Teaching math and science in line with the truths of Scripture.
I am one who believes that the entire universe belongs to God. After all, He is the Creator and Sustainer of all things. As a science and math teacher, here at Grace, I have the privilege of teaching these subjects in line with the truths of Scripture. Each day, these truths are evident and displayed in many and different ways. While connecting subject matter to a biblical worldview is sometimes challenging, especially in math, one can always find a connection.
As I discuss with families at the annual Parent Night, within our Worldview discussions, we also talk about creation, fall, and redemption. How did God design the different aspects of His creation and intend for them to be? How did man’s sin change God’s design? And, what role does redemption play in our current discussion? This last question is answered well in our Physical Science textbook. At the beginning of each chapter, we encounter what is called a “Dominion Science Problem.” These “problems” encourage students to think about our role in the redemptive process.
In science, we have recently been dealing with the genetics, earthquakes, and energy. As we study and discuss the genetics of organisms, how can we not be led to the words of Psalm 139: 13-14? “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.” God’s wisdom, power, and creativity are on display in all of His creation.
As we learn about earthquakes, we can’t help but reflect on the consequences of man’s sin and how it has resulted in a now broken world. Yet we can’t stop there. We now have a responsibility to do our part to fix what is broken. What can we do when a natural disaster, such as an earthquake occurs?
A science textbook that I used at one of my previous schools suggested that the non-renewable energy sources that we have available today will only last another 50-200 years. If this is the case, what can we as Christians do? This leads to some excellent discussions of energy conservation and alternative sources of energy.
In one of my math classes, we recently finished a unit on direct and inverse proportions. We had some good discussion regarding how to apply a biblical worldview to this concept. We decided that the idea of a constant, in these types of equations, reminds us that God remains constant and unchanging. Even though things are always changing in the world around us, we can rest assured that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8). We also connected the concept of inverse proportions to the words of John 3:30: “He must increase, but I must decrease.” We ended this unit by doing a project that involved the making of scale models of the temple, tabernacle, the ark, the regions of land that God gave to the people of Israel in Canaan, and the New Jerusalem in the book of Revelation.
As I interact with students each day, it is my goal that they will either hear or see some aspect of what God has done, and is doing, for them and what their response should be based on the Creation Mandate (Gen. 1:28).
by James Timmermans
