Choosing a Christian School Science Program
By: Dr. Jay L. Wile
Are you in the midst of another search for science curriculum? If so, you are probably faced with a wide array of choices. At one time, it was hard to find science curricula that were suitable for the Christian school. Nowadays, however, there are several science curricula that are written from a Christian perspective. How will you choose which one is best for your school?
Your first consideration must be philosophical. As a Christian school, your mission is to give your student a Christian education. Thus, your science curriculum must come from a creationist perspective. Now please understand what I mean here. I don't mean that you should use a curriculum that ignores evolution. In fact, in order to prepare your students for the "real" world, you should teach the evolutionary hypothesis where appropriate. At the same time, however, you shouldn't use an essentially secular program that has a few Scripture verses and statements of how wonderful God's creation is. Your science curriculum should teach the evolutionary hypothesis, but, unlike the material found in secular schools, your science should teach it "warts and all."
However, evolution is only one aspect of what you need to consider. You need a curriculum that teaches from the standpoint that God is the Creator of everything being studied. Thus, your biology curriculum should discuss how God made organisms to serve the purposes that He wanted them to serve. Your chemistry curriculum should show how God's masterful design can be seen in the structure of the atom or the interaction of reactants in a chemical equation. In short, just as a course in U.S. law must teach from the perspective that the Constitution is the source of all law, your science curriculum must teach from the standpoint that God is the source of all science.
Your second consideration must be pedagogical in nature. Scientists must be able to think scientifically. Thus, a good science curriculum must force students to think through the topics discussed. At the same time, however, scientists must know things. Thus, a good science curriculum must also force students to remember vocabulary, facts and skills. In the end, then, a balance must be struck. A good science curriculum will force the student to remember specific facts, vocabulary and skills. At the same time, however, it must force the student to use those facts, vocabulary and skills to reason through scientific issues, draw reasonable conclusions and solve problems.
How do you evaluate whether or not a curriculum achieves this goal? Look at the questions that the students are required to answer. Some of those questions should be factual in nature. They should probe whether or not the students know the definitions that were presented, remember the facts that were discussed, and acquired the skills that were covered. However, there should be other questions that require the students to reason through what has been presented so as to come up with their own conclusions or solutions. If both types of questions are not common throughout the curriculum, you should not use it.
Once you have found curricula that meet these fundamental criteria, you can then start to decide which ones will work for your particular institution. After all, different types of schools need different types of curriculum. So, once you have a list of curricula that meet your philosophical and pedagogical needs, you next need to determine what your teacher and laboratory situations require.
While laboratory exercises are not absolutely necessary in order for a student to learn a given subject in the sciences, there are nevertheless good reasons for providing your students with a solid laboratory experience. Most universities want high school students to cover at least two years of laboratory-based science courses. So, if you want to make sure your students are not hindered in their university plans, you need to offer laboratory exercises in at least some of your science courses. In addition, laboratory exercises provide good mental pictures for certain processes that are otherwise very hard to visualize.
If your school has good laboratory facilities, this is not a problem. Many curriculum providers offer laboratory manuals that work nicely in a well-appointed laboratory. Thus, a school of this kind can meet its students' laboratory needs quite easily. What about a school that has limited or no laboratory facilities? Can such a school provide its students with an adequate laboratory experience? Surprisingly, the answer is "Yes."
Because of the rising popularity of home education, many curricula have been written specifically for situations in which laboratory facilities are not available. These curricula usually utilize commonly found household items for many of the experiments. If more complicated equipment or chemicals are needed, they are generally provided at a reasonable cost. Thus, even if your school has limited or no laboratory facilities, by considering homeschool-oriented curricula, you can probably find a solution that will provide your students with a solid laboratory experience, despite the lack of facilities.
In this day and age, there are many educational products available from a Christian perspective. A Christian school, then, has many choices as to the curriculum it can use. The important thing to remember, however, is that materials made for traditional Christian schools may not be the best fit for your situation. You must be sure to search not only those materials, but also those products made for the less traditional situations such as home education. By doing a thorough search, you can be certain to find the best curriculum for your school.
Dr. Jay L. Wile holds an earned Ph.D. from the University of Rochester in nuclear chemistry and a B.S. in chemistry from the same institution. He owns Apologia Educational Ministries, www.apologia.com, a company dedicated to giving people scientific reasons to believe in Christ. The company's specialty is science curriculum for education.
