"Entry Points"

Outline
Chapter 8 Science
1. Aims of science teaching
2. The nature of science
3. The role of faith in science
4. Using biblical beliefs to understand science
5. Science - a human calling
6. Using science to illustrate biblical beliefs

Note
1. Aims of science teaching
(1) God is the source of all things. Hence we will confront the idea that science is
autonomous. We will seek to exemplify dependence upon God and foster awareness that
we are accountable to Him for all that we do.
(7) We will consider how roles may be restored to wholeness, how brokenness in the
different realms of creation can be healed, how those alienated from God, from each
other, and from the creation, can be reconciled, how the Gospel shalom might now be
established, at least in part, on the basis of Christs work of redemption.
(9) We will tell the stories of science as strands of the universal story of Creation-Fall-
Redemption-New Creation. We will seek to integrate the three levels of Christian storytelling:
Biblical, cultural and personal.

- Aims for science teaching in a primary school

: This conception of the aims of science in a primary school, set out below, suggests that scientific
enquiry is in order to understand Gods world more fully. Although the study of science is placed within
the context of a Biblical understanding of the nature and purposes of creation, some would argue that
this statement actually reflects the modern secular emphasis on process, as opposed to content, and
the popularity of constructivist perspectives.

2. The nature of science

- There are conflicts within the Christian community itself, as pointed out above in, for example, the
creation versus evolution debate. It has also been suggested that some Christian science
educationalists accept, to a greater or lesser degree, the modernist scientific tradition and do not offer
a critique of the world view based on rationality and autonomy. These, on the other hand, would agree
with their critics that all has been blighted by sin, including human reasoning powers. But they would
argue that reason is all we have to go on, and this itself is a gift from God, but it is neither
autonomous nor infallible.

3. The role of faith in science

- Various writers have shown that the persisting idea of a continuing fundamental conflict between
Christianity and science is false. Many go further and point out that science itself rests on certain
assumptions which are matters of faith and which, moreover, accord with a Christian understanding of
the world. These assumptions include faith in an orderly universe to which human powers of
observation and reasoning correspond in some way.

4. Using biblical beliefs to understand science

- Ontology: God is the ultimate reality. All else is created - depends on Him for both existence and
meaning.
Anthropology: We are Gods creatures, made to live in relationship with Him. In Christ we are His
new people, the focus of his purposes for His creation, called to be truly human as children and heirs
of God.
Epistemology: We know because God has created us with the capacity to do so, and because He
actively communicates with us (revelation).
5. Science - a human calling
- Seeking to counter the popular presentation of science as an autonomous, omnipotent and
omniscient enterprise, Christian teachers aim to set the scientific enterprise in the context of the
human task before God.
- The rest of creation can be expanded, traditionally but usefully, in terms of: animals, plants, air,
waters, rocks, and soil. The roles of created things intermesh forming an intricate web of relationships
between these different realms. The teasing out of these relationships is an important aim of a
science teaching that would capture the wonder of Gods world.

Reflection
My subject for unit plan is Science. In this chapter8, I was able to find many reasons that we have to
learn and teach about science. Many people think science is contradicting with the creation theory, but
that is not true. If we look at the science as a tool for human to understand deeper about God's
created world, there will not be many contradicting debates. If we see God as who He is, we have to
admit that He is the creator. There is no other options to explain God's created world. We are also part
of His creation. Therefore, we cannot avoid to seek higher level of understanding about His creation.
This chapter explains clearly to the teachers who will be teaching science to the students about
foundational principles. Which will help the students to look at this world as God's wonderful creation.