Scriptures Through Science

Last weekend I taught a class on David and Goliath from 1 Samuel. We talked about how potential energy gets converted into usable energy, and we tried to couple potential energy from a raised marble to do something interesting with the help of a paper rollercoaster.  We started off trying to make a loop-the-loop, which I was able to get working with my kids the evening before. However the supplies I had in the class included stiff card, which turned out not to be well suited for this, since the rollercoaster only works if it's smooth, whereas the card was prone to having sharp bends and kinks in it. We quickly readjusted the plan to make a simpler rollercoaster with a dip and a raise, with the raised part passing through the head of this picture of Hulk Goliath .  The initial version didn't work because the starting point of the marble wasn't high enough. However, the kids had been inspired by singing "Scripture Power" during singing time earlier, and we put th

A week ago I taught a primary lesson on the story of Ruth , which involved some unusual culinary treats for the kids. One of them involved having the kids taste some sliced baguette bread dipped in balsamic vinegar, which split the crowd, with half the kids enjoying it and one or two spitting it out into the wastepaper bin that I luckily had to hand.  Making sherbet was a hit though, and the kids had a blast with this. I had a couple of helpers for this class, and we made a bunch of makeshift paper bowls before the lesson started. (I tried following the instructions here but then gave up and just made one up.) Each kid was given an aliquot of sherbet in their own paper bowl, which they could dip into as they pleased. Two unanticipated side effects (which were painfully obvious in hindsight) were (a) getting icing sugar over their Sunday best (oops), and (b) having a bunch of hyper kids exit the class (double oops).  Using sugar in the sherbet experiment made for some slightly hyperact

   This post follows on from the previous few posts where: I reviewed the scriptures for this week's Come Follow Me Primary lesson. ( link ) I then brainstormed various science themes that could link to the scriptures. ( link ) Yesterday I worked up one of those themes into a potential lesson plan. ( link ) In this post, I'll provide a concise lesson plan for teachers to use if they find this useful. The first part of this post (in green) is an overview of the lesson aims, and the second part (in yellow) is the actual lesson plan that you can use.  Overview What's the lesson about? In the Book of Samuel. the Israelites are threatened by the Philistines, who challenge them to a winner-takes-all duel with their champion Goliath. The young shepherd boy David steps up, and against the odds, wins. What's the spiritual theme? If you have a strong faith, you can acheive difficult things.  What's the science topic? Potential energy can be used to do useful work. We'll l

In my last post, I discussed some ideas for teaching 1 Samuel . In this post, I'll work up some of these ideas into a potential lesson plan.  Sometimes I get weeks where I toil for ages to find the right angle to teach a lesson from. Last week's lesson was a good example of this, where I really struggled to figure out a theme and a link that I could use. Other times, the right idea just hits you, and this feels like one of those weeks. There's a lot of material in 1 Samuel that could be used for a lesson, and it would be nice to devote more weeks to it. However the David and Goliath story is the dominant story here, and when you're working with young children, then you simply have to teach it. It's the archetype underdog story, which illustrates how the seemingly impossible can be made possible with faith. We want to pass on stories that will inspire the children and give them believe that they can similarly have confidence in themselves and aim high. We haven'

In my last post , I reviewed the scriptures for this week's Primary lesson from 1 Samuel. In this post, I've jotted down some ideas that came to mind about how I could approach teaching this lesson.  In 1 Samuel 9, Saul covered a lot of ground looking for the asses, crossing over half of the Promised Land! This post on iStudyEBS has a map showing the approximate area being covered, along with an interesting justification for the size of the search area. Their idea is that Saul had to cover a large area in order to be in the right place at the right time when Samuel was looking for a potential king for the Israelites. There could be an interesting geography lesson about the areas covered. The BibleProject summary video of 1 Samuel makes a really interesting observation that the book charts a trajectory for Saul and David, which starts off with their humble beginnings, then rises to a peak where they have Heavenly Father's favour and everything's going right, but then t

This weekend's Primary lesson is on 1 Samuel. Last week's lesson also covered the first part of 1 Samuel, however this lesson goes on to look at the rest of the book. We left off in last week's lesson  with Samuel being born of Hannah, who thought she was infertile and was granted a child by Heavenly Father. Samuel goes to care for the priest Eli, but hears Heavenly Father calling him during the night, and goes on to be recognised as a Prophet. The Come Follow Me Primary manual's section for this week covers 1 Samuel: 8-10, 13 and 15-18.  When I start reading scriptures, the BibleProject is my first port of call. Their overview videos are brillianty constructed, and they summarise the whole book in just 7 minutes through illustrations. Their YouTube video of 1 Samuel is no exception, and it highlights several points about the structure and themes of the book that I would have otherwise missed. Screenshot of the BibleProject's summary video of 1 Samuel . At just 7