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Post by donalgdon on Feb 24, 2014 14:10:15 GMT -5
I just wanted to share something that's happening with me. I got a better job in a smaller school (I prefer small schools for many reasons) and while I'll make half the money, the environment is much better. I started my first High School Science class this year just this morning. First lesson?
The Big Bang.
It's actually a pretty good textbook overall, but it doesn't recognize time as an element of the universe!
Strange. I've found a few other minor issues, but the kids are digging it so far, and I am too!
Teaching English also, but it's nice to have a diversion from it.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 24, 2014 16:40:01 GMT -5
Good for you, Don. It would be nice to have you as a teacher because you think.
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Post by kydave on Mar 25, 2014 17:31:48 GMT -5
Yikes!
Is this a christian school?
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Post by donalgdon on Mar 25, 2014 18:54:12 GMT -5
Yikes! Is this a christian school? No, it's not. |
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Post by kydave on Mar 25, 2014 19:10:25 GMT -5
Are you bringing a discussion of god into your teaching of the Big Bang theory in your science class?
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Post by donalgdon on Mar 25, 2014 19:24:06 GMT -5
Are you bringing a discussion of god into your teaching of the Big Bang theory in your science class? No, I'm not. I've made it a policy of mine to not insert my personal views into the curriculum. I'd only share my opinion if asked to do so personally by a student, which has happened before, but I don't "preach," if that's your concern. That's not my job. I've had students, on their own, as they wrestled with the issues, ask me what I thought the cause of the universe was, and I have said, "Personally, I think God is the spaceless, timeless, immaterial cause of the universe in the finite past," but I've also said that this is not something that can be proven via scientific method, just as many things in science cannot be. We make assumptions based on data, and that's the best that science can do. IT has inherent limitations, and we discuss them as they are. I teach a unit that includes a discussion on worldview, in which scientism is also explored. I do try to teach them to think independently and divergently about science in its social context, and not just read the book and regurgitate information. FWIW, my students also consistently get the highest scores in the country on their standardized exams, if that makes you feel any better! It should, but it probably doesn't.  |
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Post by kydave on Mar 25, 2014 20:29:17 GMT -5
Good for you - sincerely.
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Post by donalgdon on Mar 26, 2014 7:59:13 GMT -5
Good for you - sincerely. Thank you. I have no interest in making the classroom a bully pulpit. I have had the experience of having an atheist for a science teacher and a Christian for a science teacher, and between the two, the atheist was the only one to inject his opinions into the class on the existence of God. I found it distasteful, even though at the time I was not a theist and I didn't disagree with him in any real way, it didn't sit well with me even then, and just seemed inappropriate. I was in high school at the time. That lesson stuck with me, and it shaped my perspective. |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 26, 2014 13:55:42 GMT -5
This is great Don. What you have said reminds me of the recent Cosmo series with Niel deGrasse Tyson. I do like the show very much but I do feel it is pushing an atheistic agenda. That doesn't bother me because of any theistic views I may hold, it bothers me from the point of view I do not think that it is the business of science to push such an agenda. I wouldn't want to see a scientist push a Christian agenda either. I think that science needs to speak about what we know of the natural world.
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Post by donalgdon on Mar 26, 2014 16:52:23 GMT -5
This is great Don. What you have said reminds me of the recent Cosmo series with Niel deGrasse Tyson. I do like the show very much but I do feel it is pushing an atheistic agenda. That doesn't bother me because of any theistic views I may hold, it bothers me from the point of view I do not think that it is the business of science to push such an agenda. I wouldn't want to see a scientist push a Christian agenda either. I think that science needs to speak about what we know of the natural world. I want to watch the Cosmos series. I haven't yet, but it looks beautifully filmed. I just hope I can suppress that same "yuck" feeling I had in high school during all the preaching moments through the series. |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 26, 2014 16:55:16 GMT -5
I don't remember all of the Cosmos series with Carl Segan, did he push his atheism?
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Post by kydave on Mar 26, 2014 18:52:29 GMT -5
Science does not need to "push atheism".
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Post by donalgdon on Mar 26, 2014 19:00:14 GMT -5
Science does not need to "push atheism". But, some scientists do exactly that. |
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Post by songwriterfan on Oct 18, 2015 22:10:58 GMT -5
Which version of the Big Bang? It keeps changing.  Have you read any of the books by Halton Arp (like "Seeing Red")? I found it quite interesting. |
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