In my search of information on Private school science content, I found that the amount of information is extensive from charter schools to catholic schools. I decided to narrow the school selection down to specifically Catholic elementary school science content. Now, it goes to say that with every school, there is going to be differentiation in the types of materials and philosophies they chose to follow. The science curriculum, however, was very similar for the most part in a majority of the Catholic schools.
I may be bias when it comes to Catholic schooling because that is what I grew up knowing, but I will take this as objectively as possible. Catholic schools follow their own curriculum based on the Diocese or Archdiocese in that area. A Diocese is the district that is run by a bishop and is divided into parishes. An Archdiocese is more significant and is run by an archbishop of importance. Like Montessori schools, you pay tuition to attend a Catholic school and a lot of times have to go through an admission process. The main focus of Catholic schooling is to incorporate the Catholic faith in the lives of their students and in every subject that is taught. What do faith and science have anything to do with each other you might ask? Well, that is where I come in…
The Catholic schools believe that “the goal of the Science curriculum is to enable students to have a basic scientific understanding of the natural world and its processes to guide their decisions through life. As Christians, we have a responsibility to be the caretakers of God's world, and Science supplies the tools and understandings to enable us to do that.” That was taken straight from the science curriculum of St. Austin’s Elementary school. Every Diocese has approximately the same idea on how science should be integrated into school and subjects like science. “The science teachers are responsible for developing students’ confidence in their ability to understand how things work according to natural principles and how this relates to Church teachings.” (from this link). Instilling faith in each subject is a way for students to unite all their schooling together. I see this as a huge benefit for students in learning. I know that science and faith have their drastic differences, but by being able to combine the two, students can get an even better grasp. A downside can be for those students that don’t have faith and by combining the two it can be detrimental to the students learning. It can be confusing for students to comprehend the differences in the Creation story and the proof of evolution. It isn’t a perfect method, but then again, what is?
I appreciated you including this as a post. I really liked when you said by combining science and faith, you allow for students to get a better grasp for both science and faith. I personally, as I have expressed before, see a huge benefit in learning everything through the context of what you believe. I also agree that it can be confusing for students who believe something different than what is being taught in the school.
ReplyDeleteI tried to make this as unbiased as possible, but it was SO hard because I think that this is the best idea for students! It was hard to not allow for this school to win. But, based on facts alone, I had to be realistic. :( My kids will go to Catholic schools for sure :)
ReplyDeleteI plan on teaching in public schools. I'm all for teaching a comparative religions class, but I firmly believe that religious myth should be kept out of the science class. I guess that is why people set up parochial schools!
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