Bible and Beakers Sharing Science Class
Bill Woodrome’s junior high school science project is about lasers, powerful light beams that he describes in terms any fellow 14-year-old can understand.
“It’s kind of like a girl when a cute guy walks by,” said Bill, an eighth-grader at Leffingwell Christian Junior High in Norwalk. “Girls usually do something weird, like the electrons do. They get excited and expand and let off light,” which creates the laser.
That remark earned Bill a pair of rolled eyes from classmate Arika Sanders, also 14. “That is so dumb,” she said, tossing her blond ponytail with a giggle.
Just like those who enter science fair projects in public schools, students in last week’s competition at the annual Assn. of Christian Schools International Science Fair at Biola University were required to form a hypothesis, research the topic, conduct an experiment and report the results. But, at this science fair, there was an added requirement: Every project had to include a verse or analogy from the Bible relating science to God.
Little Conflict
“Christ should be considered part of everything we do,” said Bill who was wearing blue acid-wash jeans and had his short hair stylishly slicked back. “Why not a science project?”
When it comes to a cut-and-dried problem such as how lasers work, there is little conflict between the interpretations of science and religion. However, disagreements persist when it comes to that one touchy subject: evolution.
“It’s not that we don’t believe that species change,” said Jerry L. Haddock, regional director of the Assn. of Christian Schools International. “But we don’t believe species change from one to another. We have not seen any scientific evidence to prove that it does.”
Students from 14 Southeast Los Angeles County Christian schools were entered in the science fair, which included more than 350 entries from 57 junior high and high schools in Southern California. This was the 10th year of the fair and the first time it was held at Biola, a Christian college in La Mirada, Haddock said.
A panel of 30 science instructors and students from Biola judged the students’ work on a 50-point scale, with 15 points for scientific method, 10 for originality and creativity, 10 for knowledge achieved, 10 for clarity and 5 for biblical application.
“We want them to realize that all science is created by God,” Haddock said, adding that it was not necessary to distinguish a belief in God from a belief in science. “We feel like the two support each other.”
Haddock said science fair officials were not opposed to any kind of experiment, including one on evolution, because “anything that would be proven would prove God’s word.”
This was the second year Arika and Bill have competed in the fair. They are representing Leffingwell after placing first and second, respectively, in the school’s science project competition earlier this year.
Bill was going to use the “Let there be light” Scripture from Genesis for his laser project, but decided that was too obvious. “I’m trying to find a better one,” he said.
The Scripture worked fine for Arika, whose project on how light behaves won first place in Leffingwell’s own science fair earlier this year.
Arika started working on her project before Christmas vacation, taking about a month to write a report on refraction, diffraction and reflection of light. She then illustrated the information on a 2-by-3-foot board, showing how a rainbow is formed and how panes of glass can separate light.
Bill and Arika say their science education has not suffered as a result of attending a smaller school, although Bill said he is considering attending Bellflower High School next year “because they have a bigger science department.”
Differs on Evolution
But, they said, the public schools do not reconcile science and religion, particularly when it comes to evolution.
“If evolution is true, then why aren’t there apes turning into people now?” Bill asked.
Despite his skepticism about some scientific theories, Bill says he wants to study the subject at the university level.
“I figure I’ll be about 42 when I get out of college, with all the bachelor’s degrees I want to get,” he said, pointing out that he wants to earn diplomas in math, science and related areas, at the very least.
Not Arika. She wants to pursue a career in dance, and plans to attend Leffingwell Christian High School next year. “I have never gone to public school and I don’t want to,” she said.
