Tuesday, October 18, 2022

PPI: Alchemy

Notes from this Project of Personal Interest block (2 students, Oct 2022):

orange binders


Week One:
begin block by reading historical fiction

The Alchemist (student age 13)

Alchemy and Meggy Swann (student age 10)


Week Two:
print Alchemist Symbols Poster to be the binder cover

look at alchemist symbols poster and find familiar words

print Periodic Table of Alchemy (Royal Society of Chemistry) for binder

use The Photographic Card Deck of the Elements by Theodore Gray to build the Periodic Table as shown and discover the 16 Elements of Alchemy

go to the What Is Alchemy? page and click on each element's symbol for a brief description of its role in alchemy plus images of alternative symbols

print and read articles

look in the index of Poison: Deadly Deeds, Perilous Professions, and Murderous Medicines by Sarah Albee to find references to alchemy

    p.14 - Ch'in Up

    pp.23-24 - The Gold Age: The Birth of Alchemy

    p.40 - The Middle East in the Middle Ages

    p.51 - Dr. Know-it-all

    p.67 - Disorder in the Court: Poison in France

    pp.68-69 - Medical Moment: Death by Doctors

    p.78 - Poisoned Or Not? The Witch Hunts

    p.124 - Nice Work If You Can Survive It: Scientist

    p.150 - Poisons Past and Future


Week Three:

print and read article

rough draft and add information to binder

watch documentary

print The Periodic Table of Elements (PDF)

explain how to calculate the number of protons, electrons, and neutrons in an element

use The Atom Board from ETC Montessori to make models of elements

complete The Structure of Atoms (page 2 of PDF)

use The Atom Board to make an atom of platinun (78) or mercury (80) and show how modern scientists have changed it into an atom of gold (79); see
Can gold be created from other elements?


Week Four:

print and read article

use The Atom Board to show the number of electrons in each shell for iron (26) and then compare to the number of electrons in each shell for platinum

read Isaac Newton chapter from How They Choked: Failures, Flops, and Flaws of the Awfully Famous by Georgia Bragg

complete notes for binder

end block by reading "The Alchemist" poem by A.A. Milne, pp.108-109 of
The World of Christopher Robin: The Complete When We Were Very Young and Now We Are Six


Alchemy is not addressed in Waldorf education as a potential main lesson block topic, but it has actually turned out to be a very nice blend of 7th grade History & Chemistry! I would put it in Chemistry, either with Michael Faraday's The Chemical History of a Candle, or afterwards as its own block. You could also sneak it in as a Philosophy topic and revisit the science then.

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