Resource Curation Project
An assignment for a graduate course exploring cultural competence in the classroom.
Resource Curation Project
December 9, 2017
Inquiry Question: How can I teach science to my religious students in a culturally competent way?
Rationale: I grew up in a household that was at once religious and scientific. Despite their educational roots in science, both of my parents are religious individuals, and growing up we went to church as a family every Sunday. I was taught from a very young age that scientific theories are important evidence-based discoveries and should in no way invalidate my religion. My parents believe in evolution, and agree with widely accepted scientific theories about the age of the earth. That being said, I still remember my strife as a ten year old girl trying to understand why if dinosaurs really existed, nobody mentioned them in the bible--or how the earth could be so old, if it only took seven days for God to create the earth.
These struggles are real intellectual burdens for religious children and young adults as they learn about science, and for many of them, their religious beliefs will cause them to shut down and lose focus in science class because they feel they cannot stay faithful to their religion while also learning about science. As a pre-service science teacher who struggled with religious/scientific dissonance throughout her childhood, I am particularly stirred up by the task of teaching my students about controversial scientific theories like evolution and the age of the earth, while at the same time respecting their religious beliefs. My background in both religion and science is what inspired me to put together this Resource Curation Project so as to better inform my teaching towards this particular group of students.
Course Outcome Connection:
The course outcomes that relate to this resource curation project are as follows:
“1. Explore, analyze and articulate multiple aspects of social identity and culture (including their own) especially in relationship to how these elements affect the education of the whole child.” Religion is a component of a student’s social identity and culture, and it affects the way that that child participates in science class, particularly when the content differs from what they have been taught at church/their place of worship. The sources comprised here encompass a wide range of identities on this topic, from strong atheists to Christian evolutionary biologists to evolution-denying young earth creationists. I know that I will encounter a wide range of religious beliefs in my science classroom, and it is important to understand where they are coming from in order to teach them most effectively.
“2. Examine one’s own assumptions and biases (conscious and unconscious) regarding differences and analyze how these assumptions and biases might affect interactions with students/families and student learning.” Before taking this class and composing this resource curation project, I hadn’t realized how big of a barrier religion is in science class. I was raised to believe in both religion and scientific theories, and didn’t know anyone who had conflicting views between the two. My assumption was that almost everyone believed in evolution and that the earth is roughly 4.5 billion years old, but now that I have completed this project and the 620 course, I realize that many people do not believe these things. As a culturally competent science educator, it is my job to approach this topic with sensitivity and respect for others’ opinions.
Sources:
1. Source Type: Online article
Article Title: Teaching science to the religious? Focus on how theories develop.
Author: David Orenstein
Link: https://news.brown.edu/articles/2012/02/miller
Description: This is an article from Brown University about biology professor Ken Miller’s approach to teaching science to religious students. Miller is religious himself, and believes that the best approach is to focus on how scientific theories come about, so that students can see that science is really “based on observation and logic, not some anti-religious agenda,” as Orenstein puts it.
2. Source Type: Practitioner blog
Article Title: Religion and Science: How I navigate evolution (and creationism) in a second-grade classroom
Author: Mary Cowhey
Link: https://www.tolerance.org/magazine/religion-and-science
Description: This second grade teacher’s blog post focuses on honoring the validity of the student’s background and focusing science education around critical thinking development. Cowhey discusses the differences between stories and theories with her students, and emphasizes the importance of evidence-based thinking.
3. Source Type: Video
Video Title: Richard Dawkins Teaching Evolution to Religious Students
Video Length: 52:26
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNhtbmXzIaM&t=5s
Description: Richard Dawkins, a renowned evolutionary biologist, teaches an evolution-based lesson to a religious high school class in London. He provides a model for teaching evolution education to religious students, and answers student questions that question the validity of evolution in a respectful and evidence-driven manner.
4. Source Type: Book
Book Title: Teaching Science so that Students Can Learn Science
Book Author: John D. Mays
Book Length: 142 pages
Link: https://www.novarescienceandmath.com/product/teaching-science-so-that-students-learn-science/
Description: This book is written from a Christian science teacher’s perspective. It is a guide to effective accurate science teaching from a religious perspective, particularly in Christian schools. It’s just as important to consider this issue from the perspective of the religious educator as it is from the non-religious educator’s perspective.
5. Source Type: Powerpoint
Powerpoint Title: Science and Faith Considerations: Considerations for a Healthy Relationship
Powerpoint Author: John D. Mays
Powerpoint Length: 21 slides
Link: https://www.novarescienceandmath.com/wp-content/uploads/Science-and-Faith-Considerations.pdf
Description: This is another source written by John D. Mays, author of Teaching Science so that Students Can Learn Science. It is a brief overview of his perspective on how to maintain a balance in your life between Christian faith and scientific evidence, without negating one in light of the other.
6. Source Type: Blog post
Blog Post Title: Were you there?
Blog Post Author: Vanessa Wamsley
Link: http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2015/05/creationism_and_evolution_in_school_religious_students_can_t_learn_natural.html
Description: This blog post recounts the personal experience of a woman who grew up in a creationist Christian church (believing that the earth is 6,000-10,000 years old). She explains how she struggled through 10th grade biology, while the class was in direct conflict with her beliefs. She also provides a great summary of some recent studies about how well religious students learn and retain science that conflicts with their beliefs, and describes briefly a few strategies teachers use when teaching evolution to religious students, most of which are non-examples--how not to teach it.
7. Source Type: Blog Post
Blog Post Title: What Should Teachers Say to Religious Students Who Doubt Evolution?
Blog Post Author: John Horgan
Link:
https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/cross-check/what-should-teachers-say-to-religious-students-who-doubt-evolution/
Description: Horgan is a well-known science writer, journalist for Scientific American and also an educator who teaches Darwin’s evolution in his classroom. In this blog post, he describes his student’s responses to the prompt: “Why do you think Darwin's theory of evolution still encounters so much opposition today?” He encourages his students to personalize their responses, and really answer the question based off of their own experiences. The responses are eye-opening, and draw attention to the important focus of listening to student’s voices, and letting them express their frustrations with the topic instead of telling them, “You’re wrong, because science.” He also includes this great little tidbit, which I think is a great quote for biology teachers to keep in mind, “Even when bolstered by modern genetics, evolutionary theory does not explain why life emerged on Earth more than 3 billion years ago, or whether life was highly probable, even inevitable, or a once in a universe fluke. The theory doesn't explain why life, after remaining single-celled for more than 2 billion years, suddenly spawned multi-cellular organisms, including one exceedingly strange mammal capable of pondering its own origins.”
8. Source Type: Article
Article Title: A Teacher on the Front Line as Faith and Science Clash
Article Author: Amy Harmon
Link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/24/education/24evolution.html
Description: This article focuses on a Florida biology teacher named David Campbell, who helped write the Florida life science standards that center around evolution. The article covers his challenges and successes teaching a group of religious students about evolution, in a way that is both sensitive to their beliefs while still intent on providing them with a complete and accurate education.
Timeline
December 9, 2017
Inquiry Question: How can I teach science to my religious students in a culturally competent way?
Rationale: I grew up in a household that was at once religious and scientific. Despite their educational roots in science, both of my parents are religious individuals, and growing up we went to church as a family every Sunday. I was taught from a very young age that scientific theories are important evidence-based discoveries and should in no way invalidate my religion. My parents believe in evolution, and agree with widely accepted scientific theories about the age of the earth. That being said, I still remember my strife as a ten year old girl trying to understand why if dinosaurs really existed, nobody mentioned them in the bible--or how the earth could be so old, if it only took seven days for God to create the earth.
These struggles are real intellectual burdens for religious children and young adults as they learn about science, and for many of them, their religious beliefs will cause them to shut down and lose focus in science class because they feel they cannot stay faithful to their religion while also learning about science. As a pre-service science teacher who struggled with religious/scientific dissonance throughout her childhood, I am particularly stirred up by the task of teaching my students about controversial scientific theories like evolution and the age of the earth, while at the same time respecting their religious beliefs. My background in both religion and science is what inspired me to put together this Resource Curation Project so as to better inform my teaching towards this particular group of students.
Course Outcome Connection:
The course outcomes that relate to this resource curation project are as follows:
“1. Explore, analyze and articulate multiple aspects of social identity and culture (including their own) especially in relationship to how these elements affect the education of the whole child.” Religion is a component of a student’s social identity and culture, and it affects the way that that child participates in science class, particularly when the content differs from what they have been taught at church/their place of worship. The sources comprised here encompass a wide range of identities on this topic, from strong atheists to Christian evolutionary biologists to evolution-denying young earth creationists. I know that I will encounter a wide range of religious beliefs in my science classroom, and it is important to understand where they are coming from in order to teach them most effectively.
“2. Examine one’s own assumptions and biases (conscious and unconscious) regarding differences and analyze how these assumptions and biases might affect interactions with students/families and student learning.” Before taking this class and composing this resource curation project, I hadn’t realized how big of a barrier religion is in science class. I was raised to believe in both religion and scientific theories, and didn’t know anyone who had conflicting views between the two. My assumption was that almost everyone believed in evolution and that the earth is roughly 4.5 billion years old, but now that I have completed this project and the 620 course, I realize that many people do not believe these things. As a culturally competent science educator, it is my job to approach this topic with sensitivity and respect for others’ opinions.
Sources:
1. Source Type: Online article
Article Title: Teaching science to the religious? Focus on how theories develop.
Author: David Orenstein
Link: https://news.brown.edu/articles/2012/02/miller
Description: This is an article from Brown University about biology professor Ken Miller’s approach to teaching science to religious students. Miller is religious himself, and believes that the best approach is to focus on how scientific theories come about, so that students can see that science is really “based on observation and logic, not some anti-religious agenda,” as Orenstein puts it.
2. Source Type: Practitioner blog
Article Title: Religion and Science: How I navigate evolution (and creationism) in a second-grade classroom
Author: Mary Cowhey
Link: https://www.tolerance.org/magazine/religion-and-science
Description: This second grade teacher’s blog post focuses on honoring the validity of the student’s background and focusing science education around critical thinking development. Cowhey discusses the differences between stories and theories with her students, and emphasizes the importance of evidence-based thinking.
3. Source Type: Video
Video Title: Richard Dawkins Teaching Evolution to Religious Students
Video Length: 52:26
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNhtbmXzIaM&t=5s
Description: Richard Dawkins, a renowned evolutionary biologist, teaches an evolution-based lesson to a religious high school class in London. He provides a model for teaching evolution education to religious students, and answers student questions that question the validity of evolution in a respectful and evidence-driven manner.
4. Source Type: Book
Book Title: Teaching Science so that Students Can Learn Science
Book Author: John D. Mays
Book Length: 142 pages
Link: https://www.novarescienceandmath.com/product/teaching-science-so-that-students-learn-science/
Description: This book is written from a Christian science teacher’s perspective. It is a guide to effective accurate science teaching from a religious perspective, particularly in Christian schools. It’s just as important to consider this issue from the perspective of the religious educator as it is from the non-religious educator’s perspective.
5. Source Type: Powerpoint
Powerpoint Title: Science and Faith Considerations: Considerations for a Healthy Relationship
Powerpoint Author: John D. Mays
Powerpoint Length: 21 slides
Link: https://www.novarescienceandmath.com/wp-content/uploads/Science-and-Faith-Considerations.pdf
Description: This is another source written by John D. Mays, author of Teaching Science so that Students Can Learn Science. It is a brief overview of his perspective on how to maintain a balance in your life between Christian faith and scientific evidence, without negating one in light of the other.
6. Source Type: Blog post
Blog Post Title: Were you there?
Blog Post Author: Vanessa Wamsley
Link: http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2015/05/creationism_and_evolution_in_school_religious_students_can_t_learn_natural.html
Description: This blog post recounts the personal experience of a woman who grew up in a creationist Christian church (believing that the earth is 6,000-10,000 years old). She explains how she struggled through 10th grade biology, while the class was in direct conflict with her beliefs. She also provides a great summary of some recent studies about how well religious students learn and retain science that conflicts with their beliefs, and describes briefly a few strategies teachers use when teaching evolution to religious students, most of which are non-examples--how not to teach it.
7. Source Type: Blog Post
Blog Post Title: What Should Teachers Say to Religious Students Who Doubt Evolution?
Blog Post Author: John Horgan
Link:
https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/cross-check/what-should-teachers-say-to-religious-students-who-doubt-evolution/
Description: Horgan is a well-known science writer, journalist for Scientific American and also an educator who teaches Darwin’s evolution in his classroom. In this blog post, he describes his student’s responses to the prompt: “Why do you think Darwin's theory of evolution still encounters so much opposition today?” He encourages his students to personalize their responses, and really answer the question based off of their own experiences. The responses are eye-opening, and draw attention to the important focus of listening to student’s voices, and letting them express their frustrations with the topic instead of telling them, “You’re wrong, because science.” He also includes this great little tidbit, which I think is a great quote for biology teachers to keep in mind, “Even when bolstered by modern genetics, evolutionary theory does not explain why life emerged on Earth more than 3 billion years ago, or whether life was highly probable, even inevitable, or a once in a universe fluke. The theory doesn't explain why life, after remaining single-celled for more than 2 billion years, suddenly spawned multi-cellular organisms, including one exceedingly strange mammal capable of pondering its own origins.”
8. Source Type: Article
Article Title: A Teacher on the Front Line as Faith and Science Clash
Article Author: Amy Harmon
Link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/24/education/24evolution.html
Description: This article focuses on a Florida biology teacher named David Campbell, who helped write the Florida life science standards that center around evolution. The article covers his challenges and successes teaching a group of religious students about evolution, in a way that is both sensitive to their beliefs while still intent on providing them with a complete and accurate education.
Timeline
- I have already read the following sources: 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, and 8
- I intend to watch source #3, the Richard Dawkins video, during the week of 12/17-12/23
- I will read source #4 after the completion of spring semester
Coming Soon - I Am From Video