Scriptures Through Science

This is a short post with details on the lesson plan for this Sunday's LDS primary lesson. The explanations behind this plan are in my previous post . What you'll need to provide for the children: EITHER some small plastic bottles and some scissors OR some glass bottles part-filled with water A slinky A wine glass part-filled with water Here are the parts of the lesson: Begin with an opening prayer. Set the context around Joseph Smith and the Doctrine and Covenants. This week's lesson is set when Joseph and the early saints moved in 1831 to Kirkland, Ohio. Ask the children to read aloud D&C 42: 4-6. Each child could read out one colour from the highlighted excerpt below. Discuss what this means, in particular the purple section about lifting voices like a trump. Say we'll now talk about how a trumpet works. (See  previous post  for additional details.) A trumpet is an instrument which takes your voice (or more technically, vibrations in the air caused by blowing out

In my earlier post , I talked about how I'd started brainstorming for possible science connections which I could use to teach the next Come Follow Me Primary lesson , on D&C 41-44 . I've now decided to opt for the idea around trumpets. I noticed that the word "trump" came up twice during this section: D&C 42: 6 And ye shall go forth in the power of my Spirit, preaching my gospel, two by two, in my name, lifting up your voices as with the sound of a trump , declaring my word like unto angels of God. D&C 43: 18 For the day cometh that the Lord shall utter his voice out of heaven; the heavens shall shake and the earth shall tremble, and the trump of God shall sound both long and loud, and shall say to the sleeping nations: Ye saints arise and live; ye sinners stay and sleep until I shall call again. The way that brass instruments like trumpets create sound is really interesting. (Disclaimer - this is my best attempt at providing a simple explanation, but thi

This is the second in a series on how I prepare LDS primary lessons using scientific principles. The first part, which talked about finding the initial science inspirations, can be found here . This part will continue by discussing how to take that initial set of ideas and mould them into a lesson plan. From theory to application Whilst I've found that primary age kids are receptive to new science ideas, it really helps if there's a practical element I can use to demonstrate them, and even better if it's something interactive that they can do themselves. The next task is to figure out which of my initial ideas lends themselves to easy demonstration. This involves another round of brainstorming and research, and searching online for kid-friendly resources (such as videos or experiments) related to the topic I have in mind. Earlier this year, I taught a lesson based on D&C 20:72-74 about baptism and receiving the holy ghost. To draw an analogy, we talked about baby sea t

My next lesson will be from this chapter of the Come Follow Me manual, which talks about D&C 41-44. I've read through the references and the manual chapter, and have started working up some ideas on how to teach. (If you're not familiar with how I approach planning lessons, this post provides some details .) The core of D&C 41-44 is about revelations given to Joseph Smith during his early days in Kirkland, Ohio, in February 1831. Chapter 41 is fairly short, and covers a decree regarding where Joseph will be housed. Chapter 42 is the longest. It starts by calling upon the brethren to go and teach, and also touches upon a reminder of the Commandments (twice), and what will later become the Law of Consecration , where Joseph exhorts his followers to pool their property in the name of the church in order to share more equitably amongst everyone. It also touches upon the idea of receiving personal revelation.  Chapter 43 deals with the issue of false teachings, and makes cl

Before I begin any discussion about how I prep for and teach lessons, I'd like to proffer a significant caveat - I am not an expert at teaching LDS primary classes, nor am I particularly good at it.  Fortunately it seems that I'm not alone in this. President Henry B. Eyring acknowledges in this talk in 2002 that many people who receive callings may feel overwhelmed, when he says  "You will feel at some time, perhaps at many times, that you cannot do all you feel you must". This rings true certainly with my first year or so, when I felt that I was completely unsuited for this calling and that there must have been some mistake. He offers some solace in adding that "All He asks is that you give your best effort and your whole heart." All I can offer is my experience of teaching LDS Primary classes (mainly 8-11 year olds) for the past 3 years, in which I've put in my best efforts and my whole heart to grappling with how to teach a subject matter that I'

This week's Primary lesson from the Come Follow Me (CFM) manual was from the section on Doctrine & Covenants 30-36 , entitled "You are called to preach my gospel". As with the CFM lesson plan, I opted to focus on D&C 33 , in which Joseph Smith revealed one of a series of revelations in New York in 1830.  I begin each lesson with a quick reminder of who Joseph Smith is and what the D&C represents, and today I provided some background on how small the church was back in 1830 (as Joseph had only recently started the church the year before), and showed these two images: Joseph preaching to his small congregation ( link to LDS site ). A log cabin similar to the one he taught in ( link to Wikipedia ). In our previous lesson, another teacher, Brother A, had a nice idea of demonstrating the principle of spreading the gospel. He showed a series of Lego Star Wars figures each taking it in turn to talk to each other, and eventually they spread word to a large group of pe

Welcome to "Scriptures through Science". This is a site where I'll post my thoughts and plans for teaching LDS lessons from the Come Follow Me primary manual to my children. The CFM manual focuses on teaching LDS scriptures and gospel principles, and my lessons look to do this through a scientific perspective. The aims of this site are to: Describe my attempts to teach kids about gospel principles and scriptures, using science as a way to engage them. Provide teachers (which can be other primary teachers or parents) with free resources to teach these lessons. Disclaimer This site is not officially affilliated with, sponsored by or endorsed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, nor does this site represent any official views of the CJCLDS. All views expressed here are entirely my own (unless explicitly stated otherwise). About Me I'm Bobby, and I'm a dad of three primary-aged kids (nicknamed A1, A2 and A3, who are aged 8, 6 and 3 respectively), and a