Secondary School Students’ Epistemic Insight into the Relationships Between Science and Religion—A Preliminary Enquiry

Abstract

A number of previous studies have shown that there is a widespread view among young people that science and religion are opposed. In this paper, we suggest that it requires a significant level of what can be termed "epistemic insight" to access the idea that some people see science and religion as compatible while others do not. To explore this further, we draw on previous work to devise a methodology to discover students' thinking about apparent contradictions between scientific and religious explanations of the origins of the universe. In our discussion of the findings, we highlight that students' epistemic insight in this context does seem in many cases to be limited and we outline some of the issues emerging from the study that seem to boost or limit students' progress in this area.

Primary school students’ perspectives on questions that bridge science and religion: Findings from a survey study in England

“…The position of the science curriculum in England (DfE, 2015) and internationally (Fensham, 2016) is that students should consider the power and limitations of science. As we noted earlier, some of the secondary school students we interviewed commented that their science teachers avoided and discouraged questions that are sensitive and/or 'off-topic' (Billingsley et al, 2013). This epistemic insight is rarely taught, although it is widely articulated in Students' perspectives on bridging science and religion 179 science curricula as an essential aspect of scientific literacy (Hanley et al, 2014;Lederman et al, 2014).…”

“…Research exploring whether students can consider multiple perspectives and form judgements about what to believe begins with younger age groups than those in our current study. However, when thinking about science and religion, we know that secondary school students frequently suppose that the choice to make is limited to choosing either science or religion (Billingsley et al, 2013). However, when thinking about science and religion, we know that secondary school students frequently suppose that the choice to make is limited to choosing either science or religion (Billingsley et al, 2013).…”

“…This epistemic insight is rarely taught, although it is widely articulated in Students' perspectives on bridging science and religion 179 science curricula as an essential aspect of scientific literacy (Hanley et al, 2014;Lederman et al, 2014). This concern also finds basis in the comments by some religious education (RE) teachers that students widely perceived science as a source of proven and limitless facts and that they were unable to influence students' ideas (Billingsley et al, 2013). As we noted earlier, some of the secondary school students we interviewed commented that their science teachers avoided and discouraged questions that are sensitive and/or 'off-topic' (Billingsley et al, 2013).…”

“…One of the findings of that research was that some students had not considered the possibility that science and religion interact at all until prompted to do so during the research (Billingsley et al, 2013(Billingsley et al, , 2016. The basis for this concern derives from interview studies with teachers and students in secondary schools.…”

“…(Billingsley et al, 2013(Billingsley et al, : 1273 There were also students who said that they would hold back a question in a science lesson if they felt it would be 'off-topic' or potentially religiously sensitive (Billingsley et al, 2013(Billingsley et al, , 2016. .…”