Field trip ideas

[Katie]

Help! The director of my homeschool co-op just asked if we should take
the kids to ICR's Creation Museum, and if I (or any other science
tutors) would be willing to lead the trip. My gut reaction is that I
don't agree with the YEC viewpoint so how can I in good conscience be
leading such a trip. On the other hand, since in my physical science
class I make a point to examine all the viewpoints (YEC, OEC, theistic
evolution, atheistic evolution, ID) and have a good, fair, discussion
so they can decide for themselves...perhaps the ICR museum wouldn't be
bad if I could also provide a similar OEC-oriented field trip.
Has anyone been to the ICR museum? Is it worthwhile or is it full of
OEC bashing? Any ideas for a good OEC type field trip? I have 9 kids
in my class, ranging from 7th to 10th grades...lots of boys, lots of
"learning difficulties".

http://www.icr.org/discover/index/discover_museum/

Thanks!!

Katie

[Jennifer Vaughn]

That's pretty bad.  I think your only choices are the La Brea Tar Pits, the San Diego Zoo, the Natural History Museum, and other Darwinian-leaning institutions. :(  You could try to work around one of those.  Or maybe something like the Discovery Science Center will allow you to avoid the topic of "origins" entirely.  As a kid who spent a lot of time at those sorts of places, I can tell you that bigger museums are often better because, since there's so much there, you can better avoid ultra-pro-Darwinian exhibits.

You could also ask around to see if someone science-oriented from your church can give the a tour of his/her workplace.  Depends on the type of job and industry, of course.  (I don't think I really could volunteer my dad for this one.)  But it's worth a shot. 

What we need is a good ID or OEC museum.  Why is it that the YEC people thought of appealing to kids first?

--
Jennifer Vaughn
(714) 623-0862

[Jennifer Vaughn]

Another suggestion, based on my extremely limited experience: Sometimes you can request a particular docent for your group at a museum.  (Also, on the other side, we docents can request certain kinds of groups.  When I was doing it, I requested to be considered for all homeschool groups, but unfortunately there never were any! :(  Guess they weren't interested.)   Anyway, check with local church members.  You might be surprised to find who volunteers at a local museum.  (I do know someone at Bowers, if you're interested.)  Then you can have an honest talk about what you'd like the tour to focus on and avoid beforehand.  Even if they don't agree with your views, they might be more sympathetic.  Don't know how difficult this would be, but it's probably worth a shot! :D

On Mon, Sep 22, 2008 at 12:06 PM, Katie <katerinah...@yahoo.com> wrote:

[Heather Isenhower]

I think OE organizations have thought of it, but there seems to be a lot
more money flowing into the YEC than OEC programs. This is only my
observation, but YE groups seem to attract a lot of assertive, proactive
personality types versus the quieter, researcher types in the OE
groups. And, the OE groups don't tend to generate the fear of
conspiracies which was mentioned here this week. Less fear, less money?

Katie, maybe you could visit the museum by yourself first and decide
what you could do with the field trip. Then you could make some plans
with your director. For your class, perhaps you could do some pre-trip
discussions/lessons on how the view points differ. I have always
admired those professors who are so objective you don't know what they
position they support.

Fwiw,
Heather I.

[Rusty]

We faced the same situation, a while back, with our homeschool group.
I was a bit perturbed, because I doubt that our group leaders would
have approved of a field trip to an OEC based facility (if one
existed!). I had planned, as well, to use it as an opportunity to
further explain the YEC position to our children (a position they're
already aware of). However, the timing of the event was not conducive
to our schedule, so we ended up not going at all. After reviewing
ICR's website and what the museum presented, though, I pretty much
think that the whole endeavor would have been a waste of time. (I did
blog about it here http://rustylopez.typepad.com/newcovenant/2007/03/noahs_dinosaurs.html
)

I'll echo Jennifer's comments about supplementing your fieldtrips with
visits to secular musems.

Rusty



On Sep 22, 2:28 pm, Heather Isenhower <isenhowe...@sbcglobal.net>
wrote: