Created By: John MorrisonKindergarten teacher, Kristi Pananas and student, Max Banta We are certainly all about teaching the fundamental content of our Christian faith and academic subjects to our students. But a Christian education is simply deficient if it does not go beyond focusing on mere content in influencing the formation of the child's basic assumptions about truth. Thus, we talk a great deal at GCS about teaching biblical worldview integration and critical thinking skills that help each child examine his or her basic assumptions about reality.Following, in the words of Kristi Pananas, one of our kindergarten teachers, is an example of how this can work in the classroom. Recently, during a kindergarten math lesson, I introduced patterns: red, yellow, red, yellow; smiley face, star, smiley face, star; ABAB, etc. We practiced a few different examples. And then, the neat stuff happened.A little girl raised her hand and asked "What does God think of patterns and does he like them?". Wow!I put my worksheet aside, sat down and knew that this discussion was more important than the "math" lesson. I asked the question back to the class..... And the following were some of the answers:The first little boy said , "We know God likes order so he must like patterns because patterns are in order." We had previously talked about how God is a God of order, not chaos. I thought, "They are getting it, they remember, this is important to them!!!"Hands were flying and everyone wanted to be part of the discussion.Another student added, "God ordered the days, he made all things...." We had talked about creation, and how our calendar was in order and what God thought of that.And another remembered, "God made animals with patterns." Patterns were related to camouflage and a way of protecting animals and God did that.We discussed how God made people with patterns: 2 eyes, 2 arms, boys/girls. How God doesn't make mistakes when he creates anything. How we are all created perfectly and in a special way and are made in His image (patterned after God). Mrs. Pananas and student, Ella Parker To answer the question about "does God like patterns?" everyone agreed that he does! He made rainbows, and they are patterns. He likes pretty things. He wants to enjoy patterns; they thought that God wanted us to like patterns, too. We talked about how God is creative and thinks of everything.A 20-minute math lesson turned into a 45 minute worldview lesson initiated by a child with a heart wondering about God. We were late for lunch...and no one cared, and kindergarteners always care about snack and lunch (and recess)!I was amazed and proud. We had been in school less than a month and the kiddos were using the questioning that they hear at school..."what does God think/feel about...?" These kiddos are 5 and 6 years old! I can only imagine what the rest of the year will be like. God is at work in the hearts and minds of these kindergarten students.The above is an example of taking learning from the level of rote (which is important) to the level of critical thinking with an emphasis on biblical worldview integration and experiencing learning as one of life's greatest joys. Indeed, this is our goal for our students at GCS: to stimulate their curiosity in investigating and discovering the beauty and wonder of God's creation and how it all ties together in one unified whole. And the stimulation of critical thinking is something, as demonstrated by these little ones, that can be cultivated from the earliest years all the way through high school! This is (or should be) one of the core dynamics of a truly Christian education!Thanks for sharing, Mrs. Pananas! And what she has shared is but one example of what is taking place daily throughout GCS!If you would like to respond to this blog, please email me at grace@gcswarriors.org.
