Idea Workup - OT - 1 Samuel

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't done a practical arts and crafts style lesson in a while, but the paper rollercoaster idea provides a nice opportunity to do so this week. This activity resonated with me for this week because there's an alluring parallel between potential energy in physics and our spiritual potential (which you could see as defining what we can do with the faith that we have). In the physics world, potential energy can be transformed into kinetic energy (i.e. it can be used to do productive work), but you can also lose it to heat energy (which is unproductive, unless you're trying to build a heating system). Similarly, in the spiritual world, we can use our faith and spiritual potential to move us closer to Heavenly Father, or we can let it ebb away.

Slight side track - in the main story which we'll get onto below, David uses a sling, which is a bit different to the elastic slingshot that I envisaged. (This Quora article explains the difference between the two.) The sling builds up rotational / angular kinetic energy, whilst the slingshot builds up elastic potential energy. Rotational energy can be very powerful, and is a reason why deep space missions are launched from French Guiana near the equator, since the Earth's rotational velocity is faster there and helps give the outbound spacecraft an extra push. Anyway... 

Here's how I see the lesson panning out. We'd begin by telling the story of Samuel, the prophet in this book who plays a key role in selecting and initially guiding two Kings of Israel, Saul and David. Saul does well initially but then deviates from Heavenly Father's commandments, and so Heavenly Father puts his lot behind David to eventually replace Saul. However, just when David has been uncovered, the Philistines attack the Israelites. In 1 Samuel 17 they send their strongest warrior, Goliath, who's like the Old Testament version of the Hulk:

4 ... whose height was six cubits and a span.

5 And he had an helmet of brass upon his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail; and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of brass.

6 And he had greaves of brass upon his legs, and a target of brass between his shoulders.

7 And the staff of his spear was like a weaver’s beam; and his spear’s head weighed six hundred shekels of iron: and one bearing a shield went before him.

Goliath challenges the Israelites to a winner-take-all one on one. The Israelites are too frightened to take up the challenge, but David comes along. Cherub-faced, he tells of the time he had to fight off a lion and a bear:

34 And David said unto Saul, Thy servant kept his father’s sheep, and there came a lion, and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock:

35 And I went out after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth: and when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and smote him, and slew him.

36 Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear: and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God.

37 David said moreover, The Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine. And Saul said unto David, Go, and the Lord be with thee.

This seems to be enough to let Saul permit David to accept Goliath's challenge, which he goes on to win against seemingly overwhelming odds, armed with a slingshot and a few stones. 

A stone can do a lot, and the rollercoaster idea will demonstrate that. The idea is that we make a simple rollercoaster where a marble start up high, with lots of potential energy. It rolls down the slope, then goes back up a hill, before cresting it and going back down again. We will try and design it so that at the peak of the hill, the marble has to pass through the head of a large man printed on card, to denote the marble hitting Goliath. 

The idea is that the marble's potential energy is converted into kinetic energy which can do a lot. It can take the marble back up the hill, and it can hit someone in the head. Similarly, David's spiritual potential energy is clearly high at the start. He has tremendous faith that he can do this with the Lord's help. This spiritual potential is converted into a resounding result as he brings Goliath down.

To make this feasible in the time allowed, we'll need to do some prep in advance. The paper rollercoaster tutorial takes approx 45 mins to 1 hour, and we'll have half of that time. It calls for various templates to be prepared, involving cutting paper strips to form segmented rails, and we'll need to mark out the templates up-front, making sure that there are enough for the kids in the class. If we have child safe scissors to hand, then the children can cut up the strips themselves. 

Image of paper rollercoaster from Science Buddies site.

We'll need to provide card (to build the rollercoasters on), paper, safety scissors, marbles and sellotape, lots of tape. I can see this lesson using a good few rolls in the persuit of the perfect rollercoaster. 

Once we've built the central rollercoaster where the ball hits the Goliath, I'm inclined to let the kids continue to make their own creations which they can take home with them. Maybe they could take some of the scriptures of the battle and tape them onto the side or the bottom card:

49 And David put his hand in his bag, and took thence a stone, and slang it, and smote the Philistine in his forehead, that the stone sunk into his forehead; and he fell upon his face to the earth.

50 So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and smote the Philistine, and slew him; but there was no sword in the hand of David.

(We'll delicately skip over the part where David decapitates Goliath immediately afterwards...)

Any feedback is always welcome, either in the comments below or on the Twitter thread.

Using a rollercoaster theme this week. Photo by Matt Bowden on Unsplash