Integration of faith and learning in my faculty role takes on a different form every semester and in every course that I teach, not to mention in the relationships that I have with my undergraduate research students.\u00a0 This is a tricky aspect of teaching for me because I want the integration to be authentic and not be contrived just for the sake of integrating faith. I have tried a few different approaches which I will now explain.<\/p>\n
Integration of faith and learning in BIOL 101: Human Perspectives in Biology is the easiest for me of all of my courses.\u00a0 In this class we discuss Darwin’s Theory of Evolution and what it means to be a Christian and a Scientist and the evidences supporting it. \u00a0The students always desperately want to know what I think about the subject. In the fall of 2015, I remember telling my students that there are Christians who accept evolution, as I saw one of my students become very pale. I asked if she was okay and she said, “Yes. You are just blowing my mind right now. I have never heard this before.” We also discuss global stewardship and resources and what that might mean for Christians. One semester as I was explaining the biology of food allergies, I drifted off of topic and talked about faith in God and raising a child with multiple life-threatening food allergies.\u00a0 The students respond well to all of these conversations – even if they do not agree with my conclusions!<\/p>\n
The new course assessment tool, IDEA-CL, includes the question, “What specific actions and attitudes did you notice from your instructor that demonstrated his\/her Christ-like character and conduct?” These are some of the statements that I am proud to have received from the students in this course:<\/p>\n
This semester in BIOL101, I am asking a set of\u00a0simple questions every week that I have not asked in previous semesters. These questions are in response to the biology-related current events presentations that a group of students gives weekly. These questions are\u00a0“How should\u00a0we as Christians\u00a0think about this topic? How should we think about this topic differently than Christians have in the past?” I decided to implement these questions before fully thinking through the implications of this – some current events do not lend themselves to deep, meaningful faith conversations. The first current event presentation was about a Hepatitis A outbreak due to contaminated strawberries. \u00a0I almost scrapped the exercise, but did not. Some of the students responses to these questions were nice and predictable like, “pray for the people affected” and “raise money for vaccines for people in third world countries”. The next response surprised me and convinced me that almost any current event could have a faith aspect. The students started talking about how vaccinating themselves was a very Christian thing to do because it protects other people who are vulnerable to the disease. It was a fascinating and encouraging discussion.<\/p>\n
Faith integration in BIOL 355: Microbiology is somewhat\u00a0similar to the evolution topics in\u00a0BIOL 101. Microbial phylogenies and talking about LUCA (last universal common ancestor) lends itself to these conversations. For this group of science majors of juniors and seniors, I ask them what they think\u00a0about evolution and faith and how their viewpoints have changed since arriving at ACU. Their answers are thoughtful and bold. Nearly all of them report that they now have a better understanding of evolution and a better understanding of faith. They attribute the change to the guidance of the professors in the Biology Department. I also have moved this section from the thirteenth week of class\u00a0to the second week. I believe this helps to set up an atmosphere and an expectation of faith-science conversations throughout the semester. When asked the same question,\u00a0“What specific actions and attitudes did you notice from your instructor that demonstrated his\/her Christ-like character and conduct?”, microbiology students responded this way:<\/p>\n
In BIOL 491: Human Anatomy, I tried an integration of faith and learning activity that spanned each of the fall and spring semesters.\u00a0 The question that the students were to answer was “How will I be different from my non-Christian colleagues (who are also good people)?” The students were to answer this in view of their career plans.\u00a0 Since most of them want to be medical doctors, I prodded them by asking them if Christians should drive BMWs, treat patients who cannot pay, etc.\u00a0 The first semester was a success.\u00a0 This class was composed of 16 students from very diverse backgrounds. Several of them shared with the class how they came to ACU to play sports but became Christians in the process, how their faith has changed their lives, and how they could minister people in specific ways through their profession. Incredible stories.\u00a0 Others shared stories of how they would mimic the Christian doctors they shadowed that did surgeries for free and paid the hospital bills out of their own pockets.\u00a0 Beautiful stories. The second semester was a flop. This class had 32 students enrolled.\u00a0 Most of them said that they would be different from their colleagues by praying with their patients and listening to the patients to show that they cared and that God cared. That is fine, but I was looking for more substance.\u00a0 I was looking for the students to take ownership of the assignment as the students in the previous semester had. I used the same prompts and prods, but it did not materialize like I hoped it would. I believe that the assignment failed the second semester because of the class size. The 16 students felt very comfortable with one another. They were in lab together, and most of them had the same major. However, I sensed some apprehension about the assignment in the class of 32 and an unwillingness to open up to one another. The 32 students did not know each other as well as the 16 did. The semester with 16 students was also the semester where my teaching assistant was hospitalized (due to a suicide attempt<\/a> that some of the students probably knew about). We spent a great deal of time praying for her as a class.<\/p>\n During that same semester with the 16 students and the successful faith integration assignment, one student emailed me and said, “Its been crazy encouraging this semester to see how you always start the day off with God and how our faith will integrate into our careers. I truly thank God for using you to create a atmosphere where we can talk about our faith and in doing so be challenged by the revelations that God has been giving us as we ponder about things we never considered. Words can’t express the long lasting impact\/influence what your doing is going to have on us for the rest of our lives.”<\/p>\n In other semesters of Human\u00a0Anatomy students have responded a little differently than students in my other courses did to the question,”What specific actions and attitudes did you notice from your instructor that demonstrated his\/her Christ-like character and conduct?” They said:<\/p>\n The next idea that I am going to implement soon to replace the previous activity is to assign a reflection based on a Biblical text that uses human anatomy as the focus. The students will write a short summary of the analogy of human anatomy and what the text says about God. I am excited to hear what the students come up with.<\/p>\n I also try to integrate faith and learning in my conversations with my undergraduate research students. Since I get to know the students better and travel with them, I ask about their faith backgrounds and what they think of certain spiritual topics that I have heard students discussing or things I have been wondering about. My students are in different places. Mostly, they call themselves Christians, but their dedication is varied.\u00a0 I hope that through my relationship with them they will draw closer to God.<\/p>\n Next: Reflections on Individual Courses and Student Opinion of Instructor Surveys<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Integration of faith and learning in my faculty role takes on a different form every semester and in every course that I teach, not to mention in the relationships that I have with my undergraduate research students.\u00a0 This is a … Continue reading \n
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