Re: how do you manage? (was Re: [Fwd: The Scout Report...)

[Lois Breur Krause <krause@CLEMSON.EDU>]

> > i have the same problem teaching astronomy and geology to my el ed majors.
> > turns out about 95% of the 200 i had last semester were adamantly
> > creationist.  teachers here in SC tend to avoid the topic at best to avoid
> > upsetting parents.  and many come through "christian schools" where
> > creationism is taught as fact. real struggle to teach geology and astronomy
> > to this bunch!
>
>
> Well, I'm curious as to what ultimately happens in your situation.
> Clemson is a "major" school (no offense to those at "minor" schools
> :-) and 95% is an incredible obstacle to overcome. Do you just teach
> it properly anyway and endure the students' sneers? Do you think the
> experience makes them even more likely to teach creationism because
> they feel they've tangled with Satan and won? Do you give them Fs on
> their papers and tests? Are you thoroughly depressed at the end of
> each semester?
>
> And do you ever... make any progress?


i have handled it in two different ways, actually.  first of all, i tell
them that i'm not out to change their religious beliefs, but that
creationism is a religious belief, and all the rest is science.  i
throughly explain the difference in the way the word "theory" is used in
science, vs. the way it's used in general speech. i tell them they have to
learn and thoroughly understand the material, even if it conflicts with
their religious beliefs, and they have to give me the right answers on
tests. (i mark them wrong if they tell me the earth is 6000 years old
instead of 4.6 billion years old, and 6000 years IS one of the multiple
choice answers available on that question. i tell them that teaching
creationism in the public schools has been held to be illegal by the US
supreme court, because is IS a religious belief, and that they will have to
teach real science. and i further tell them that after all is said and
done, if they still feel thay HAVE to teach creationism in school to take a
job in a christian school, not a public school.

i throughly explain things like the speed of light, and how far away
certain stars are, and how long that light took to reach us.... and they
soon realize that if the universe were only 6000 years old we wouldn't be
able to see things that have been seen and measured. stuff like that,
anywhere i can show them concrete evidence, gneiss rocks and stuff.
geologic time scales.  it helps that we have a wonderful geology museum
here on campus, one of the best in the country.

on the other hand, on a very personal level, (and i overtly separate the
conversation from classroom lecture) i tell them about my own religious
beliefs, the depth of my own faith.  i tell them that in my own faith, i
believe that God is capable of creating the universe anyway He (She ;-) )
chose.  That to insist God could *only* have done it in such a simplistic
way as was described in a recent interpretation of Genesis is to put God in
a little box and say He couldn't have done this far greater work that
science has found to be reality.

When one looks at the size of the universe, one has to recognize (if one
believes in God at all) that God is far greater than the limited scope
described in childlike detail in Genesis.  2000-4000 years ago mankind
didn't have the viewpoint that we do now.  they were only capable of
understanding things that could be described in terms they were familiar
with.  If you were to describe to a child of 4 how a car engine worked, you
would simplify the explanation to fit the child's level of understanding.
the first book of scripture does the same thing. but if you read through
Genesis, and look at the order in which creation is described, science has
*supported* it by finding very much the same order of occurences.  the only
conflict, if there is one, is the term "day."  and therein lies the
simplification.  since the original tongue has been lost, all we have is
translations, and subsequent translations.  who knows what the original
word was?

Yes, it works for some.  all learn the material, none (so far) have refused
to do it.  they need to pass the course to graduate in their major. many
find they begin to breathe again, having had creationism rammed down their
throats, and told by clergy that they weren't christian if they didn't
believe in creationism, and i have given them a way to support their faith
AND learn correct science.

and yes, sometimes it's depressing.  but somehow i keep coming back for
more.  i guess for the same reasons i left almost 3 times the salary in
industry to go into teaching 10 years ago.

.



> > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >

Dr. Lois Breur Krause
Department of Geological Sciences
442 Brackett Hall
Clemson University
Clemson SC  29634

teaching chemistry, physics, astronomy and geology to elementary education
majors.

How We Learn and Why We Don't: Student Survival Guide,
available from International Thompson Publishing, ISBN 0324-011970

http://home.earthlink.net/~breurkrause

krause@clemson.edu