Classroom climate and intercultural understanding

I have had the question, on occasion from one or two people who ask me how I compare creation stories to scientific evidence. I've been asked because I am a science teacher and I also am interested in multiculturalism. Last week I helped to organize and host and Educator's Tour of the Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nation.

Well, to be honest I think this question arises from a misunderstanding. Comparing creation stories to scientific inquiry is like comparing apples to oranges.

I want to first highlight the intention of Ontario's curriculum documents. What I teach in science class is scientific literacy. Scientific literacy is "the scientific knowledge, skills and habits of mind required to thrive in the science-based world of the twenty-first century." (Ontario Ministry of Education. (2008), The Ontario Curriculum Grades 9 and 10: Science).

Science is responsible for much of the prosperity and technological advances we have achieved in the past 100 years. For instance, the scientific method of analysing data is used extensively in business, marketing, science and engineering and is responsible for:

• discovering life-saving pharmaceuticals
• developing vaccines to prevent global pandemics
• determining from the evidence that the climate is changing
• creating sustainable and renewable energy sources
• improving the productivity of our agricultural sector to provide sustainable sources of food
• protecting the environmental health and economic vitality of the oceans, among others.

I teach scientific literacy every day in the classroom, I teach students how to observe the world around them and to distill conclusions from data.

Our curriculum document also says that  "the overall intention is that all graduates of Ontario secondary schools will achieve excellence and a high degree of scientific literacy while maintaining a sense of wonder about the world around them."  (Ontario Ministry of Education. (2008), The Ontario Curriculum Grades 9 and 10: Science).

I communicate the wonder of our world  every day in my classroom. I enjoy the wonder of creation stories, and I leave it to various religions to explain how their version of the creation story fits with the scientific evidence that we all equally share.

It is my goal to create a classroom environment that is safe, positive and equitable. I include creation stories in my teaching to provide context for my lessons and to broaden intercultural understanding of my students . It is my goal to celebrate individual differences and to teach students to enjoy the diversity of cultures in our world.