Teaching Controversy

It's that time of the semester in science methods...the time when we are wading back into talking about how to approach teaching (potentially) controversial topics for Christians who teach science. Talking about how to teach topics like the age of the Earth, Darwinian evolution, human sexuality, climate change...it's an adventure, for sure.

I have included some version of this series of lessons as long as I've taught Elementary Science Methods, which goes back to 2006 now...this is my 20th time teaching the course! As I shared with my students in class today, it never gets "easier" for me to teach this content...but it does get "better." What I mean by that is, I recognize that there are a wide variety of viewpoints held by Christians on these topics, and it's always challenging to balance grace and truth. That part just doesn't get easier, and that was true when I was teaching middle school science, and it's definitely still true now that I'm teaching future teachers.

In our last class meeting, I advertised the topic of the day as teaching the age of the Earth, and we did talk about that. But, as I pointed out to my students, we actually spent more time talking about the Bible, than about scientific evidence. I wanted to name this specifically for my students, because I think that so often when (some) Christians ask the question, "So...just how old is the Earth?" the real question they are asking is, "Do you believe that the Bible is literally true, or not?" And I think that's an entirely reasonable question to ask, but it's not the same thing as thinking about the scientific evidence for the age of the Earth.

Apollo 17 [Public domain] via Wikimedia Commons.

Teaching Science: Argument and Evidence

This tweet showed up in my Twitterfeed today...

A science classroom should be filled with the noise of students collecting evidence and arguing.

— Jennifer Weibert (@ngssfresno) July 9, 2018

I love this so much, and it sums up so much of the philosophy for teaching science that I tried to embody as a middle school science teacher, and now as I teach future science teachers as well.

The Tentative Nature of Science

Yesterday in my methods of teaching science class, we took the whole class meeting to wrestle through the nature of science. By "nature of science," I mean trying to understand what makes science...science. How do scientists approach their work? What are the ground rules for doing science? What are the limits of science?

I love this shirt...and, yes...I've worn it to class... [CC BY-SA 2.0]

It's a fun challenge each time I teach this course to try and help the future teachers I serve shift their thinking. So many of them come into this course with strong, pre-conceived ideas about science as a discipline. I'm convinced that partly this is due to a broad cultural (mis)understanding of what science is and how it works...but I think part of it is something that we, teachers, have perpetuated.

Why Science Education Is Essential

I stumbled onto this great image online earlier today...

Thanks, someecards...

As a former middle school science teacher, I heartily agree. In a society that relies more and more on science and technology, I find it fascinating (and disheartening) to see such an anti-science, and even anti-knowledge sentiment so prevalent in our culture. It's perfectly acceptable to be seen as ignorant, and in some cases it's even lauded.

Don't believe me?