affirmation

Hi everyone!

I've been reading this book by Dr. Jane Vella titled "On Teaching and Learning". This book is primarily about Dialogue Education which is quite an interesting topic in itself. More about that later.

But for now, i'll just be posting some quotes that I found very helpful as we (educators) plan our curriculum. You'll be seeing these quotes every once in a while.

One thing I've learned from my classes 2 summers back was the importance of finding a one-statement principle that you can take home with you as your learning. And believe me those one-statement principles that we expound with our own words truly stick to your brains for quite some time. Kudos to my professor, Ate Lui!

So, here's my take on that:

~The Educator

to see is to believe? or to believe is to see?

‎"Visibilities of countless stars is no argument against the invisibility of countless others.." ~astronomer Fridriech Wilhelm Bessel, 1844.

German mathematician and astronomer has predicted that the 'wobble' of Sirius (Dog Star) could be explained by an invisible star, that astronomers eventually called Binary Systems of Stars. He then penned a letter to Humboldt saying that being 'invisible' is far no less than being 'visible'. Prof. Walter Lewin stated during his lecture in MIT that it was not only that it was a scientific statement, it was also a philosophical one, since Science has held on to 'To see is to believe' sort of motto, along with the rest of what the other senses can perceive, as the basis of most of the discoveries that Science had and have. Prof. Lewin, then continues, that this was the start of the Astronomy of the Invisible. It was pretty interesting to hear this since there are a lot of complexities in our cosmos that cannot be explained just yet by Science. And it was, and is, never yet its last resort to put God as part of their Abstract in any scientific journal which might say, "Therefore, in the complexities of the said universe, we have arrived to a conclusion that it was a Higher Being that fine-tuned our universe." Physical Review, Volume (?), Issue (?). This is far from ever happening (just yet). 

Blackholes, Electrons, Protons, Nuceus, and even wind are other examples of invisibility in the our cosmos and nature. Scientists do not really see these with their naked eye. But there are experiments and data have been gathered that affirmed their presence such as the bending of a tree in the presence of blowing wind.

Brian Greene, host of a tv series by NOVA, have shown one time how 20 (or more) different constants of our Universe has have to be calibrated to some certain and discreet numbers in able for the whole universe to just maintain stability and not blow up. So, I decided that one of the Essential Questions that I am putting up in my whiteboard as I teach on Monday is: 

"If these 20 constants are to be calibrated and fine tuned to maintain stability of the cosmos that we now lived in, WHO is calibrating them?"

If I may be speaking as a scientist, i might change it to WHAT rather than WHO?

But that itself is already philosophical.

But then again, a lot of the things that we do, or say, or even believe can be philosophical. Otherwise, not knowing the purpose for which we do, say or believe, puts one in a very nihilistic state of mind. 

And that is exhausting, or even dangerous for a thinker.

Just look what happened to Nietzsche. 

I am truly excited for Science though. It keeps on discovering cosmos, that each discovery is an interesting one that leads to more questions, and more researches that polishes the previous one.

Me, as a person with a different pair of 'Eyeglasses' on, see their researches as something that only a Higher Being could come up with.

For them it could be 'To see is to Believe'.

For me it might as well be 'To believe is to See.'

~The Educator

References:

Delehanty, Marc. Black Holes, invisible bodies and Intense Gravity. Astronomy Today, Last Accessed November 22, 2011 at http://www.astronomytoday.com/cosmology/blackholes.html .

Greene, Brian. The Fabric of Cosmos: Illusion of Time. NOVA. Last Accessed Novemenber 20, 2011 at http://youtu.be/xLgo4zd5NhI

Lewin, Walter.The Birth and Death of Stars. MIT World. Last Accessed November 22, 2011 at http://mitworld.mit.edu/video/158.

See, T. J. J, Researches on the System of Prycon.Astronomical Journal, vol. 19, iss. 439, p. 57-61 (1898). Last Accessed November 22, 2011 at http://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1898AJ.....19...57S.

reason

i am trying to finish my curriculum in physics 2.. as i try to relearn my physics, it became truly clear for me how science can truly bring God’s name in the picture.. but as i try to learn the people behind this field, i realize the intense hold on reason and logic, and their last resort will never be an explanation of a Higher Being that, what physicist mostly call, ‘fine tunes’ the universe.

reason has brought me worshipping Him more. i pray that it will bring them to their knees soon.. finally understanding that the complexities of the universe is because of our powerful, sovereign God.

excellence without a soul

Harvard University is one of the most prestigious ivy leagues in the US. I found this book that seems to talk about the moral decline in the university-- well as the term 'soul' implies. I am just starting to read it, curious how the author, the former dean, is seeing the university from an inside look. Hopefully, i can get good insights on how education and its, sort of, culture changed in Harvard, and see if we can use some of the author's insight in viewing our own Education here in the Philippines.

I can't wait to finish the book! =)

~The Educator

Faster Than The Speed of Light

Found a good book the other day.

"Faster Than The Speed of Light" by Joao Magueijo, a Portugese Physicists, who speculated that in order to answer the many problems and loop holes that Big Bang Theory has, they have to break one sacred physics rule: the constancy of the speed of light, proposed by the genius himself, Albert Eisntein.

I'm particularly excited about this book, because my lectures at the beginning of my semester revolved around some scientific findings on how to discount the Big Bang Theory, which would imply different workable theory that will tie up some of the loop holes on the 'horizon problem', closer to what most Christians Scientists believed and have been proposing for the past years.

I'm thrilled to find the book in a stack of second hand bookstore. ^^

..and excited to read through it for the rest of this semestral break as i prepare for my lessons next semester. Let's see what this book has to say. =)

I am grateful for the existence of these stores. It's making my love for books 'affordable'. ^^

~The Educator.

Our First Battle

Theistic Centered Education. It has long been shifted from that to a Secular Humanistic to Post Modernistic in worldview which affected a lot of our educators and how and what they teach in the world of academe. With the idea that God can be known in studying Sciences, Mathematics, History and Languages, I left Indonesia and went back to Philippines, with my heart slowly forming a desire to take further studies in Christian Education major in Curriculum Development.

I believed that God is slowly claiming the area of education to be placed once more in the middle of the battleground of the gospel being preached. He is unmoved in His pursuit of the hearts of the men and women of our world. He knew how schools are being used by the enemy to lie to us through centuries of teaching about Sciences and other subjects where an Intelligent Creator is not taught, but proliferate an idea that some unknown energy had blasted some particles here and there and formed the cosmos as we know it.

The whole world bought that lie. And God is ready to restore the original knowledge that supported the Education that once to be centered on knowing God.

My heart seems so bent on that idea, that it eventually created a vision of God's movement through the academe.

This summer, God provided for my needs in schooling. What I was lacking a week ago (funds for tution fees and other expenses), God has provisions prepared, and came just in time.

The first battle that I had to face as I pursue this dream/vision was met by unbelief on my part. But God saved me from myself.. and from the lies of the enemy that tried to slowly kill me from the inside by killing the dream God gave me.

Praises to the God of Mercy and Grace, who despite my many shortcomings as I waited for His provisions, despite my sins unimaginable, He took me in His arms first and foremost, whispered that He loves me, then answered my prayer, and let me study and learn what I need to move towards that future He has prepared for me for His Glory and for the proclamation of the gospel of Christ's sacrifice and freedom for the whole human race.

~the educator

suit up we are at WAR!!

Education, now, has conformed to a worldview that has removed God as the center of knowledge. It has started to wane since the late 1700’s, when knowing God through revelation was entirely discounted and has placed ‘reason’ as the ultimate judge for what is right and what is wrong, what is a fact, and what is false. Through the science of systematizing knowledges, the Bible and Its Author became the Subject rather than the Reference for finding Truth.

This is the battle that we are in, unknowingly. The Enemy has used the very facts of Science, Math, History and Languages so that Man eventually turned their backs on the God who is the source of all Knowledge. The deceit is worldwide. The lies, huge.

Help us, educators, in fighting this battle through changing the mindsets of our children regarding Education.

Pray with us. Tell people about this great shift of our minds away from God, thus shift in the hearts of many men and women who are constantly bombarded with an education that is post modernistic in nature. Help us turn our gaze back to a Theistic, God-centered Education, and let Education be a venue to know God more.

How can we help the next generation to live life to the fullest, with purpose as they pursue their God-given calling? How can we help them turn their vision away from themselves but outwardly perceiving the world they live in, seeing others other than themselves? #paradigmShift