Taking a lead from a suggestion of Steiner’s (GA 300b 21.6.1922 german edition 1975:, p 103)) to tackle the achievements of modern physics (at that time the discovery of alpha, beta and gamma radiation), a tradition has grown up of teaching the fundamental phenomena of radiation in class 11. This is done in connection with electricity theory, electro-magnetism, electro-magnetic oscillations and waves, and finally through gas discharge experiments. This usually includes an introduction to atomic physics.

The best way to approach this phenomenologically is in terms of fields as ideal structural elements. The elementary steps in this process and their reconstruction lead in many ways to the central connection between the electrical field and electrical charge. In this way the students learn to assess and express the relative merits of experiments dealing with these two models. Just how atoms, as ideal or logical constructs which generate theoretical unity, are best introduced is currently under intense discussion.