science

Serving God and Studying Salamanders

November 5, 2015 by Ben

After we finished family worship, my wife asked me to work with our first grader on a science project. The assignment instructed her to make an informative poster about a wild animal. The week before, we’d found a salamander on a camping trip, so my daughter wanted to do a project on salamanders. She’d gotten a couple of books from the library, and we set out to find a few pictures.

I must confess that it was easy for me to fall into the trap of secularism that evening. Instead of remembering that God is relevant in all areas of life, I initially bought into the idea that this activity could be approached without involving Him.

It seems to me that Christians too often buy into this secular approach. We think certain activities are holy service to God, such as our family worship time, church attendance, or personal devotions. Other activities, such as cooking and cleaning, marketing, or finance are things we have to get through. They aren’t service to God. They have to be done, and we should obey God while we do them, but there isn’t a “Christian” way to do them.

The image in this blog post helps me understand this wrong way of thinking. The first story of the “house” is a typical suburban home. The second story is a church. Everything in the top story is “redeemable.” Everything in the bottom is “unredeemable.” Sometimes we wrongly assume that the people who work on the upper floor in “full-time Christian service” are doing God’s work and the rest of us working down on the lower floor are second-class Christians who only serve the Lord when we participate in spiritual tasks.

But God doesn’t teach this way of thinking, secularism does. God says that everything belongs to Him, and He has something to say about it.

As I helped my daughter with her project, my mind at first fell into the trap of thinking we’d moved from God’s things to earthly things, but thankfully my daughter’s textbook didn’t take that approach. On page 68, the BJU Press Science 1 textbook teaches:

“God gives animals what they need. But He also wants people to care for animals. In Proverbs [12:10] the Bible tells people to take care of animals. A good man takes proper care of his animals. We give glory to God when we take care of the animals He made.”

This kind of teaching helps my daughter understand that everything should be service to God.

So that evening as I helped my daughter with her salamander project after family worship, we were really moving from one service to God to another. My daughter and I learned what salamanders eat and where they live. On a small, first grader level, we were learning how to obey God’s command to take care of the world.

What kind of teaching are your children receiving?

Remember These Dates in November

October 29, 2015 by Meredith

November has a heritage of blessings! There are many things to celebrate. It must be the start of the holiday season! I hope you and your family take time to reflect on God’s blessings this year (James 1:17). To start us off, here are two month-long observances worth mentioning.

Native American Heritage Month

Remember this month’s observance by highlighting the notable Native Americans mentioned throughout this post. You can also find more teaching resources from the National Archives.

NaNoWriMo

What’s the most words you’ve ever written? Try cranking out fifty thousand words this month, just for fun. Yes, fun! This special challenge does my literary-loving heart some good, although I must confess writing that many words (and having them all intelligible) seems overwhelming. Start small and find ways to incorporate National Novel Writing Month into your kids’ learning with ideas from Write a Novel in a Month.

November 4

The discovery of King Tutankhamun’s tomb occurred on this date in 1922. It wasn’t until about a month later that the archeologists were able to open the tomb and discover what treasures the Egyptians had placed with his mummy. View these images of the earthly wealth that surrounded King Tut, and take an opportunity to discuss how as Christians, we can lay up treasure in heaven (Matthew 6:19–21).

November 7

Marie Curie was born on this date in 1867. She taught physics at the Sorbonne in France but is probably most famous for her work with radioactivity. It was through this research that Marie and her husband discovered two elements (polonium and radium). Marie also won a Nobel Prize in chemistry and another in physics for her work. This chart of the Periodic Table inspires me to remember all the elements! Can you find curium, named for Marie and Pierre Curie?

November 11

Veteran’s Day honors all the men and women who dedicate their lives to serving in the American armed forces. While this federal holiday started as a remembrance for those who served in World War I, it now serves as a day to show tribute for all service men and women from every American war.

In particular, there’s a small, but significant group who helped to defend our nation at a critical time in history. Known as the Navajo “Code Talkers,” this group of Native Americans worked with the US military during World War II. This communication system is the only unbroken code in military history. The code itself was so complex that even native Navajo speakers would not be able to make sense of the cryptic messages. Because of the classified nature of this code, these veterans were not recognized for their efforts until decades after the war ended. Watch these Navajo Code Talker interviews.

November 17

On this day in 1805, Lewis and Clark reached the Pacific Ocean. Their journey took about two years—now we can travel across the continent in just hours! The purpose of their exploration was to chart the land west of the Mississippi River contained in the Louisiana Purchase. Lewis and Clark took notes on plant and animal life, geography, and Native American tribes. Their journey started in Missouri, and they went all the way up to Oregon (where they saw the Pacific Ocean) and back again.

The success of their expedition depended in part on a Native American woman named Sacagawea. She helped the corps with her insights into Native American culture. Sacagawea’s best- known contribution to the exploration came when her own tribe, the Shoshone, agreed to provide horses to carry the corps. Checkout this interactive lesson about the expedition!

November 20

On this day, the three-position traffic light was patented in 1923 by Garrett Morgan. Since previous traffic lights offered no warning between go and stop, this invention helped to decrease the number of auto accidents. Remember to drive safely especially if your kids are soon-to-be backseat drivers! I think a game of red light, green light would be great to include for today’s family activity. Don’t forget to add the yellow light (walking) too!

November 21

The Separatists completed the signing of the Mayflower Compact in 1620. This document listed the rules the colonists agreed to live by as their ship landed in “new” territory outside of the land granted to them by the English government. Read the text of the Mayflower Compact. Does your family have a similar “code of conduct” that your kids can relate to?

November 26

In the United States, we celebrate Thanksgiving Day on the fourth Thursday in November. We often think back to the first Thanksgiving shared by the Pilgrims and the Wampanoags. Many details about this event may be mythical, but we do know that the Pilgrims took a day to celebrate God’s goodness.

One of the blessings God gave to the Pilgrims was a friend named Squanto (Tisquantum). His ability to speak English gave Squanto opportunities to help the Pilgrims as they established their colony in the New World. He taught them how to live off the land and served as a negotiator between them and the surrounding Wampanoag tribe. Squanto’s efforts allowed peace to exist between the two groups for almost fifty years. Find ways to celebrate this special holiday by being a blessing to others and spending time with family. You’ll also want to be on the lookout for a Thanksgiving-themed roundup post I’ll be sharing in a couple weeks.

Activity: The Seasons Are Changing

October 27, 2015 by Justin

Things are cooling off, and the leaves are starting to change color. Nature’s great visual and physical demonstrations make fall a fun time to start teaching young children about the changing of seasons. It’s also a great time to exercise their higher level thinking skills. Here is a fun, fast, and easy activity to get them thinking.

Explain the basic differences of the seasons, and then draw lines dividing a poster board or large sheet of paper into four sections.
Label each section as a different season—spring, summer, fall, and winter.
Invite your child to draw or cut out at least one picture of a favorite thing to do in each season. Examples might be carving a pumpkin in the fall, swimming in the summer, or picking flowers in the spring. If you live in an area without obvious changes, children may identify activities they would like to try.
Help your child place each picture in the section for the corresponding season.

By working on this hands-on activity with you, your child will enjoy learning while reviewing the material in a way that builds true understanding. In step 3 your child is recalling and understanding the key features of each season and then applies that knowledge in step 4 by placing each favorite activity in the proper category.

If you would like more ideas, other activities like this one can be found throughout BJU Press elementary science teacher’s editions.

God’s Providence, Columbus’s Mistake

October 8, 2015 by Ben

Perspective matters in all of education, but it’s particularly clear that perspective impacts teaching about the past. The scene of an accident illustrates on a miniature scale how perspective influences the retelling of an event. Where a witness was standing and what he was doing at the time of the accident will dramatically affect his view of the event. Most historians aren’t eyewitnesses of the events they record, but they do have perspectives that color their narratives.

Christopher Columbus provides an excellent example since historians have many different perspectives about this world figure. My friend Wes wrote a blog post that questioned the morality of Columbus’s actions. But I’d like to discuss two different perspectives taught about Columbus’s scientific knowledge.

Columbus—Heroic Individualist

One educational television show teaches children about Columbus by having an “interview” with him. The man playing the part of the explorer explains that most people in his day thought that the world was flat and that anyone who sailed far enough west would fall off the edge. Columbus, however, believed the world was round and therefore thought he could reach the East Indies by sailing west.

In this widely held perspective, Columbus is seen as a heroic individualist, bucking the religious, intellectual, and political establishments of his time by boldly charting a path based on scientific fact. Secularists like this story because it pits the rationality of science against irrational notions of religion. But those details aren’t accurate. This common perspective on Columbus is one that professional historians are trying to dissuade popular culture from believing.

Columbus—Mistaken Merchant

Actually, the scientific controversy in Columbus’s day wasn’t about the shape of the earth but its size. Most people during that time knew the earth was round but thought it was a little smaller than it really is. Since Columbus was convinced that the earth was much smaller than it is, he believed Asia could be reached faster by sailing west.

The religious/intellectual establishment actually had a more accurate estimate of Earth’s size than Columbus did, but nobody at that time knew there was a large landmass in between Europe and Asia.

I appreciate how BJU Press concludes this historical account in the 3rd edition of Heritage Studies 1 (page 121):

Columbus did not reach Asia by sailing west. Though Columbus did not know where he landed, God did. Columbus did not know he had found new lands to explore. God used the voyage to change the world.

In this telling, Columbus is a mistaken merchant, but God changes the course of human events in a striking way.

Perspective really matters. Some historians want to make people the heroes and ignore what God says and does. As a Christian father, I want my daughters to develop a biblical perspective on the past. This statement from the same textbook (page 123) sums up the perspective I want them to have this holiday.

Columbus Day is celebrated on the second Monday of October. It is a day to remember Christopher Columbus and the land he found. It is a day to remember what God did long ago.

Hands-on Learning Involves the Whole Mind

September 17, 2015 by Meredith

Family gatherings provide memorable educational experiences. When my dad’s side of the family gets together, we often spend time gazing up at the night sky. It can make for a long evening, but the whole experience is worth it!

Our family scientist sets up his telescope, someone checks the weather, and another person might pull up a star map of the night sky while the rest of us get chairs and blankets to make our hours outside in the cold night air more comfortable.

Once we’re all outside, the “lesson” gets started. We take turns viewing the surface of the moon, a nearby planet, or a passing meteor shower. Conversation centers on the local weather conditions, the size of a celestial object, the color something appears to be and why, or the speed of an object moving through our galaxy. Sometimes we just sit in awe of the greatness of our Creator.

By the end of our night together, we’ve all learned something new without even realizing it because our lesson has been conducted through hands-on learning.

Defining Hands-on Learning

Very simply, hands-on learning is involving one’s whole mind in understanding a concept or principle. The end goal is for the person to be actively involved in the learning process so that he or she can make connections and remember what has been taught. So how do you get that level of engagement for your child?

Involving the Whole Mind

There are two parts to facilitating hands-on learning. They also work hand-in-hand to make learning fun and memorable!

1. The Five Senses

God gave your child different senses that communicate to his brain and define memory. It’s through these experiences of hearing, seeing, smelling, touching, and tasting that he learns. These senses work together in that when something is experienced by more than one of the senses at the same time, that thing is more defined in his mind. There are times when his senses may be hindered (such as when he has a head cold). But maybe your child doesn’t have use of all five senses even when he’s healthy. God has given him everything he needs. If your child doesn’t have use of all five senses, he most likely has one or two heightened senses that compensate for any limitation.

2. Learning Styles

There’s more than one way to learn, but your child does have a predominant learning style that affects how he filters information. It’s important to understand what your child’s learning style is so that you can customize his lessons to fit his needs. Once you know how your child learns best, you can engage him in hands-on learning.

Applying Hands-on Learning

Hands-on learning involves including the different senses and your child’s primary learning styles as you teach and introduce concepts. Making connections in simple ways through different approaches (or senses) can be applied to all academic subjects. Here are some examples.

Science—constellations

View the night sky with your child. Sometimes the naked eye might work best when pointing out the whole constellation, but a pair of binoculars or a telescope could also be used. Your eyes will need about thirty minutes to adjust to the outside lighting.
Talk about the color, size, and distance of each star. Some constellations appear rather close together, but their stars are actually far apart.
Make a constellation finder or plot out the location of stars on a map of the night sky.

Heritage Studies—the American flag

Show your child a picture of the American flag. Point out the colors, stripes, and stars. Talk about the flag’s symbolism.
Listen to a recording of the national anthem and sing along. Be sure to point out the words that describe the American flag.
Draw, paint, or color a picture of the American flag. Discuss the proper way to display it.

Math—multiplication

Have an equation written out for your child to see. Another helpful visual might be to use a number chart.
Count out loud by a factor of the equation (2s, 3s, 4s, 5s, etc.) so that your child can hear the numbers.
Use math manipulatives to make simple groupings. Blocks, coins, and edible treats work well and can add some excitement.

Each of these ideas is simple enough to do at home. They make the learning experience much more enjoyable and engaging for the whole family. That’s hands-on learning at its best!