Adaptation (Week 10)

2/27/2023

Manna Moment:

Adaptations can be a loaded word. Depending on your worldview, it means different things.
Genesis 1:25 says, “God made all sorts of wild animals, livestock, and small animals, each able to produce offspring of the same kind. And God saw that it was good.”

Some people believe that the different physical traits or behaviors given to animals occurred over long periods of time to survive their environments while others believe that God designed animals in their kinds from the beginning to survive their environments even after the Fall of Man. Looking at the different traits of plants and animals brings out two very different worldviews, one void of a Creator God and one acknowledging the Creator God. It is important in reading science books to understand these two worldviews so that you know what you are reading.

Interactive Read Aloud

Speaking about adaptation, I wanted to present some animals with unique characteristics that they have had since they have been designed to have them.
I read this to my 2nd and 3rd graders and they loved the googly eyes for each animal as well as drawing with Buddy the sheep. The sheep reminded us of the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Can His Creation speak against Him?
While some might believe that these unique characteristics evolved over long periods of time, others believe that it is part of an intentional design from a Creator God.

Scientific Fact vs Scientific idea

Here is a resource that calls out the difference between a science idea and a fact. Many ideas are presented as facts in the science world and we need to be careful about what exactly we are reading.
This hand out highlights that science facts are:
Observable,
Measurable
Repeatable
If they do not meet this criteria, they are science ideas.
This resource also concludes that both worldviews on the origin of life are in fact science ideas based on what you believe.

Knowing the perspectives of the two different worldviews, I asked the students to see if they could see which ideas came from which worldview.
For instance, an evolutionary worldview believes new traits develop over long periods of time like webbed feet for ducks whereas a creation worldview believes that the adaptations are part of Gods purposeful design. They would draw lines to match each idea to the worldview.

I borrowed some books from the library and read a paragraph of one to them to see if they could tell me which worldview it ascribed to. They were able to tell me based on the passage stating millions of years and dinosaurs changing into what we have as birds today.

Animal and Plant Adaptation Cards

Finally, to learn about the different adaptations of plants and animals, we played this matching game in groups. These are very similar to the Animal Defense cards but have plants in them as well along with different animals.