Les+Heatherton

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**Focus:** What is my focus for action? What do I hope to learn and develop in relation to the contemporary learner and learning? ======  BACKGROUND: Some questions. A question asked of some teachers: How can you teach RE and science? How do we speak of heaven and earth? How did the Fourth century scientists and theologians speak of heaven and earth? What analogy for God was used? How does science speak about the Universe today? How can we speak of the wisdom continuously bringing forth the unfurling of Creation since the Big Bang? How can we speak of the wisdom holding creation?
 * THE NICENE CREED AND THE NEW COSMOLOGY **
 * Steps: **** What are some steps that I have (or plan) to take to enable this? **

 When the year 9s spent time on WHAT CATHOLICS BELIEVE, I thought this could be an opportunity to reflect of the disciplines of Science and Theology and to explore the science of the Big Bang and the wonder of Creation. During the course of the lessons by the classroom teachers a science teacher introduced students to the immensity of the space and its story since the Big Bangs. I followed this by reflecting on the way Science operates: probes, asks how it works, measures, classifies, hypothesises and tests. While religious thinking reflects, asks what does it mean and uses many literary forms to expresses understandings based on known facts.  The complementarity of the disciplines is summarised by: “Science without religion is lame. Religion without science is blind.” Albert Einstein.  I made use of scientific films to explore the Big Bang.  A highlighted statement by a scientist working on the Large hadron Collider Project was: “The Universe came out of nothing. It was nowhere. Because before it There was no time nor space. There was truly truly truly nothing. Not even a place where it happened. Not even a time when it happened. Some how out of this nothing came everything” <span style="font-family: "Gill Sans"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Gill Sans"; mso-bidi-font-size: 32.0pt;"> <span style="font-family: "Gill Sans"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Gill Sans"; mso-bidi-font-size: 50.0pt;"> <span style="font-family: "Gill Sans"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Gill Sans"; mso-bidi-font-size: 50.0pt;">I used the short film, **THE AWAKENING UNIVERSE by Neil Rodin** to express the scientific story. It offered a reflection by Brian Swimme, a mathematician and religious thinker. He spoke about the earliest moments when the timing was crucial for either an unfurling or a collapse. He finishes with: <span style="font-family: "Gill Sans"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Gill Sans"; mso-bidi-font-size: 72.0pt;">“What it suggests is that there is a profound wisdom at work in the Universe.” <span style="font-family: "Gill Sans"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Gill Sans"; mso-bidi-font-size: 72.0pt;"> <span style="font-family: "Gill Sans"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Gill Sans"; mso-bidi-font-size: 72.0pt;">I explored images of the Wisdom we call God using the following leads: <span style="font-family: "Gill Sans"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Gill Sans"; mso-bidi-font-size: 50.0pt;"> <span style="font-family: "Gill Sans"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Gill Sans"; mso-bidi-font-size: 32.0pt;">He listens to a string of notes in his head. He then writes down the developments of the small beginning tune. This then becomes a massive project involving many, many participants and trial and error. <span style="font-family: "Gill Sans"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Gill Sans"; mso-bidi-font-size: 32.0pt;"> <span style="font-family: "Gill Sans"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Gill Sans"; mso-bidi-font-size: 32.0pt;">He draws in various players to contribute to the great work. <span style="font-family: "Gill Sans"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Gill Sans"; mso-bidi-font-size: 32.0pt;">When it is the right moment, the musician plays his tune. <span style="font-family: "Gill Sans"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Gill Sans"; mso-bidi-font-size: 32.0pt;"> <span style="font-family: "Gill Sans"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Gill Sans"; mso-bidi-font-size: 32.0pt;">He and the Band then improvise, that is, they develop creative runs of melody again and again. <span style="font-family: "Gill Sans"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Gill Sans"; mso-bidi-font-size: 32.0pt;">Some creations are creative, some are not. But the musicians keep on bouncing musical ideas off each other. <span style="font-family: "Gill Sans"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Gill Sans"; mso-bidi-font-size: 32.0pt;"> <span style="font-family: "Gill Sans"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Gill Sans"; mso-bidi-font-size: 32.0pt;">The TASK set was for students after the three presentations was to write a letter. The key points to be addressed were <span style="font-family: "Gill Sans"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Gill Sans"; mso-bidi-font-size: 32.0pt;"> <span style="font-family: "Gill Sans"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Gill Sans"; mso-bidi-font-size: 32.0pt;"> <span style="font-family: Arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 26px;">**Impact:** ** What difference do I imagine my focus will make to student learning and/or teacher learning in RE? ** <span style="font-family: "Gill Sans"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Gill Sans"; mso-bidi-font-size: 32.0pt;">I will conclude this introduction with a summary of responses that are currently being read. <span style="font-family: "Gill Sans"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Gill Sans"; mso-bidi-font-size: 32.0pt;"> <span style="font-family: "Gill Sans"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Gill Sans"; mso-bidi-font-size: 32.0pt;">Briefly – a couple <span style="font-family: "Gill Sans"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Gill Sans"; mso-bidi-font-size: 32.0pt;">“I now know that I can believe in God and keep searching.” <span style="font-family: "Gill Sans"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Gill Sans"; mso-bidi-font-size: 32.0pt;">“ I now know the contributions that both disciplines can offer.” <span style="font-family: "Gill Sans"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Gill Sans"; mso-bidi-font-size: 32.0pt;">Others to follow…when I have culled out key comments.
 * <span style="font-family: "Gill Sans"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Gill Sans"; mso-bidi-font-size: 32.0pt;">The Wisdom is LIKE a Composer. **
 * <span style="font-family: "Gill Sans"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Gill Sans"; mso-bidi-font-size: 32.0pt;">The Wisdom is LIKE a Conductor. **<span style="font-family: "Gill Sans"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Gill Sans"; mso-bidi-font-size: 32.0pt;">
 * <span style="font-family: "Gill Sans"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Gill Sans"; mso-bidi-font-size: 32.0pt;">The Wisdom is LIKE a Jazz Musician. **<span style="font-family: "Gill Sans"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Gill Sans"; mso-bidi-font-size: 32.0pt;"> In Jazz, a musician plays a simple string of notes.
 * //what struck you by the information in the presentations?//**
 * //<span style="font-family: "Gill Sans"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Gill Sans"; mso-bidi-font-size: 32.0pt;">What did it mean for you personally? //**
 * //<span style="font-family: "Gill Sans"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Gill Sans"; mso-bidi-font-size: 32.0pt;">How relevant was it for you? //**