Integrating Learning, Faith, and Practice
in Christian Education
Part II
In Part I, the concepts, issues, and problems connected with the integration of learning, faith, and practice were treated in a general way, with primary emphasis in Christian philosophy of education and basic instructional theory. (See the April-May, 1980, issue of the JOURNAL.) Part II will discuss faith nurture in Christian education against the backdrop of the formal and informal curricula by examining some of the objectives most appropriate to ILFP- in the disciplines commonly included in the elementary and secondary school curricula.
GOAL: The purpose of this study is to better understand the meaning, the needs, and the process of integration of learning, faith, and practice in every aspect of Christian education.
OBJECTIVES: Part II will pursue further all the objective cited in Part I for the entire instruction unit, but will give the greatest attention to those stated below. When you have completed this unit you should be better able to--
An awareness of unifying
themes is one of the greatest aids to generalizing ILFP in your classes. Many
of these unifying themes have implications for almost every discipline of the
formal curriculum, as well as for various aspects of the informal curriculum.
Throughout this article the reader can observe how such themes have influenced the authors' approach to ILFP. For example, in Part I, the implication of five doctrinal themes was discussed. Following are some themes that have been of special help to us in understanding better how to integrate learning, faith, and practice.
I. Gospel themes as Jesus taught them.
A. What is God the Father like? You can trust Him.
1. God is love--unconditional, impartial, inexhaustible. He loves sinners.
2. God forgives the past, gives new starts and fresh beginnings.
3. God intervened and saved lost man from the penalty and the power of sin.
4. Salvation is God's free gift.
5. God's commandments are protective in nature, and we honor them out of gratitude and love to Him.
6. Jesus conquered Satan at Calvary; he is a defeated foe. Because of this, God has given Christ all authority and power.
7. Jesus gives us all authority and power to work in His name, since we are united with Him in faith.
8. We are to tell the god new to the world.
B. What is the Father's kingdom like?
1. It is spiritual--our membership in it is spiritual. God knows who His children are--and they are everywhere.
2. The Holy Spirit is God's special gift to instruct and transform us.
3. Good angels unceasingly minister to our needs--prompting, aiding, and protecting us.
4. God supplies supernatural power to us through His Word and through prayer.
5. Unselfishness is the operative principle of His kingdom. We are to learn it, here, through selfless service to others.
6. Jesus is coming back to get His own. His kingdom will triumph.
II. There is a great controversy going on in the universe between good and evil, and we all are taking sides, every moment, in every decision and act. We are choosers: our eternity hangs in the balance.
III. Satan has attacked God's character, endeavored to put him on trial before the universe. It is our privilege to vindicate God's integrity, wisdom and government.
IV. Only the eternal view keeps things in proper perspective. Satan's allurements and sin lose their appeal when we see things form God's point of view.
V. Time and its use are all-important. God has lent us this brief time to see what we would do with an eternity if we had it. We will have to render strict account for this talent.
VI. True humility is a special evidence that God's principle is working within us, as opposed to conceit, which is the enemy's mark of ownership. (Cooperation versus competition, with respect to the different modus operandi of the two kingdoms, is also an application of this general theme.)
VII. By beholding we become changed--the effect of what we view and hear. Everything we have ever experienced inescapably becomes a part of us. We must guard the avenues to the soul.
VIII. God wants to accomplish something special in us through the process of Christian education. We can comprehend this concept fully only by studying it closely (especially in the writings of Ellen G. White). Here in a Christian school we are to discover our special spiritual gifts and talents to be used in God's service.
No doubt our readers could add to this list. We have chosen the theme "Futurism" to illustrate how one unifying themes could guide integration of learning, faith, and practice in the formal or informal curriculum.
One of the criticisms of education today is that it is backward oriented. It is the function of education to take 5, 000 years of human learning, which we call the legacy of the race, or the cultural heritage, and induct the next generation into all that the human race has known. Teachers, consequently, have a large task to accomplish--and it is largely a backward orientation.
Philip Phenix, of Columbia University, claims that the teachers of the future are going to be "synopticians," master teachers who have the ability to find the threads, the themes, and the patterns that given meaning to mere information.[1] Without this, he warns, our youth are going to blow their mental circuits from information overload, and "check out" from the staggering challenge of coping with (or even preparing to cope with) modern life. There is some evidence that this despair over schooling has already begun. Ivan Illich's provocative book De-schooling Society throws some interesting light on this problem.
So, the question is whether schools, in their backward orientation, are actually giving young people misinformation in purveying a curriculum that assumes they are entering a fairly steady-state society. Life is not going to go on the same as they have been studying about tin the past. We are moving into a tomorrow generally characterized by the futurists as upheavalistic and chaotic.
Teaching our youth how to manage change, how to cope with an accelerating change phenomenon that promises to be catastrophic in its impact, is now being identified by leading educational theorists as one of the primary objectives of modern education. Just learning to survive mentally physically, and spiritually in an age of social disintegration will be the all-consuming task. Now, if that is a legitimate goal for secular education today, what implications does this have for Christian educators who believe that today's youth may indeed be members of earth's last generation, a special group to be tried in the furnace of persecution in witness to their faith? It is indeed a sobering thought that some of these carefree youth who entertain us daily with their innocent pranks and idle chatter may son bear momentous burdens in the finishing of the work, may yet stand before kings and legislators to give a reason of their faith. What are we doing, in our classes, to prepare them for that date with destiny?
Do our history and social studies classes deal with events and societal situations in the light of Bible prophecy--particularly in the teaching manner of Jesus? In John 16, He explained to His disciples what they would have to face and His purpose in telling them. The reason of prophecy: " 'I have told you this, so that you will not given up your faith…. So that when the time comes for them to do these things, you will remember what I told you.'" " 'I have told you this so that you will have peace by being united to me. The world will make you suffer. But be brave! I have defeated the world!'" (verses 1-4, 33, T.E.V.).
The disciples failed to comprehend most of what Jesus was communicating to them, but after His resurrection and ascension, they remembered. Their faith was marvelously strengthened, and their assurance in Him made secure, especially during the persecutions that followed. Are you using Bible revelation and prophecy in a way that will ensure this same result in the lives of your students in the trying times that lie ahead? If they haven't been taught, they'll have nothing to remember. Building the faith life is the real meaning of Christian education.
Here are some more things to consider:
1. How do you relate healthful living to the future?
2. What role will absolute values (God's law) play in the future?
3. How do you discuss with your students their life mission and preparation for the future in the light of the nearness of the end? (This includes the focus of career education--whether one chooses the goal of service or of money.)
4. How do you deal with moral issues such as genetic engineering, pollution, population control, mind manipulation through mass media and advertising? Do you help your students grapple with these momentous issues from a Biblical perspective?
5. Are you fortifying your students against the occult--astrology, psychic ESP and revelations, space-science fiction, UFOs, spiritualism, demonic activity, et cetera?
6. Will your students be able to distinguish between God's prophets and Satan's prophets, between God's miracles and Satan's miracles?
7. Are you helping your students develop spiritual criteria by which to judge the new spate of bewitching, sophisticated games, which are likely to multiply in the future? (Checkers, and chess can't compete with Dungeons & Dragons!)
8. How are you preparing your students to abandon materialism--the lovely homes and creature comforts, the new cars, the gadgets, the fast foods and TV life, and all the dependencies on the enemy's present world system? When every other earthly support is cut off, will they be able to be sustained simply and solely by the promises of God?
9. Are you dealing with the ever-increasing acceptance of the use of drugs for escape from the "pressure-cooker" society? Are you helping your students understand how the psychology of drug use contrasts with the Christian view of life?
10. Are you helping your students develop wholesome attitudes that will produce happy Christian homes and lasting marriages, in the light of predictions about the collapse of the family unit?
We have just begun the litany of special challenges related to dealing with the future.
Ellen White wrote:
In the night season these words were spoken to me: "Charge the teachers in our schools to prepare the students for what is coming upon the world."[2] [Italics supplied.]
How often do you speak to your students about coming events? Do you interpret the current news in terms of its spiritual significance? "The work of the people of God is to prepare for the events of the future, which will soon come upon them with blinding force."[3]
When we read The Great Controversy and come to that latter chapter where Ellen White describes the plight of the false shepherds--Sunday-keepers who are deceived by spiritualism awaken too late from their fatal slumber, turn on their pastors, and say, "You know about his, but you never spoke of it"--do we conclude that it is only the clergy in apostate churches who have betrayed a sacred trust? This denunciation could refer, in a larger sense, to all spiritual guides, all types of religious teachers. Could any of our students ever say, " While in your classroom I sat for three years [or whatever] and you never talked about the prophecies of last-day events. You never introduced the religious issues or talked about the great bulwark and safety we could find in the World of God. Around campus you spend your time discussing the ball scores and league standings, and your joined us the frivolity and the prattle of childish minds. Yes, I was one of the sheep of your fold, a lamb in fact, and you were a false shepherd. You failed me when I needed you most!" What a shattering indictment!
The servant of the Lord says that the seriousness of the times and the unfolding religious issues of the last days are major themes that must be stressed with our students. Ellen White was a futuristic educator in the highest sense of the term. She would applaud any curriculum exposure to eschatology (the study of end-time events as portrayed in the Bible), whether offered in a history class, a Bible class, or in periodic minicourses or seminars. This important emphasis must be a pervasive element of "the hidden curriculum," an ambient consciousness of the whole school family. It is a basic frame of reference that can ensure the integration of learning, faith, and practice in a Christian school, for it is as modern as tomorrow. Properly presented, with a strong faith in God, devoid of sensationalism, fear, and paranoia. Bible eschatology motivates youth to become knowledgeable about the unfolding developments in the great controversy, to determine whose side they are on, and to go out and witness for Christ.
What Is Curriculum?
A broad definition of
curriculum: Curriculum includes what is taught by any experience that can be
influenced by the school. Since this definition is very general, it is also
helpful to define the terms of the formal curriculum, the informal curriculum,
and the hidden curriculum.
Formal Curriculum: What is commonly taught in classes that are normally a part of elementary, secondary, or higher education programs.
Informal Curriculum: What is taught through learning experiences that are not part of formal courses.
Hidden Curriculum: What is taught unintentionally through either the formal or informal curriculum. Sometimes the hidden curriculum influences students more than what teachers in tend to convey. Understanding the hidden curriculum makes it easier to avoid undesirable accidental learning as teachers carefully analyze how their subject matter interacts with the methods of instruction.
Why Do you Teach That?
Frequently we have asked teachers. "Why should
this subject or topic be included in the curriculum of a Seventh-day Adventist
school?" Many teachers hesitate or have difficulty in giving a response to
this question. The basis for selecting our subject matter and teaching methods
depend on our having a clear understanding of what we wish to accomplish
through our instruction. For each discipline we examine in the following
sections of this article, we first will ask, "What do we want to
accomplish by including this discipline in the curriculum of Seventh-day
Adventist schools?"
Space limitations prevent this article from treating comprehensively the many aspects of the formal, informal, and hidden curricula that play important roles in the ILFP. Those aspects covered should provide illustrations of ways to generalize the concept.
The remainder of this article is divided into two major sections. The first presents selected examples from the informal or the hidden curriculum, while the second examines the eight major subject areas of the formal curriculum.
The indifference between
the informal and the hidden curriculum is often just a matter of awareness. For
example, unplanned happenings on the school bus are likely to make a negative
contribution to the hidden curriculum. On the other hand, planned bus
activities can make a positive contribution to the informal curriculum.
Good music and stories can be played on a cassette tape system in a bus. This can reduce student restlessness while at the same time helping students learn to enjoy good music or develop positive Christian attitudes through stories. As another suggestion an adult supervisor or older student could lead out in group singing.
Methods of Grading. Selecting a procedure that does not require students to compete with one another, but rather strive to reach an attainable goal, increases the probability that they will progress further, help one another, and develop more positive attitudes toward the school and education.
The Hidden Curriculum in Secular Textbooks. Theism, the Godward orientation of a life, perceives the unseen dimension of reality, the supernature, and seeks example of God at work in His world. Humanism, the opposite of this, deals only with the seen, the natural dimension, concentrating on man at work in his world (his psyche, his pleasure, his society, his arts and civilization, his achievements, science and technology, et cetera). It is the Christian teachers' central task to develop and maintain a theistic approach to his subject, and to help the student comprehend the deeper levels of reality.
Unfortunately, commercially prepared textbooks and learning materials treat the subject matter from a totally humanistic point of view. ("Man has evolved and is getting better. He owes his existence and accomplishments to no one. Man is the measure of all things.") This basic presupposition pervades the software of secular education. When these materials are employed in Christian education, they form a subtle and powerful "hidden curriculum." Without a doubt, this humanism influences the thinking of many of our students, and undermines the theistic worldview we seek to promote and illustrate in very activity. For example, by contrasting God's absolute values and man's relative values, in collision in so many of these textbook presentations, we can alert our students to this subtle undercutting and help them become alert, spiritual thinkers.
School Programs. Is the objective of your school programs merely to entertain? Do they have spiritual objectives, or do they simply keep the students occupied? When they do satisfy a more serious purpose, such as in student talent productions, is the accent on excellence and enrichment or on human vanity and vainglory? Student programs provide a splendid opportunity to promote the highest ideals of the home, school, church, and nation, and when tastefully done, can inspire all those in attendance. When student sand teachers work closely together in the preparation of such programs, in a constant consciousness that the end purpose is the glory of God, integrating learning, faith, and practice flows naturally into the activity. This critical area requires prayerful vigilance by everyone in the school family.
Playground Activities. What types of attitudes are being developed by playground activities in Christian schools? Clearly understood rules and the selection of appropriate games can make a major difference in student behavior. Teacher should investigate and implement wholesome activities that encourage cooperation and other positive attitudes.
Field Trips. What are appropriate destinations for field trips? Are moral and spiritual goals a part of the orientation for such trips? Are the students prepared to deduce the right lessons from them? Sometimes teachers do not think of field trips as related to Bible principles. Consequently, many children do not have a serious understanding of the results of sin. One very effective field trip is to take young people to see an inner-city mission where drunks and other types of individuals come when they are really down and out. Listen to the song service and testimonies. Through the vicarious experiences and testimonies, students can be involved in experiencing both the sense of frustration of sin and the happiness of true conversion. The radio program Unshackled tells of such individuals whose loves have been changed.
The Intercom. What kind of music is played on the intercom? Does it help to reduce anxiety and frustration? Is the music clear, or is it distorted? Actually, poor audio sound can raise anxiety and frustration levels, contributing to actions that support negative attitudes and values. The right kind of music or story can help encourage positive behavior.
Background Music and Stories in the Classroom. An intercom or background music can be an asset in the classroom. One teacher plays Bible stories and Your Story hour recordings, thus developing moral values while students are doing arts or crafts. In this class one student will sometimes tell another. "Sh! I'm listening to that story." The noise level in the classroom is thus reduced, and while the students are involved in this positive vicarious experience, they are less likely to resort to negative behavior that might result from boredom.
Bulletin Boards and Pictures. Every picture has a message. What kinds of messages are you communicating through the pictures in your classroom and school? Select pictures to illustrate an objective, to convey a message about helpfulness, or to evoke interest in a doctrine communicated by the picture.
The Library and Outside Reading. What kinds of books are in the library? Are there many books that have biographies of individuals whose lives were positive and uplifting? Children love to read stories and experience vicariously the victories and positive deeds of the persons they are reading about. Students can also realize that if this person could overcome a handicap or difficulty perhaps there is also hope for them to overcome.
What kinds of stories do you assign students to read? Do you select these stories for the values and attitudes they covey? Do you talk about stories afterward and ask the students. "What would you have done in these circumstances?" "What do you think is the right thing to do?" When students present a positive solution, they are more likely to follow this course of action when confronted with a similar situation.
Dress Code. Do the students understand the dress code and how it relates to Christian value systems? Or is the dress code arbitrary? Sometimes portions of the dress code simply reflect the prevailing culture. In other words, because some people who behave in a certain way dress this way, we dress differently to show that we are not like them. Teachers should discuss openly the way certain people have dressed and how such styles communicate what kinds of people they are. Young people are often very naïve about the origin of dress fads and about what is communicated by the way one dresses.
School Rules. Are the school rules simple and well chosen? Have they been communicated so that students understand the reasons for the rules? Have students had an opportunity to make suggestions? And where these ideas are meaningful, have they been incorporated into the rules? Individuals who have participated in making rules are more likely to accept and practice them. Often students who share in rule making come up with such strict rules that teachers are forced to modify and simplify them rather than being in the role of imposing a rigid program. Thus students see teachers in an entirely different way.
Rules should be simple and few, and easily understood. Make certain that each person understands them and that, once developed and accepted, the rule are enforced until there is a systematic way of changing them. When a student learns he cannot change a reasonable rule, he will usually adjust to it.
The rules must be reasonable and administratively viable, but they must also be spiritual. Herein lies a great source of vexation to young people, because they get confused as to which are house rules for the convenience and good of the school and the family and which are God's guidelines to ensure a happy, healthy, and holy life. These distinctions must never get blurred. The purity of the gospel must be maintained. The just handling of campus life style is a very fruitful area for integrating learning, faith, and practice, for it constitutes a powerful nonverbal message dealing associatively with fundamental religious questions: What is God like? (Can He be trusted? Is He comfortable to live with? How does He balance mercy and justice?) As Gaebelein so aptly points out: Nothing speaks so eloquently to children and youth about the basic Christianity of a school than how it treats those who run afoul of its regulations. Its handling of discipline is the acid test.[4]
Integrating learning,
faith, and practice is appropriate in every subject commonly taught in the
elementary and secondary curriculum. All subject areas involve ideas,
attitudes, issues, thought processes, or moral values. In every subject the
teaching methods used tend to create either Christian or non-Christian values,
attitudes, and life styles. This section can serve as a catalyst to help
teachers understand the many ways that integrating learning, faith, and
practices can be accomplished in their subject areas and in classes.
ILFP in Mathematics
How to integrate learning,
faith, and practice in mathematics will be the first subject areas considered
because many Christian teacher seem more perplexed about how to integrate
learning, faith, and practice in this subject then in any other. The principle
used in mathematics can be generalized in other ways of integrating learning,
faith, and practice in the curriculum.
General objectives for teaching mathematics in a Christian elementary or secondary school include:
1. Developing basic computation skills necessary for functioning in contemporary society.
2. Developing skills in algebra, geometry, or trigonometry that students will use in college or technical studies.
3. Practicing and expanding character attributes of carefulness, neatness, honesty, and service.
4. Developing an understanding of how inductive and deductive reasoning and statements of axioms relate to mathematics, science, the study of the Bible, and the development of a Christian philosophy of life.
5. Developing a historical view of the motivation to understand God's universe that inspired individuals such as Galileo, Newton Pascal, and Einstein to develop and use mathematical concepts for this purpose.
6. Developing an appreciation of the order and structure of nature through observing geometric and other mathematical concepts illustrated in the universe.
7. Relating simple concepts of probability to the theory of the origin of life as taught by evolution.
Mathematics provides a way
of logical thinking that can be used in understanding how to interpret God's
written Word, as well as His book of nature. Mathematics should be taught in a
way that emphasizes this type of thinking and its usefulness in understanding
more about God. 1 Thessalonians 5:21 states, "Put all things to the test:
keep what is good" (T.E.V.). This verse indicates that God values careful
thinking. Mathematical reasoning can play an important role in developing this
capacity.
A Christian's acceptance of the Bible and the development of his faith is a process that uses some of the same inductive-deductive reasoning and axiomatic systems as mathematics uses. A person can, through observation, be led inductively to accept the Bible as God's word. This acceptance becomes an axiomatic statement that cannot be proved absolutely but must be based on faith. As long as that position of faith is maintained, the Bible becomes that priori basis for careful study, using both inductive and deductive reasoning to better understand God, the great controversy, and His plan for man.
Students should be helped to understand that the formal language of mathematics is not used in the Bible. The idiomatic expressions and poetic style of the Bible lack the preciseness of mathematical language. Unfortunately, some Christians attempt to use the Bible as though its language were as scientifically precise as that of a well-written mathematics textbook. This has led some to believe that the Bible is inaccurate or internally inconsistent. Galileo clearly recognized this problem when he stated, "For the Bible is not chained in every expression to conditions as strict as those which govern all physical effects; nor is God less excellently revealed in Nature's actions than in the sacred statement of the Bible."[5] Stuermann's Logic and Faith provides a more complete analysis of these concepts.
Many mathematical concepts can be related to spiritual insights. Number properties and disciplined procedures invite religious parallels and applications. For example, these mathematical concepts can lead to spiritual applications:
1. Finite--Infinite
2. Absolute--Relative
3. Closed--Open
4. Divergence--Convergence
5. Postulates ("givens") of geometry--Spiritual corollaries
6. Structure and Order in Nature. Mathematics gives us a tool that can enhance our understanding of the structure, beauty and order in God's creation. The golden ratio is but one example of many that can be used.
7. The Probability of Evolution. When the class is studying simple probability theory--which is well within the grasp of seventh- and eighth-graders--the teacher can direct them to mathematical studies concerning the likelihood of evolutionary origins.
Murray Eden, in the article "Heresy in the Halls of Biology--Mathematicians Question Darwin," indicates that it is not reasonable to believe that pure chance could produce the biological complexity out of chaos in any amount of time thus far suggested.[6]
Many who made major mathematical and scientific breakthroughs during the period of the Renaissance and the Reformation were striving to understand God better through His book of nature and seeking to develop various mathematical tools to better understand God's universe. By assigning books about the lives of scholars such as Galileo, Pascal, Kepler, Newton, or Sir Francis Bacon, teachers can help their students understand the earnestness with which these men sought to better understand God. These biographies also provide students with insights into the reasoning of the intellectual giants. Galileo is reported to have said. "Without mathematics I am blind."[7] The awe he experienced in contemplating God's creation is reflected in the following statement:
When is it that nature doth nothing in vain: and where arises all that order and beauty which we see in the world? How come the bodies of animals to be contrived with so much art, and for what end where there several parts? Was the eye contrived without skill in optics?… Does it appear from phenomena that there is a being incorporeal, living intelligent?[8]
Mathematics (and other
subjects as well) should be taught in such a way that gifted students will not
become conceited. They should be led to view their abilities as a talent God
entrusted to them to benefit mankind. Unfortunately many young people become
conceited over their academic abilities. Through the hidden curriculum,
teachers should communicate humility and their thankfulness to God for the
abilities He has given them. In so doing they will provide a positive model to
their students.
Mathematics poses a real challenge to the teacher's creativity to establish spiritual links. Each teacher should integrate spiritual associations as the subject matter naturally presents the opportunity. This integration must not be artificial, forced, gimmicky, or tacked on. The teacher who maintains sensitivity and openness to the ILFP possibilities will be surprised how the Holy Spirit will quicken his mind and guide him in choosing forceful applications. Students will thus be led to develop creativity and spiritual awareness.
In summary, the discipline
of mathematics can help young people develop habits of carefulness, neatness,
as well as help structure their thinking and lead them to an awareness of the
order and beauty of nature. It can encourage attitudes of service, and
sensitivity to God's spiritual laws. On the other hand, mathematics can be
taught in such a way that it promotes carelessness, sloppiness, dishonesty,
conceit, and selfishness. Either way, students may learn computational skills,
but taught in the Christian way, mathematics will help to develop Christian
values, attitudes, and beliefs.
For a fundamental
Christian the study of science is the study of God's creation, a way to better
understand the Creator, and the laws by which the universe is governed. The
major purpose for this study, in addition to better understanding God, it to
apply the knowledge gained in ways that benefit mankind.
As part of the general objectives for teaching science in a Christian elementary or secondary school, student should--
1. Love God and understand Him better as a result of studying His creation.
2. Learn greater appreciation of the beauty and order of nature.
3. Recognize that all God's creation is governed by law.
4. Comprehend the consequences of disregarding both God's natural and spiritual laws.
5. Use a knowledge of health principles to live as healthfully as possible.
6. Use the basic principles of science to function in our technical society.
Following are just a few of the many ways of integrating learning, faith, and practice in the study of science:
1. Emphasize that through the study of science we learn about God's creation and the laws by which nature is governed.
2. Have students collect materials that show design and beauty, and to look for beauty in things both large and small.
3. Consider ethical issues in science such as pollution, genetic engineering, population control, and selfish and irresponsible use of resources.
4. Develop objectives that will encourage students to spend time in nature and relate what they see to God.
5. Have students study plant and animal growth by raising animals and growing plants. Allow them to perform gardening experiments related to grafting, pollination, et cetera. Use these studies to teach laws of reproduction (offspring always come from the same basic kind).
6. Help students understand that both evolution and Creation are theories, accepted by faith, and that neither has been proved scientifically. Further, explain that both are essentially religious, since they deal with the origin, nature, and destiny of man. Discuss with your students the basic implications of these theories to governments and political systems. Sensitize students to the pervasiveness of evolutionary theory in almost any discipline. Have them find examples of the evolutionary hypothesis insinuating itself, unspoken and unannounced, into various media forms.
7. Relate principles of science to health. Help students to understand the scientific basis for the Christian's healthful life style.
8. Have your students consider how science could be misused to manipulate and control human beings.
Integrating Learning, Faith, and Practice in the Practical Arts
The technical nature of
vocational subjects and sophisticated practices essential to their mastery have
often led educators to assign this subject area primarily to the psychomotor
and cognitive domains of learning. The authors do not propose to review these
acknowledged dimensions here, but rather wish to highlight the added dimensions
of affective learning that can be brought to practical know-how through
Christian sensitivities and attitudes. Practicing these attitudes will result
in students going into the society to be a "savour of life unto
life."
If practical arts teachers accomplish the integrating of learning, faith, and practice, their graduates will be the most honest businessmen, the most competent and trustworthy professionals, the most loyal, diligent workers. Through the teaching of agriculture, home economics, shop, business education, the building trades, or other vocational programs, teachers endeavor to impart to their students the concept of service and genuine respect for workers at every job level.
Christian young people who attain this kind of character dimension in addition to good joy skills will always be in great demand. These youth become living witnesses to the gospel in the business world. This mission should be ever kept before them.
Included in the general objectives for the teaching of practical arts in Christian schools is that students should--
1. Develop basic practical skills that will help them to be more self-sufficient in our technical society and in mission service.
2. Achieve a vocational skill level in an area they can easily train for or can directly enter.
3. Become aware of the many opportunities specific vocations provide for serving mankind and the special needs of the world work of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
4. Display, in their work, ethics and attitudes that reflect Christian character.¶
Language art splay an
extremely important role in the curriculum of Christian schools, since through
language man comprehends God, understand his own existence, and develops a
sense of history and destiny. This understanding represents a highly developed
level of abstraction--a prime evidence that man is indeed created after God's
likeness. Furthermore, through language man is capable of receiving
communication from generations long past: i.e., through the preserved language
records he can participate vicariously in all time and space. Through language
man comprehends the working out of the great controversy and is able to relate
the gospel to others.
Students should be taught
that the ability to communicate is a gift God has entrusted to them, that it is
a talent to be developed for God's glory. They should also understand that
communication is Satan's principal avenue for destroying the image of God in
the souls and seducing people to eternal ruin. Truly, this avenue of
instruction is freighted with eternal consequences, and if teachers do not
integrate learning, faith, and practice in this areas, they have no
justification for calling their instruction Christian education.
Teachers should include general objectives for teaching language arts in Christian elementary and secondary schools that students--
1. Develop pure and effective communication, both oral and written.
2. Reinforce good character formation through practice of neatness, carefulness, order, and intellectual honesty.
3. Generalize moral principles from their reading, in the context of the great controversy, and apply these principles to their daily life.
4. Formulate and use spiritual criteria for selecting what they will listen to, view, or read.
5. Appreciate the literary value of Scripture.
Listed below are some teaching strategies other Christian teacher shave found helpful for integrating learning, faith, and practice in this area:
1. Select outside reading materials that high light moral values. Discuss with the students the spiritual meaning of the stories.
2. Help students develop criteria for selecting good material for reading, listening, or viewing. Study of the Bible can greatly aid in this search. For example, there are passages of Scripture, such as Philippians 4:8, that exhort us to think on positive things. Also, 1 Thessalonians 5:21 states, "Put all things to the test: keep what is good" (T.E.V.).
3. Bible stories in modern language or use a contemporary setting to restate a story and teach the same lesson the Bible author intended.
4. Have the student read selected portions of Scripture or the Spirit of Prophecy and restate the principles in simple sentences. This activity can teach both English and Bible, and help the individual student consider the values conveyed.
Literature is considered
"immortal" when it captures the human predicament--the agony and
ecstasy of being moral. Epic literature expresses the universal condition,
transcending contemporary or cultural limitations. Much of this Christians
understand to be the classicist's description of the sin problem. Of course,
Christian believe that the only solution to that sin problem is God's plan of
salvation, embodies in Jesus Christ. Whatever the plot line, or the character
style, or the societal scenario, the study of literature presents countless
example so the benefit of righteousness and the effects of sin. The literary
forms should be scrutinized in studying these external aspects, but teachers
must not neglect the deep and profound spiritual insights that are the essence
of integrating learning, faith, and practice in literature. Class discussions
of these spiritual lessons may have as much impact as the Bible class on some
students.
Two fundamental assumptions direct our discussion of ILFP in health and physical education: (1) Our bodies belong to God, and we are to glorify Him through proper care for our health; and (2) recreation in physical education should be "re-creation," making the student more capable of serving God as a result of his exposure to the health and physical education program of the school.
If the instructional program in this area fails to incorporate these ideals, counterproductive attitudes are likely to develop, with students glorifying their own skills. Being "number one" becomes their prime motivation not only in games but also in life.
Some general objectives for the health and physical education program in Christian schools envision that students should--
1. Plan and implement a life style that promotes the best possible health.
2. Enjoy wholesome physical pastimes that promote Christian fellowship rather than encourage divisive competition.
3. Gain a general knowledge of the rules and principles governing their particular recreational interests so that they can participate safely and beneficially.
4. Develop Christian attitudes about winning and losing.
5. Comprehend the Biblical basis for healthful living and be able to share these principles with others.
6. Understand the principles of health set forth in the inspired writings of Ellen G. White and compare this knowledge with contemporary scientific findings.
7. Gain a knowledge of the laws that govern their own well-being, and the scientific principles that support these laws, so that they will be capable of communicating this knowledge to others through various Christian outreach programs.
Some selected methods for achieving
the integration of learning faith, and practice in health and physical
education follow:
1. Feature physical activities that stress cooperation rather than competition. Continually stress that life is the dress rehearsal for heaven, where society is built on the principle of unselfish service to others.
2. Plan specific activities that will help students develop positive attitudes of unselfishness and service toward winning and losing. Activities could include the teacher's own modeling, prohibiting contention on the play site, guiding discussions in the purpose of health and physical education, and arranging correlated approaches to instruction with the Bible and English classes so the students can research various aspects of the subject.
3. Have each student develop a written physical fitness plan that involves activities both inside and outside the school, as well as ways for keeping physically fit after he has completed school.
4. Frequently remind students that maintaining optimum health enhances their ability to serve others and to communicate with God. Through example and illustration, the teacher should reinforce the Bible message that the body is God's temple (1 Cor. 3:16; 10:31; Rom, 6:12, 13).
5. Show how health principles in the Spirit of Prophecy have been supported by recent scientific studies. This activity can be planned jointly with the science and Bible classes. This might also include the scientific basis for the sanitation and dietary laws of Leviticus. These concepts could be related to the benefits Jewish people still receive from following these principles.
6. Show how drugs are often used to escape reality, and how the use of harmful substances not only hurts the user but also affects future children and society in general.
7. Study the effect of recreational excesses, including a discussion of food intake and physical activity, as well as the long-term effects of TV and the movies. Students should come to comprehend this great spiritual law: By beholding we become changed.
8. When students plan food for various social functions, help them to apply health and nutrition principles.
9. Study Christian sexuality in the context of God's plan for the family. Have students discuss what happens to many children who are born to mothers who are not yet physically or psychologically mature. When should families have children, and what should be the prerequisites to child bearing? The presentation of these topics could well be coordinated between heath, science, home economics, and youth problems classes.
10. Compare the benefits of preventive medicine with the treatment of symptoms after hey have developed. Show how preventive medicine is the Biblical plan. Discuss the importance of a systematic program of good nutrition, physical activity and sleep, and regular dental and physical checkups. Show how proper Sabbathkeeping can contribute to such a preventive program.
11. Provide Christian outreach activities as a laboratory exercise for health and physical education classes by releasing students to work with the pastor and/or health educator in healthful-living seminars, public efforts, drug-abuse presentations at public school assemblies, et cetera.
12. Emphasize back-to-nature recreational activities, involving students and teachers and, if possible, parents. Examples of such activities are backpacking, canoeing, wilderness survival, and camping. Gardening should not be overlooked, because of its recreational, instructional, and food-production value.
The classical descriptions
of education state that its chief pursuits are truth, wisdom, and beauty. The
last element, beauty, finds its expression through the arts and will always be
a required part of the school curriculum, for it addresses the aesthetic side
of man, a side that is in constant need of nourishment. Thus man's art reflects
his spiritual nature, for this artistic expression issues forth from his
spirit.
Because of the arts' inherent ability to communicate with man's spiritual nature, they have immense potential for either good or evil. Sensitive to this potential, the Christian teacher seeks to guide his students into a deep religious experience through the arts.
Within this context, objectives for the arts include that each student should--
1. Recognize the impact of art, music, and crafts on his emotional life and the development of his attitudes and values.
2. Develop a Christian criteria for selection and enjoyment of the arts, whether as a consumer or as a producer. Make appropriate use of the arts in formal and informal worship settings.
3. Become aware of his own natural endowments in this area and seek to develop them to the glory of God and the uplifting of mankind.
4. Comprehend and appreciate beauty everywhere.
5. Prize excellence in craftsmanship and artistic execution.
Some approaches to the
integration of learning, faith, and practice in this area could be as follows:
1. Give the student opportunities to critique art forms in terms of his statement about life. Have the student compose and apply his own Christian criteria in this exercise.
2. Have the students apply the psychological effects of art, music, and the media on people. Compare the music that is associated with many cults and spiritualistic relations with modern rock music, looking particularly at the music associated with voodoo and other heathen rites. (Several excellent books on this subject are available at Adventist Book Centers.)
3. Have students compare the message of Christian songs with the message found in other types of music. Help them see that sacred music glorifies man's relationship with God, while secular music often exalts man or suggests acts that are contrary to Christian morals.
4. Study the historical influence of religion on art and music.
5. Have students select projects to draw construct, or perform in accordance with the message that they wish to convey. Encourage them to use this art in a manner that will help bring others to Christ.
6. Have students listen to various musical selections and describe what they are feeling and what they are thinking about. Use these subjective dialogues as projective techniques to raise the students' own value systems to the conscious level, and to impress spiritual lessons.
7. Use and discuss the motion picture So Many Voices, available from the local conference youth department, to illustrate the effect of media manipulation.
8. While students are involved in art or craft activities, play background music that will be relaxing or that conveys a spiritual message.
9. Encourage students to give their arts-and-crafts creations to the elderly, the sick, shut-ins, or to parents as an expression of love and concern. Musical talents may be directed to the same goals. Focus artistic production on ministry.
To the SDA teacher, the
study of history is the study of the conflict between good and evil, Christ and
Satan, between love and selfishness. The proper study of history considers the
account that God keeps with peoples and nations. The foundational Christian
hypothesis states that God's principles, when honored, lead to happiness and
health, but when ignored, result in famine, cruelty, war, and death.
In a Christian school, history and social studies will help the student to--
1. Discern the outworking of God in human affairs, with particular focus on Bible prophecy.
2. Study the inexorable law of cause and effect--understanding that its applications are spiritual, as well as physical.
3. Experience vicarious participation in events, by developing a perspective that reaches far back into the past and forward into the future--even on to eternity--in order to gain true perspective on the present.
4. Gain skills in applying Biblical and historical insights to contemporary issues. (Christians study history not only to know the facts of their collective past [their roots] but, more important, to learn lessons from the past--most of which are spiritual.)
5. Apply Biblical, historical, cultural, anthropological, and sociological insights to the challenges of mission service.
Activities that have proved helpful to some teachers in integrating learning, faith, and practice in this area include:
1. Considering the influence of Jesus Christ on human history. Teachers should include Him as a monumental, historical fact and assist their students in evaluating the commercial textbooks, currently in use, that in their humanistic approach often ignore the historical impact of Christianity.
2. Showing how specific historical events fulfill Bible prophecy. Where has God intervened in a direct way to alter the course of human history--at Waterloo? at the Battle of Bull Run at Manassas, Virginia? at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania? in the expeditions of Alexander the Great? in Hitler's directives in World War II? (Some historians suggest that these directives made it difficult for his generals to win.)
Encourage your students to discern these possibilities. (The comprehensive bibliography at the end of this article provides some helpful teaching resources including more than 100 citations dealing with the Christian view of history.)
3. Assessing the motives of men and women who have influenced historical events--judged against Biblical criteria.
4. Researching into history to determine how the desire to discover God through His creation has motivated scientific and technological breakthroughs. Contrast this with technological breakthroughs that have resulted in war.
5. Identifying the geographic locations of mission programs and church institutions.
6. Studying what can be done in various geographic locations to help people live a more abundant life. For example, what food plants might grow in certain locations with the available fertilizer, climate, et cetera? This application of geography should deepen the students' consciousness of the practical needs of the mission field and intensify their concern for helping others.
7. Considering how cultural environment affects social mores and how morals relate to mores. Help students appreciate why people in other countries have different customs, and what implications these customs have for the communications of the gospel.
8. Studying the relationship of missions to colonialism and the reasons why people have associated Christianity with imperialism. Discus ways this might have been prevented, as well as methods for ending this association. Discus the issue of national versus foreign personnel in overseas church programs.
9. Discussing the reasons for locating our institutions in certain areas. For example, many institutions were located on mountains because in the lowlands disease could not be controlled. The mountainous locations led to water shortages later on as institutions grew. Have the students prepare a list of specifications for the land site of a new church or institution.
10. Studying how conditions during a given period in history affected the church at that time. Students could consider such groups as the Huguenots, the Jews, the Puritan Pilgrims, the Waldenses, and Reformation movements.
11. Contrasting Christian and non-Christian philosophies that have had an impact on history. Students could critique the final outworking of Nazi and Communistic view of man, society, and the role of governments. Of particular interest could be the influence of Rousseau on the French Revolution, and the philosophies of the Reformation leaders and the Enlightenment thinkers on the course of modern Western history.
In summary, Christian teachers should not limit the consideration of history to men, dates, battles, political campaigns, and economical and geographical factors, but should help their students comprehend the spiritual dimensions and the eternal significance of the human drama. A Christian concept of history requires that the teacher give attention, through his classes and assignments, to the lessons of history.
From a Christian viewpoint, all history is, in the final analysis, sacred history because it records the progress of a great spiritual conflict.
Why do Christian schools
teach Bible? To make possible the divine-human confrontation so God can speak
through His Word the good news of salvation to our students. Thus they will
come to understand that the loving Creator-Redeemer God has acted in behalf of
a lost race, and is providing supernatural power to bring man back into a
restored relationship with Himself. This is an intensely personal transaction
of confession and acceptance on the student's part. Bible teachers must
introduce their students to an all-powerful God who can be trusted.
Accordingly, Bible teachers endeavor to help the student to--
1. Learn to read the Bible with understanding.
2. Comprehend the nature and issues of the great controversy.
3. Learn to use his Bible to share his beliefs with others.
4. Make the transition from knowledge to belief to conversion to victorious Christian living.
5. Perceive Christianity in positive terms.
6. Develop habits of personal devotion that will nourish the student spiritually through out his life.
7. Communicate the joy of the gospel to others.
Obviously there are many other cogent objectives. Here are some methodologies others have found helpful in Bible instruction:
1. Teach the student to restate passages of Scripture in his own words.
2. Teach the student to apply passages of Scripture to modern life.
3. Reinforce numbers 1 and 2 through repetition. Have students practice restating passages of Scripture in their own words, or have them read a passage of Scripture, applying its lessons to today's life.
4. Dramatize Bible stories or use dramatized stories prepared by Your Story Hour or other sources. Often individuals will perceive the meaning of a lesson when the dramatized story expresses the emotions of the event in a way that cannot be understood in reading.
5. Ask open-ended questions in class, and allow students to freely express their beliefs. ("What do you think…?" "Could it be that…?") Beliefs are formulated through discussion. Never depreciate an expression of belief that does not agree with yours, but help students to compare their beliefs with the teaching of the Bible.
6. Have the student write modern parables that express the same ideas, concepts, or lessons as demonstrated in the parables of Christ.
7. Present situations that require the student to make a judgment about what he would do based upon the teachings of the Bible. This analogous practice (dilemma technique) in decision-making will encourage students, when confronted with similar types of situations, to transfer sound decision-making techniques to the new situation.
8. Organize the Bible class so as to provide for practice, a laboratory experience where students can given their Christian witness in a natural, uncontrived manner leading others into the study and understanding of God's Word and rendering selfless service and aid to the needy. This is faith in action. Bible teachers should schedule school time for this application of skills and for their students to discover the higher joy of this service.
9. Talk about faith. Confess faith; keep it preeminent in all Bible study and discussion. Encourage and positively reinforce any genuine and sincere expression of faith. Teachers must ever keep before their students their single objective of building faith in God. His Word, and His triumph over Satan--both in the world and in human lives.
10. Endeavor to make Bible class a pleasant time--full of Christian assurance. Be sensitive to the attendance of the Holy Watcher, and when He comes close, celebrate His presence with praise and prayer and joyful song. A heartfelt prayer in the middle or at the end of the class period, by several students, can have a tenfold impact over the usual perfunctory prayer at the beginning.
11. Ask the Lord to inspire in your heart a deep and profound love for His Word. Encourage students to pray for this special gift if they have not received it. Developing a love for God's Word is another aspect of faith--the same faith one ahs that God's Word will not fail but will do the work for which He sent it.
Sensitive and informed laymen in many churches are becoming vocal in their pronouncements on Christian education, charging Christian educators with professional deceit, something akin to liability under the truth-in-advertising laws, to wit: Modern Christian education is a subterfuge, primarily a secular salad with some religious salad dressing.
This is a serious indictment, perhaps too sweeping and harsh, most likely spoken by embittered parents who have become disillusioned with the total impact of a Christian school on their children and who feel that their sacrifice for Christian education has somehow been wasted.
Unfair as these indictments may appear, they force educators to ask whether religion is merely decorative at their school (and in their classes) or whether it is truly integral to the education provided.
Our critics are often our best and truest friends, for the dare hold the looking glass up to our face in an attempt to help us see ourselves as we appear to others. Every Christian teacher must decide whether the criticism that religion in most Christian schools is used merely as a cosmetic is justified, at least at his school and in his classes. If students are spending the best days of their young lives in class (140-180) hours a year just in one class!) under the influence of Christian teachers, with no results by way of changed lives for God, then something is terribly wrong.
Without the total commitment and deliberate planning of teachers, ILFP will probably not permeate the curriculum of most classes. For this integration to be truly effective, teachers must seek wisdom and assistance from the Lord. God will bless committed teachers as they respond affirmatively to His leading.
(Check with the local conference superintendent of education to obtain the curriculum "Frameworks" being developed by the General Conference Department of education through its North American Division Curriculum Committee. Each of these frameworks spells out goads, coverage, and recommended approaches for a subject area of the curriculum, with a strong ILFP emphasis.)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Akers, George H. The integration of Faith and Learning--Religious Education Bibliography No 4. Department of Education, Andrew University, Berrien Springs, Michigan. (In addition to a large general section, this comprehensive bibliography cites publications and teaching media in twenty academic subject areas. More that 3, 000 citations are included.) Available through the University Bookstore.
_____. "The Measure of a School." The Journal of Adventist Education, December, 1977-January, 1978, pp. 7-9, 43-45.
_____. "Teach the Word." (A compilation from the writings of Ellen G. White). The Journal of Adventist Education, February-March, 1978, pp. 4, 5.
Barbour, Ian G. Issues in Science and Religion. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1965.
Gaebelein, Frank E. The Pattern of God's Truth. Chicago: Moody Press, 1972.
Illich, Ivan. De-Schooling Society. New York: Harper & Row Publishers, Inc.,1971.
Moon, Robert D. "Application of instructional Principle to Religious Education." Mimeographed monograph. Department of Education, Andrew University, Berrien Springs, Michigan.
Phenix, Philip H. Education and the worship of God. Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1966.
_____. Realisms of Meaning. New York: Columbia University Press, 1952.
Schaeffer, Francis A. How Should We Then Live? Old Tappan, N.J." Fleming H. Revell Company, 1976.
Stuermann, Walter E. Logic and Faith. Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1952.
White, Ellen G. Country Living. Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1946.
_____. Education. Mountain View, CA: Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1952.
_____. Fundamentals of Christian Education. Nashville, TN: Southern Publishing Association, 1923.
_____. The Ministry of Healing. Mountain View, CA: Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1942.
_______________
‡ The authors" (Dr.
Akers and Dr. Moon) references to the "futurist" view of education
are not to be equated with the futurist view that has been applied to Bible
prophecy.
During the Counter-Reformation, Catholic theologians
developed two contrasting interpretations of Bible prophecy (particularly
dealing with those prophecies relating to the antichrist). One view, the
preterist view (set forth by Alcazar, a Spanish Jesuit), interpreted the
accounts of the antichrist as having been fulfilled in the past.
The other, and perhaps more prominent interpretation
of prophecy, is the futurist position developed by the Jesuits Ribera and
Bellarmine. This view, adopted by many protestants, such as Daniel Whitby,
projects the fulfillment of the antichrist prophecy to the future, in which an
individual, just before the Lord's return, will appear as the antichrist.
As
indicated earlier, the authors' reference to the futurist view of education are
not to be equate with the theological positions of Ribera and
Bellarmine.--Editors' note.
§ Bible texts credited to
T.E.V. are from the Good News Bible--Old
Testament: Copyright © American Bible Society, 1976: New Testament; Copyright ©
American Bible Society 1966, 1971, 1976.
In preparation for classes and for final examinations for this in-service unit teachers might find it helpful to prepares a list of specific attitudes they wish their graduates to have, and typical ways they may witness for Christ on and off their jobs.
[1]Philip H Phenix, Education and the worship of God (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1966), 7.
[2] Ellen G. White, Fundamentals of Christian Education (Nashville,
TN: Southern Publishing Association, 1923), 526-527.
[3] White, Ellen G. Country Living. Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1946), 10.
[4] Frank E. Gaebelein. The Pattern of God's Truth (Chicago:
Moody Press, 1972), 91.
[5] Barbour, Ian G. Issues in Science and Religion (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1965), 30.
[6] Murray Eden, "Heresy
in the Halls of Biology--Mathematicians Question Darwin," Scientific Research, November, 1967,
59-66. Cited in Francis A. Schaeffer, How
should we Then Live? (Old Tappan, N.J.: Fleming H. Revell company, 1976).
[7] Stuermann, Walter E. Logic and Faith. Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1952.
[8] Isaac Newton, Optics. 3rd ed. (London, 1721), 344.