Category: Remote Learning

New Assessments, New Integration: Integrated Remote-Learning (Part 3)

Posted on by Kelly Hayes in Biblical Integration, Planning, Remote Learning, Rubric

This is the third part of a short series about how to accomplish biblical integration in a remote environment. These ideas can help teachers who are transitioning to an online environment, but they may also be helpful supplements that you could use for homework in other ways. [Note: Some of this may work more effectively for middle school and high school students than elementary-aged students.]

As we know, teaching remotely is different than teaching in a face-to-face environment. One of the differences relates to assessment. It is challenging to remotely test memory with a high level of confidence. How can you keep the students from just looking up answers as they take the test/quiz? It is tough. So my suggestion is to encourage them to look up their answers. Instead of fighting their instinct to search for answers, we can feed that desire. Of course, this means that our questions need to change. 

“In what year and town was George Washington born?” can be changed to, “Find out when and where George Washington was born. Share three interesting facts about his family and early life. Cite your sources.”

This exposes the students to the same material, but it is an appropriate assessment for remote work because it is not assessing memory. And it actually offers a few advantages over a simple memory assessment; it engages students’ curiosity and teaches them to cite sources. So how does this relate to biblical integration? Simply put: you can ask you students to be contributors to integration, rather than just consumers of it. 

Can you design a project that asks the students to be a part of the integration process? Yes. You can assign a book-review that asks students to note biblical themes. You can assign a reflection project that asks students to identify a scientist’s underlying worldview assumptions. The truth is that, by creating a thoughtful rubric that includes expectations of biblical integration, almost every project can be an effective tool for integration. 

As you move to remote learning, you need to alter your assessments. When you make those changes, why not build in a requirement for student-generated biblical integration? It takes very little additional work, but provides serious benefit.

Content Delivery: Integrated Remote-Learning (Part 2)

Posted on by Kelly Hayes in Biblical Integration, Planning, Remote Learning

This is the second part of a short series about how to accomplish biblical integration in a remote environment. These ideas can help teachers who are transitioning to an online environment, but they may also be helpful supplements that you could use for homework in other ways. [Note: Some of this may work more effectively for middle school and high school students than elementary-aged students.]

Remote learning (RL) is fundamentally different from face-to-face (F2F) learning. For many reasons, it is not optimal to structure RL as if it were F2F. Because of the differences in mode, structure, communication, classroom management, tools, etc., teachers should strive to leverage the strengths of RL and minimize its weaknesses. One of the great strengths of RL (when students and teachers have access to the internet) is content delivery. This is because students — especially MS and HS students — are capable and enthusiastic about using their personal technologies. In some F2F environments, smartphones can be a distraction. But when practicing RL, smartphones/computers/tablets are a gateway to your guided tour of experts, popular teachers, digital tools, and examples. What may have once been a struggle for your teaching has become an opportunity. And today, I am going to highlight the power of digital content delivery for biblical integration using examples from science.

Digital Content as Guest Speaker

Did you know that you can invite experts into your remote classrooms? Biology teachers can have Dr. Michael Behe teach your students about irreducible complexity through his Secrets of Cell series. Dr. Michael Keas can expertly explain how Christianity was crucial in the development of modern science. I have also enjoyed the MindMatters podcast because of its engagement with biblical worldview and the science of the mind. Of course, there are numerous other expert resources that a teacher of any subject could use. 

Digital Content as Opportunity for Investigation

RL can give students space to investigate. And RL can remove students’ ability to rely too much on others. This means that teachers can present digital content in a way that encourages students to explore, evaluate, and grow. In science, a teacher could share Christianity Today’s list of twelve women in science. Students could learn about different fields (biology, genetics, paleoclimatology, ecology, etc.). But they could also learn about what these leading scientists say about how their faith is innately connected to their scientific work. 

One of the great teachers at my school recently presented students with a list of views on the origins of the universe and asked them to explain what they believed. This caused students to investigate, understand, explain, and share what they believed. The conversation related solidly to science and to theology. This is a classic example of tight integration. And while it could have worked in a F2F class, it was perfect for RL.

Do What Your Guest Speakers Can’t 

So when you are teaching and integrating remotely, use your time to interact with students and organize the content that they need to learn. If someone else has already made a good-quality, easy-to-understand video explaining bacterial flagellum, you don’t always need to recreate it (although there may be a time for that in some circumstances). Instead, you should use your time to facilitate the elements of learning that are not already present in the video. Let your guest speakers (digital content) introduce and illustrate the content as much as possible. You can then use your time to make commentary on the content, encourage responses from your students, respond in depth to student work, show biblical connections, etc. This will show your students how they can grow into thoughtful evaluators of content. You are modelling good practices for them. 

Don’t feel obligated to reinvent the wheel. Instead, go and find the best wheels you can and fasten them to the axles of your class. This will take your unique perspective, wisdom, and style. But don’t feel like RL has to be just like your F2F class. It’s different. But different has opportunities that you can seize.

He Hangs the Earth on Nothing: Integrated Remote-Learning (Part 1)

Posted on by Kelly Hayes in Bible, Biblical Integration, Planning, Remote Learning

This is the first part of a short series about how to accomplish biblical integration in a remote environment. These ideas can help teachers who are transitioning to an online environment, but they may also be helpful supplements that you could use for homework in other ways. [Note: Some of this may work more effectively for middle school and high school students than elementary-aged students.]

The unique nature of online learning gives it certain advantages over in-classroom learning. I am not saying that it is better, but there are aspects of it that can be educationally helpful. The University of Denver has some guidelines for transitioning classes to an online format that include this good point:

Try not to get bogged down with doing everything you would normally… What has to stay? What can go? Is there a way to meet your learning outcomes in a manageable way given the tools you have? When you find yourself getting stuck on issues like “how can I possibly do X online?!” Think about, “could I do something besides X?”

One of the basic ideas of online instruction is that it is different than in-person instruction. Therefore, it is unwise to try to teach your class in the normal way during abnormal circumstances. Our objectives remain, but many other things change. The environment is different. The interactions are different. The tools of engagement are different. Therefore, you cannot simply do what you did before and post it online. This is true for your elements of biblical integration as well. To that end, here is an idea that can help you create an excellent, integration, online experience for your students.

Lean into (Slow) Discussion and Collaboration

According to Purdue University, “Although response time may be longer online, the quality of feedback tends to be more detailed and focused than in the classroom setting.” This is because when you ask a question in-person, the student that thinks of an answer the fastest speaks up. But online, speed is not as relevant. And students need to write out or record their responses, so the fast answer must be refined. And, the slower answer gets equally heard. One of my favorite discussion activities is a shared sharpening task called “Make-It-Better.” 

To do this, you give students a prompt like this one: 

The Bible is not anti-science. Instead, science supports the Bible and the Bible supports science. 

The students would be asked to make this statement better. They can add detail and examples. They can interact with ideas and sources. They can clarify arguments. They can include cultural understanding. And as they work on it, they might come up with something like this: 

In The God Delusion, Richard Dawkins seems to represent many non-Christians in saying that the Bible does not correspond with science. However, in that same book, he also calls on parents, saying, “Do not indoctrinate your children. Teach them how to think for themselves, how to evaluate evidence, and how to disagree with you.” In taking his advice, I have evaluated evidence and come to disagree with him on his conclusion.

Dawkins states, “If all the evidence in the universe turned in favour of creationism, I would be the first to admit it, and I would immediately change my mind. As things stand, however, all available evidence (and there is a vast amount of it) favours evolution.” I do not think that this is an accurate assessment how we should interpret the evidence. The Bible is not anti-science. While there are many diverse pieces of evidence, here is one that I am currently interested in: Job — the oldest book of the Bible — states a scientific fact that could not be known at that time without divine revelation. In Job 26:7, the writer states that God stretches the north over empty space and hangs the earth on nothing. The most ancient book of the Bible offers a modern, poetic description of the earth being in space. That seems like one piece of evidence that, to Dawkins’ chagrin, seems to support the accuracy of biblical evidence. Therefore, I continue to be confident that science supports the Bible and the Bible supports science.

With collaborative tools like Google Docs, there is no reason that a class of students could not Make-It-Better like this. In addition, the teacher is able to see what each student contributes so that each student can be held accountable for participation. And what subjects could this work for? English — for the development of writing, grammar, developing a thesis, citing sources. Speech — developing a theme to make a persuasive argument. Science — understanding the biblical connections to modern discoveries. History — understanding how ideas have developed and been challenged (or supported) over time.