The following is from the book Myths: Fact and Fiction about Teaching and Learning by Israel Galindo. How well do you know fact from fiction?
Fiction: In the beloved fairy tale, Cinderella wore glass slippers to the ball at the palace, which she loses at the stroke of midnight.
Fact: In the original story, Cinderella did not wear glass slippers at all. It seems that the translator, Charles Perrault, mistook pantouffles en vair, or “squirrel fur slipper,” for pantouffles en verre— “glass slippers.”
Hmm, squirrel fur slippers . . . somehow just doesn’t seem as romantic, does it? Maybe some myths are better left unexposed!
Fiction: Christian educators should not worry too much if learners are not accurate in their cognitive explanations of doctrines, truths, or matters of the spirit or of their faith. After all, faith is more a matter of the heart than of the mind.
Fact: While it is true that the realm of the spirit is more in the heart than in the mind, learners have a critical need to be as accurate as possible in their understanding of the faith. As the old saying goes, “The heart cannot accept what the mind cannot comprehend.”
In learning, explanation by students comprises 20% of the cognitive demands made by teachers. How a student learns to explain truths greatly affects their understanding of the issues and essential matters in question.
For example, the idea of causation (A causes B; B is a result of A) is one of the areas of continual misunderstanding in matters of faith. Many learners (and teachers!) fail to understand the difference between reasons and causes.
A common fault in Christian education is when anthropomorphic explanations are confused with causal explanations. In a biology lesson a teacher may ask, “Why do wind-pollinated plants produce more pollen than insect-pollinated plants?” A student replies, “It’s because they need to produce more pollen, since the wind wastes so much of their pollen.” The student attributed human characteristics to a type of plant as an explanation. The theological pitfalls in this type of explanation are tremendous! For example, this type of explanation is behind the phrase, “The Bible says,” or “The Bible speaks to,” or “It says in the Bible.”
Another common error in thinking is when teleological (ends) explanations are given rather than causal explanations. For example, a teacher asks, “Why do people sweat?” The student replies, “Because it cools the body.” Notice how the student cited an effect of sweating (cooling the body) as its cause. When objectives, outcomes and purposes are used as explanations, teleological explanations are involved.
Strive to help your learners be accurate in their explanations of spiritual truths. Help them distinguish (discern) the difference between a cause and a reason for something—especially in matters of faith!
You can order a copy of the book Myth: Fact and Fiction about Teaching and Learning by Israel Galindo (ISBN 0-9715765-4-8) directly from Educational Consultants or Amazon.com.
