“The teachers in our school try, as much as possible, to help our students develop a Christ-centered worldview by creating instructional units with a Creation-Fall-Redemption-Restoration motif. However, students at the secondary level say that it is very repetitive. At times they even roll their eyes with boredom.”
The teacher who spoke was describing something that can be a serious problem. At the elementary school level teachers easily use the questions that are part of this motif:
(1) Creation: What is God’s purpose for this aspect of creation that we are studying?
(2) Fall: How can we tell that as a result of sin this aspect of creation is not the way God wants it to be?
(3) Redemption: Because Jesus Christ came to save us, we can now work to make this part of creation more closely resemble how we believe God wants it to be. What plan can we make to do so?
(4) Restoration: How can we work together to carry out our plan to restore this aspect of creation?
Forming units around these questions works very well for elementary and middle school instruction, whether the topics concern stewardship of the earth, living in communities, or examining actions studied in history or in literature. Teaching with the CFRR motif is one way teachers help students form the tendency to ask themselves the same kinds of questions about all of life. However, when used over and over it becomes difficult to create such units in interesting, non-superficial ways so that older students will be truly engaged in developing this tendency.
More on this tomorrow!
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