Science Religion Encounters: Professional Development Toolkit
A series of free pdf resources to support teachers and links to external sites we thought were helpful
Other pages about the Science Religion Encounters Project:
The Beginning Teacher in the Science-Religion Encounter.
Research Publications,
Teacher Toolkit Resources
Open Data
Journals Articles on the Science Religion Encounters Project
We have produced this extensive set of resources for schools, teachers and teacher educators to support a deeper understanding of the science religion encounter in the classroom based on our research which you can read summaries about here or by going to the journal articles listed in the link above.
What are science/religion encounters and how can I prepare for them https://pure.canterbury.ac.uk/en/publications/what-are-sciencereligion-encounters-and-how-can-i-prepare-for-the-2/
We conducted a survey with beginning teachers and more experienced teachers to explore what science/religion encounters they had experienced in their classrooms. The findings are shared in this document, along with some suggestions of what you might be able to do to support your teaching around science/religion encounters in the future.
What is the purpose of RE on the school curriculum?https://pure.canterbury.ac.uk/en/publications/what-is-the-purpose-of-re-on-the-school-curriculum-2/
Secondary teachers of RE have a variety of different views on the purposes of RE. Purpose matters because it affects all the classroom and curriculum decisions. Being able to articulate purpose matters because a teacher is required to be able to explain the intentions of their subject to different audiences. Having a joint department view matters for a coherent curriculum experience.
Sharing the purpose of secondary RE in the school
https://repository.canterbury.ac.uk/item/93wzx/sharing-the-purpose-of-secondary-re-in-the-school
Religious Education as a school subject has suffered a decline in status over recent years. An analysis from the National Association of Teachers of Religious Education in 2019 showed significant decline in RE in secondary schools with almost 40% of community schools and 50% of ‘Academy schools without a religious character’ not meeting ‘their legal or contractual requirements for the subject’ (NATRE, 2019, p.2).
How can I teach about truth in a complex world?https://pure.canterbury.ac.uk/en/publications/sharing-the-purpose-of-secondary-re-in-the-school-2/
How should a pupil make sense of what Science and Religious Education lessons offer, especially when they have aspects of shared content, but might cover different ways of knowing?
What role can different disciplinary knowledges play in shaping RE?https://pure.canterbury.ac.uk/en/publications/what-role-can-different-disciplinary-knowledges-play-in-shaping-r-2/
Within cohorts of student RE teachers, we found evidence of debates about the value of different disciplinary knowledges underpinning the purpose of RE as a school subject
How can I foster collaboration between the RE and science departments in my school?
https://pure.canterbury.ac.uk/en/publications/how-can-i-foster-collaboration-between-the-re-and-science-departm-2/
Participants in our online survey were asked to describe the relationship between science and RE departments/subjects in their schools by choosing one of five options: Collaboration, Conflict,Dialogue, Independence, Integration. Research shows that religion and science can often have a complementary relationship.
How can an interdisciplinary ITE day support student teachers of RE?
https://pure.canterbury.ac.uk/en/publications/how-can-i-foster-collaboration-between-the-re-and-science-departm-2/
There are new challenges in ITE, but how might we give beginning teachers, especially student teachers of Science and RE, opportunities to come together and talk about the topics they have in common?
How can I use questioning to explore the unexpected without losing control?
https://pure.canterbury.ac.uk/en/publications/how-can-i-use-questioning-to-explore-the-unexpected-without-losin-2/
Teacher questioning, exploring the unexpected and ‘losing control’ in the classroom: Discussion and analysis of a lesson on Creation.
A global citizen ITE module and science ite: supporting confidence and competence of beginning teachers
How can themes from a Global Citizen ITE module feed through into Science ITE to support the confidence and competence of student teachers?
An integrated philosophy of knowledge in the school curriculum vision: how schools of a Christian character might respond
The question of how science religion encounters are made sense of, brings up Christian school ethos intentions of an integrated holistic or overarching philosophy of education or knowledge.
Science religion encounters toolkit 12: science and religion in the classroom
https://pure.canterbury.ac.uk/en/publications/science-religion-encounters-toolkit-12-science-and-religion-in-th-2/
Dr John Paul Riordan writes about research and the science religion encounters project.
Science religion encounters toolkit 13: Research summaries from the project
https://pure.canterbury.ac.uk/en/publications/science-religion-encounters-toolkit-13-research-summaries-from-th-2/
Key insights from the findings of the science religion encounters project.
We have also identified external resources provided by others which we think are helpful. See:
Resources for Primary Teachers on Science/Religion Encounters
Resources for Secondary Teachers on Science/Religion Encounters