Re: Unorthodox science projects

[James Mackey <jmackey@HARDING.EDU>]

John Denker wrote:

> Gonzalez-Espada, Wilson wrote:
>
>
> > I am writing a paper on science and non-science in science fair
> > competitions. Have you ever SEEN a science fair project from a
> > "Christian" perspective?
>
> There are several different questions here.
>  -- The Subject: line asks about "unorthodox".
>  -- The first sentence asks about science versus non-science.
>  -- The second sentence asks about "Christian" perspective.
>
> ... and these are not automatically synonymous.
>
> Also the questions are so vague as to have a very broad
> range of possible answers.  There is a continuum:
>
>   a) There are some students who believe that God gave us
> a brain to figure stuff out with, and gave us a universe
> governed by laws that are at least partially figure-outable.
> This is taken for granted and will not be mentioned in the
> write-up of the science-fair project.
>   b) There are some students who wear their regliosity on
> their sleeve;  they say we stick the litmus paper in vinegar
> and a miracle occurs, by the grace of God it turns pink,
> and then we stick it in ammonia-water and another miracle
> occurs, by the grace of God it turns blue.
>   c) And then there are those who believe insects have four
> legs because it says so in Leviticus.
>   *) et cetera.
>
> And yes, I've seen projects in each of those categories.
>
> > If you judge it, how the student defended
> > his/her project? Whas was his/her rationale in making the project?
> > Probably you do not agree with these type of projects, but I need to
> > know how common they are?
>
> Well, that kinda depends, doesn't it?  Category (c) is
> less common than category (a).  And I would tend to judge
> category (c) rather unfavorably compared to category (a).
Since I have judged at several science fairs offered at at Christian
schools, I will add a comment to the above:
And there are some students (most that I have encountered at these
events) who are believers and are interested in discovering the
principles that govern the universe we live in ; a process best done by
science.  they just believe that the universe & life has some purpose
that stems from a creator.  They do science just like everyone else.
I'm not at all sure what is meant by "some students who wear their
regliosity on their sleeve" but from the tenor I assume that was a
critical statement.  I have encountered a few (c) category (a very few)
and never anyone who falls in his (b) category.  I grade on th basis of
content, quality of science, and hopefully some idea of how mucxh of the
work was actually done by the student.
James Mackey