Cross Curricular Teaching and Learning in the Secondary School… Science

How Students View the Boundaries Between Their Science and Religious Education Concerning the Origins of Life and the Universe

“…This characterization of science arises in large part because a considerable amount of school science time is spent carrying out “recipe” experiments (also called closed enquiry investigations) that produce an outcome that is known prior to the investigation (Dudu & Vhurumuku, ; Sullivan‐Watts, Nowicki, Shim, & Young, ). Byrne and Brodie (, p. 28) also draw attention to and criticize the pedagogy that persists in science classrooms saying that the content is all too often “designed mainly to educate a minority of future scientists rather than equipping the majority with the scientific understanding, reasoning and literacy they require to engage as citizens in the twenty‐first century.” These authors add to their case for reform by pointing to research which shows that students frequently find science at school to be boring and irrelevant to their lives and that the numbers of students choosing to study science is in decline (Byrne & Brodie, ). In response to these findings in Europe, Australia and elsewhere curriculum writers have sought ways to encourage students to see science in a more realistic and positive way (Osborne & Dillon, ; Tytler, ).…”

Searching for Meaning – Science and Religious Education Teachers collaborating in interdisciplinary Teaching and Learning

“…Interdisciplinary learning can incorporate a number of disciplines but interdisciplinary learning and teaching between science and religion is sometimes viewed as 'difficult' and ethically volatile' (Byrne and Brodie, 2012). This combination appears to be more problematic than collaboration between subjects such as science and maths or between religious education and humanities subjects, because collaboration between science and religion education in schools is connected to the hotly contested, contemporary debate about the nature of the relationship between science and religion (Dawkins, 2006(Dawkins, , 2011Grayling, 2011Grayling, , 2013Harris, 20014, 2006;Hitchens, 2007).…”

Perceptions of the relationships between science and religion held by upper-secondary school students in Church of England schools

“…These pressures add up to mean that the teaching of epistemology is fragmented, compartmentalised and disjointed in schools, and also that learning about ways to ask and explore Big Questions in particular is likely to be neglected (Barnes, 2015; Billingsley et al., 2017; Byrne and Brodie, 2013; Konnemann et al., 2018; Sandoval, 2016). Further, many secondary school students are confined to narrow and stereotypical perceptions of science, religion and how they relate (Billingsley, 2013; Billingsley and Nassaji, 2019; Francis et al., 2018a; Fulljames et al., 1991; Hanley, 2008; Hokayem and BouJaoude, 2008; Paiva et al., 2016; Shipman et al., 2002).…”