teachers, how do you handle teaching evolution to religious students?

[girlbossbioteacher99]

I'm a science teacher at a secondary school and after half term I come onto evolution with my year 10s. There is a boy in my class who's an evangelical Christian and his family are also very devout. Although it has never come up I have a strong suspicion he might of the view that Genesis is literal. He's a lovely lad and hasn't ever had any behavioral problems but I want to be sensitive and go about this the right way. Do any teachers have any experience of this sort of situation, what should I do to broach this?

To be clear I'm an NQT (newly qualified teacher) and so perhaps i'm a little bit overzealous to get things right

You still need to teach what is on the exam board spec for your subject. You may if you wish make an acknowledgment that not everyone believes in the theory of evolution but if you go much further than that you are failing the rest of the class.

You teach the science, religion belongs in religious studies. That simple really.

But would you acknowledge that some people think the world is flat or only 6000 years old? Of course not, just stick to the science.

thanks for the responses so far! I probably won't reply individually but a big thanks for the advice. I will read them all.

Surely it's the same as any student taking an RS exam and writing about religions or beliefs that they don't have?

I'm a religious studies teacher so I do obviously have different angle to this topic but I teach a unit about whether there is a conflict between religion and science so have experience with teaching (very basic!) ideas of evolution. I always say 'some people believe in creationism / evolution / whatever and some people do not. People that do believe in it, believe that....'. This is much easier to do in religious studies, obviously, but it does make the religious students feel like their belief is valid even if not everyone else believes it. I also say that science is a 'theory' about how the universe began, why humans are as we are, etc. Not sure if you’re actually allowed to say that in Science lessons though.

I would may it clear that everyone has different beliefs about how the world was created and this is one theory…!

But you say yourself you don't even know if that's what he believes? So don't invent a problem which might not exist.

I'm a teacher, in southern Italy. We do dinosaurs and condoms and everything

This child is year 10, it won't be the first time he's come across scientific fact.

You just make it clear that the exam board does not require anyone to believe in the theory of evolution.

They simply require students to understand it

You teach it the same way you would teach it to anyone else.
If he or his parents wish to withdraw him from that part of the syllabus then they’ll need to explore if that’s possible.

I am a biology teacher. My previous research was in the area of genetics and evolution.

people who say they ‘believe’ in evolution don’t really understand what they are talking about.

I don’t ‘believe’ in evolution any more than I ‘believe’ in history. Some ideas about it are likely right. Some are likely wrong. Some we will never know.

saying you ‘believe ‘ in evolution is blind faith, just as much as people who say they ‘don’t believe’ in evolution

You teach it same as normal. If religion is brought up and you really want to go there, you point out that the creation story follows the theory of evolution. First there was nothing, then there was light and dark, then water and land, then life in the water, then life on the land and eventually humans.

thankyou. I suspect what I will do is start the first lesson with a lowkey 'i understand not everyone believes this but you need to know it for your exam'. signing off now but thanks everyone for your advice and I will read all the further messages posed later.

Please don’t go down this is just one theory that some people believe. A theory in science is very different to a theory in everyday life.

Scientist spot an observation
they make a generalisation about it - this is called a law (which might not always apply) think Hooke’s law
then someone comes up with a why this might happen - a hypothesis - and make predictions.
once there is evidence then it gains the title of theory. It is the highest status is science, an explanation of what and why.

When in everyday life it just means someone ideas.

Theories can change or be superceeded (Gravity from Newton to Einstein) but that doesn’t mean they are conjecture. They have a strong evidence base and scientific support.

Nothing in Biology Makes Sense Except in the Light of Evolution Theodosius Dobzhansky

Teach it as you would any other topic. All your students deserve this.

What you don't do is equate religious belief with scientific knowledge acquired through observation, research, testing and peer review.

Evolution is the scientific explanation. If a student does, at one point, raise their hand and say they believe differently, let them talk. Listen. Acknowledge.

But don't agree that evolution is 'just a theory' like creationism is 'just a theory'. That's incorrect, and as a scientist you know that.

Agree with above. Evolution isn't 'a theory', it is backed up by scientific fact, to not explain this is doing your students a disservice.

Give them the science, if that makes them question their own faith then you have done your job, as science should make people question, make people think.

They may still believe in faith over this, but at least give them all the facts to make an informed decision. They may have never been taught about evolution before and this could be a real eye opener for them.

no it isn’t ‘backed up by scientific fact’ any more than history or geography is. Nor is it ONE theory, it’s many, some of which contradict each other. ‘Evolution’ is a modern religion. Faith in evolution is just that, faith. It isn’t one thing that’s right or wrong. It’s thousands of things, many are wrong. It’s only people who are committed to blind faith in ‘evolution’ that speak like you are speaking

I was very fortunate to be mentored by a very devout Muslim Biology teacher.

She fully believes in evolution but believes it was God’s work.

You can say to them you don’t have to believe this is what happened but you need to learn and understand it for your exams - just like you would when learning about different religions in RE or different countries and cultures in Geography.
When you learn about Shakespeare or whoever in English you know it’s not real but you still need to learn it for your exams.

I always believe that you don’t need to choose between science and religion.

Of course lots of things in the bible is contradictory to evolution (the earth is a few thousand years old vs it’s millions of years old).

My teacher at uni would say religion has its place just as much as science but when you’re learning about science you need to leave your religion at the door, just like you should leave your science at the door before you go into church.

Since 2014 evolution has been on the UK primary curriculum so I shouldn't worry about a Year 10 being in any way shocked by it.
Surely you know that OP?

Hi all,

We are closing this thread now as the OP is no longer on the site.

Respectfully, I think you may have stereotyped this boy without waiting to get to know him or his actual beliefs. There are plenty of devout evangelical Christians who understand evolutionary science and still hold their devout Christian beliefs- not every Christian is the same. If he holds a literal interpretation of Genesis 1, then either: He will tell you, and you may end up having an interesting discussion in your class, or: He will not tell you, will learn what he has to for his exam, and keep his beliefs to himself.