthinstitute in Animals, Science, Wildlife Education

A new arrival at the wildlife center left Sofi and I wondering what to do. We didn’t have any information about skunks in our Earthschooling curriculum! We had studied mammals and animals in general and we had touched on information about skunks. We had also read a number of fables...

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Mineralogy Block

Posted on October 5, 2010 by thebearthinstitute in Lesson Blocks, Science, Sixth Grade

Today we started our mineralogy block. We didn’t plan it that way but sometimes life brings opportunities you don’t want to miss out on! My dad called to say that he would be in town doing a rock show (he exhibits and sells minerals and gems around the country as...

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Category Archives: Science