Editorial What Faith Has to Offer Science RACHAEL BAKER
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n my class, we end the semester by reflecting together on what we have learned and what we hope to carry forward. As part of this reflection, one of my students wrote: Being humble has elevated my learning experience because now I get the chance to hear other people’s thoughts and ideas, as well as how they have come to their conclusions.
Humility may not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think of science, but it comes up frequently when I teach biochemistry. I think that humility, along with other practices like hospitality and gratitude, should be front and center in classrooms. These practices have immense value for helping students engage well in conversations and learn with each other. Discussing these practices also creates opportunities to help students think about how they want to approach future work in areas like the sciences. But in order for students to authentically engage, it is important to convince them that these practices matter for their learning. Today, collaboration is an important part of scientific work, with people who have diverse ideas and experiences from various disciplines working together to solve complex scientific problems. While scientific teams have significant opportunities to address important problems in our society, they also face a myriad of challenges. Doing science in an interdisciplinary setting requires a distinct set of skills. As teachers, we should be thinking about how we prepare our students to work together to solve problems. At this moment in science, when people are interested in understanding how to work together well in teams, we have an exciting and unique opportunity at Christian schools to be an important part of this conversation. In David Smith’s article, we explore the importance of building communities in our classrooms and the impact they have on learning, regardless of discipline. As Amy Wilstermann discusses in her article, Christians—who have been living and working together in community for a long time—have developed and use a variety of practices to foster thriving community. A thriving community, characterized by safety, trust, productivity, and member well-being, can help teams tackle problems together. A practice like humility fosters a thriving community and mitigates the challenges that can come with working together. Telling an accurate story about how scientists solve problems and how Christian practices can contribute creates new space for students to think about the intersections of faith and science. In this framework, faith adds value to the practice of science in rich and important ways. Students can develop a vision of how Christian Educators Journal
October 2022
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