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Learning in Order to Teach

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statue of General George Custer on horse
Statue of General Custer by Dwight Burdette/Wikimedia Commons/CC-By 3.0

In a recent post, Karin showed us how the whole Bible is connected in one big story about God’s work to restore a fallen creation back to Himself. The truths of the gospel describe to us our destitute position and God’s wonderful deliverance. God has exalted the human race far beyond what we deserve—first, by creating us in his own image (Genesis 1:26); second, by promising to redeem us (Genesis 3:15); and lastly, by sending the Son in the likeness of human flesh (Romans 8:3). These truths also have implications for our whole lives, including what we do in relation to education.

Education should develop people in all the ways appropriate for human beings. This honors the reality of the image of God in man. We’re also training our children to live among other image-bearers. This can only be accomplished if they truly realize what being an image-bearer means and have been trained to view others that same way. School is a valuable opportunity for Christian worldview shaping.

Let’s consider one subject area—history. Do you ever talk about people as you teach history? Of course, you do. People are the primary topic of history. But does the fact that those people are made in the image of God ever affect what you say or do? Consider one familiar figure in American history, General George Armstrong Custer. To some people he’s a tragic hero. To others, he’s a villain. What you believe about the image of God in Custer, the men under his command, and the Plains Indians will affect what you say about him and the Battle of Little Bighorn.

I hope you’ll take a trip sometime this summer and visit a historically significant place. There, on the wall or in the ground will be a statue or a plaque to a certain man. Your homework assignment is to apply the reality of humans as image-bearers to that man. Then share that with your kids. Why is his statue there? Is he important? Is he valuable? Was he good or bad or a mixture of both. Remember that “good” and “bad” are determined by God. A person is not good simply because he agrees with you.

As you talk about him as an image-bearer of God, you can ask another question, “Did he honor the image of God in other people?” As you prepare to defend your conclusion from the Bible, you just might find that your own thinking hasn’t been entirely scriptural. What a wonderful opportunity to develop your biblical worldview alongside your child’s.

Breaking Out the Lab Coat

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I’m a chemist, and I’ve got a white lab coat to prove it. I love chemistry, and I have loved working with the team at BJU Press to produce Chemistry (4th ed.) I delved into the latest research on education and cutting-edge chemistry and worked with artists, designers, authors, high school chemistry teachers, and university chemistry professors. I investigated new educational strategies, explored new technologies, and broke out my lab coat and dorky goggles to bring my love for chemistry to your home and classroom.

Chemistry is valuable, because it’s all about living—the air we breathe, the clothes we wear, the food we eat, and the materials we use to make our lives safer and better. As students around the world break open this textbook in the fall of 2015, they will see that chemistry is a powerful tool to glorify God and help people by working to solve real-world problems like car accidents, allergies, and the lack of clean drinking water.

My work on Chemistry (4th ed.) began about two years ago. The marketing research department at BJU Press surveyed hundreds of homeschool parents, teachers, and administrators to guide our progress. Our survey research showed that the previous edition was in good shape, both from an educational and scientific perspective, so this revision was a light one.

But you wouldn’t know that from looking at this new textbook. The pages sparkle with fresh design, new photos, and up-to-date topics. Chapter 1 engages students where they live to interact about how chemistry affects people and how we can view it from a scriptural perspective (e.g., using chemistry to develop pesticides and vaccines to fight malaria). New and engaging sidebars, on topics such as search and rescue after 9/11 and substance abuse, are sprinkled throughout the text. Worldview Sleuthing features on subjects such as the Fukushima nuclear accident are modeled after the popular WebQuest activities used by many science teachers, but these are specially designed with worldview-building in mind. They deal with the conflicts between a naturalistic worldview and a biblical worldview—teaching students how to think through common debates among scientists such as the discovery of the god particle, the theory of chemical evolution, and the secular view of the uses of chemistry.

Chemistry Student Lab Manual (4th ed.) gives students a fresh take on classic chemistry labs. Students get hands-on experience with what God has made by using the tools of chemistry in ways that make it applicable to their daily lives. Guided inquiry labs point students into new territory in chemistry with the freedom and support to discover chemistry for themselves. I hope your students will share my joy as they break out the lab coats and goggles and get their hands on God’s creation.

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Rachel is passionate about helping students engage, learn, create, and experience the joy of learning. And she wants this enthusiasm to be contagious. The same sense of wonder that sparked her curiosity in childhood spurred her to pursue a degree in chemistry and a master’s degree in education. She wants to share her passion as she draws from her teaching and writing experience to provide academic oversight for writing teams at BJU Press.

What excites you most about chemistry?