The Big Bang Theory – coping with
multi-religious beliefs in the
super-diverse science classroom
Roussel De Carvalho
ABSTRACT Large urban schools have to cope with a ‘super-diverse’ population with a multireligious background in their classrooms. The job of the science teacher within this environment
requires an ultra-sensitive pedagogical approach, and a deeper understanding of students’
backgrounds and of scientific epistemology. Teachers must create a safe learning atmosphere
where students will be allowed to express their views about religion and science, especially when
studying topics such as evolution and the Big Bang Theory. This article describes a different
approach to teaching the Big Bang Theory developed in order to break down barriers that may exist
between religious beliefs and scientific understanding.
In many parts of the world, the population in
large urban centres is becoming increasingly
diverse. Nowadays, the UK is characterised by
‘an increased number of new, small and scattered,
multiple-origin, transnationally connected, socioeconomically differentiated and legally stratified
immigrants who have arrived over the last
decade’ (Vertovec, 2007: 1024), while London’s
population has entered a period of ‘superdiversity’. This, Vertovec argues:
is characterised by a dynamic interplay of
variables. These include those related to country
of origin (including nationality, ethnicity,
language, religious tradition, regional and
local identities, cultural values and practise),
migration channel (related to particular labour
market niches and social networks), legal status
(comprising a range of categories related to
varied entitlements and restrictions of rights),
social class, labour market experiences, gender
and age profiles and spatially specific factors
including local area responses by service
providers and residents. (quoted in Sepulveda,
Syrett and Lyon, 2011: 472)
Thus, as a consequence of these new complex
interactions, schools in urban cities and new
industrial towns have to learn to cope with a
student population that is likely to encompass
multicultural, multi-language, multi-ethnic and
multi-religious backgrounds. Additionally, within
such a ‘super-diverse’ community, these multiple
systems of beliefs are likely to coexist rather than
remain stratified within the local community. As
one of the many essential aspects of community
life where multi-belief interactions happen daily,
schools and their classroom interactions add
another layer to this already multifaceted system,
becoming an important frame of reference to
engage students in a meaningful and tolerant
educational experience.
Because of this ‘super-diversity’:
there is clearly a pressing need to make [relevant]
initial teacher education available to those who
plan to teach in mainstream schools, particularly
as the demand is likely to rise with the increase
in plurilingual [pluri-ethnic and pluri-religious]
students. (McPake, Tinsley and James, 2007: 104)
Moreover, it becomes vital to rethink urban
science teacher education and continuing
professional development programmes in order to
enable science teachers to have a greater awareness
of the issues related to having a ‘super-diverse’
group of students within their classrooms. Current
teacher education must explicitly address this
diverse cultural milieu, which certainly impinges
upon the dynamics of teaching and learning. The
design of learning episodes that are more sensitive
and respectful of such ‘super-diversity’ should now
SSR September 2013, 95(350)
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The Big Bang Theory – multi-religious beliefs in the super-diverse science classroom
be an important feature of outstanding teachers
within a thoroughly inclusive classroom.
In addition, ‘recent theoretical contributions
have suggested we live with a “cosmopolitan
condition” (Fine, 2007) and need a “cosmopolitan
imagination” (Delanty, 2009) using a critical
social lens’ (Reid and Sriprakash, 2012: 19),
which science education can take advantage of
by engaging and challenging students’ thinking
about how science has evolved and contributed
to our society. Further, it is also necessary to
engage teachers and students in a substantial
discussion on how science will impact on their
future as global citizens within this ‘glocal’ school
environment. However, ‘rather than relying upon
pupils’ understanding of their religions, teachers
ought to prepare themselves appropriately’
(Ashrif, 1998: 51) in order to deal with this
‘super-diverse’ classroom, especially since ‘sociocultural settings shape children’s everyday ideas
and play a critical role in science teaching and
learning (Wee, Harbor & Shepardson, 2006)’
(Wee, 2012: 623).
The project ‘Science and Myths of Creation’
was developed in order to address this issue,
which became evident to me when I was
prompted by one of my former students. At the
end of one of our lessons she asked ‘Sir, why do I
have to learn about the Big Bang Theory? I don’t
believe in it, my family doesn’t believe in it. Why
do I have to do it in school?’ The question baffled
me. I suddenly remembered a fantastic book I had
read when I was at university called The Dancing
Universe: From Creation Myths to the Big Bang
(Gleiser, 2000, 2005) and I found myself trying
to answer it with something like ‘Science and
religion are different things, you can still learn
science and have a personal belief in something
else’. I was not satisfied with my answer, so this
was the beginning of a quest to prepare myself to
develop a rationale to bring multiculturalism and
religion into my science classroom.
Interestingly, in my initial research I read an
article by McKinley et al. (1992: 586; my emphasis)
about the relationship between the Maori culture
and science education where the authors argue that:
if science is viewed as a human construct then
common ground between indigenous science and
modern science can be described, as they both:
use models, constructs and inventions of the
mind;
l 120 SSR September 2013, 95(350)
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are constructed from experiences within the
natural and technological worlds;
l are used to make predictions (Maddock 1981);
l are essentially metaphors;
l are negotiated and socially constructed;
l involve a faith or acceptance of a particular
picture of the world;
l inform the ongoing life of the society (Christie
1990).
l These notable associations made by McKinley
et al. paved the way for the development of
the project, which was designed to incorporate
different types of ‘myths of creation’, opening to
students the opportunity to engage with a belief
system different from their own. This usually
involved religious beliefs of ancient civilisations
as well as more current belief systems. Many past
civilisations have also had their own significant
encounters with science, such as the Greeks and
the Chinese (Lloyd, 2006) as well as the Arabic
world (Al-Khalili, 2012); their contributions to the
modern world should not be disregarded and may
be a great starting point for further discussion. On
the other hand, curriculum purists may argue that
this aspect of science education is not specifically
described in the content specification of the
National Curriculum for England and should not
be taught. However, in the ‘How science works’
section of one of England’s examination boards,
AQA, the Science A specification states that:
science attempts to explain the world in which we
live … [and a] scientifically literate person should,
amongst other things, be equipped to question,
and engage in debate on, the evidence used in
decision-making . . . [while] evidence must be
approached with a critical eye. (AQA, 2012: 7)
This is clearly an invitation for the teacher and
his/her students to engage in a critical scientific
debate, especially about the meaning of evidence.
Therefore, why not include a context that may
be taken by many to be heresy in the science
classroom? Personally, ignoring students’ religious
beliefs would certainly be a step backwards on
my epistemological, pedagogical and educational
paradigms. Additionally, the opportunity to allow
students to develop an inquisitive mind and
explore the world they live in is likely to promote
meaningful engagement, as can be seen in the
examples of students’ work in the next section.
Even though many would claim some students
with a religious background may have a belief
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The Big Bang Theory – multi-religious beliefs in the super-diverse science classroom
system that is incompatible with learning and
doing science:
The debate rages in the media and in academic
circles. Those interested might start by reading
Richard Dawkins’ The God delusion followed
by the equally readable The Dawkins delusion
by Alistair McGrath to see where the academic
weaknesses of this particular form of scientism lie.
It is interesting to see that fundamentalist beliefs,
whether religious or scientific, are so passionately
argued. (Rogers, 2007: 86)
While some may view these beliefs as
unsuitable for the science classroom, others have
already pursued this path (for example, Fisher,
2006). Science and religion become discordant
if you treat them as belonging to the same value
system. However, scientific and religious beliefs
have different ‘frames of reference’, different
ways of constructing meaning (Kegan, 2009;
Mezirow, 2009) and thus, if managed carefully,
a project of this nature would bring students
closer to understanding ‘How science works’ and
the intricacies of the scientific endeavour and
evidence. The Science and Religion in Schools
Project (www.srsp.net), established in 2002, also
provides a plethora of excellent resources that
have made clear that it is possible to engage our
‘super-diverse’ society in debates that promote
scientific understanding and religious tolerance.
The project
conflict, good science teaching can help students
to manage it – and to learn more science. (Reiss,
2008: 56)
Reiss recognises the importance of introducing
controversial themes within the science classroom,
but the likelihood of students resolving their
conflicts between science and belief relies on
deeper and more transformative episodes that
make specific links with students’ cognitive
constructs (Ausubel, 1968) and hence challenge
their pre-existing knowledge and promote higher
cognitive skills that may result in meaningful
learning. Reiss continues by saying that:
One very rarely changes one’s worldview as a
result of a 50-minute lesson, however well taught.
(Reiss, 2008: 56)
This means that the teacher must step out
of his/her comfort zone and prepare a learning
sequence that is more likely to genuinely engage
students at multiple levels so as to address their
perceptions of scientific understanding, faith in
any particular religion and its respective ‘myth of
creation’. Further evidence supports this approach:
some educators have taken this step further by
designing interventions such as role playing games
which have proven to be successful in allowing its
participants to confront controversies associated
with evolutionary biology (Bentley, 2000; Duveen
& Solomon, 1994; Helgeson, Hoover, & Sheehan,
2002; Passmore, Stewart, & Zoellner, 2005).
(Dodick, Dayan and Orion, 2010: 1524)
The Big Bang Theory and its corresponding
sources of evidence is a recurrent topic within
the physics examination specifications in the
UK. Teachers have used many different types
of resource to teach this topic, such as videos,
simulations, demonstrations, experiments and
analogies, in order to allow students to develop
a valuable understanding of the evidence for the
Big Bang Theory and the enquiry skills required
to interpret it. The question posed by my student
made me decide to move away from the usual
resources. When talking about the conflict
between evolution and creationism, Michael Reiss
explains that it is important to take:
[study of examples of controversial arguments]
will better enable learners to take a more critical
and informed view of claims which purport to be
‘scientific’. Intelligent Design, with no foundation
in scientific methodology, cannot be classed as
science, not even bad or controversial science.
(ASE, 2008: 13)
seriously and respectfully the concerns of students
who do not accept the theory of evolution, while
still introducing them to it. While it is unlikely that
this will help students who have a conflict between
science and their religious beliefs to resolve the
It is imperative for the science educator within
a ‘super-diverse’ community to engage with the
realm of religious beliefs, both past and present,
in order to create a contextual reality to which
students are able to relate, so that they appreciate
Moreover, the Association for Science
Education released a statement about intelligent
design that contributes to the argument that
religious beliefs and science are separate issues. It
states that:
SSR September 2013, 95(350)
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The Big Bang Theory – multi-religious beliefs in the super-diverse science classroom
the multiple facets of science, religion and the
multicultural world they live in.
The project was first trialled with one of
my year 10 (age 14–15) triple science groups
in 2010/11, where 28 students with predicted
GCSE grades of A* to C were challenged to
explore creation myths and the Big Bang Theory.
The project lasted for a three-week period, with
three 50-minute lessons per week. Because of
curricular constraints, only the last lesson at the
end of every week was used to check the students’
progress against the outcomes. A further two
lessons were set aside for a brief presentation by
each student. All work produced was shared with
the other students and peer-marked. Some of the
work was selected for display on the classroom
and science corridor walls. The level of both
scientific and creative engagement of the students
was very good with many high-quality pieces
of work being produced, as can be seen in the
examples illustrated.
The tasks
The project had three main aims:
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The tasks are meant to have increased
cognitive difficulty as one way of differentiating
between students’ abilities. This differentiation
by outcome is important as it allows different
students to access different sections of the same
task. Differentiation by learning activity/resource
was also used, as students were allowed to use
any medium available in order to complete
the task – paintings, posters, leaflets, essays,
storyboards, comic book strips, PowerPoint
presentations, and so on – as long as the success
criteria for the tasks were achieved. This allowed
students to engage their creative side when
elaborating their work and explanations, which
was important as involvement and understanding
can increase greatly when using visual stimuli to
promote explanations (Barlex and Carré, 1985).
A written explanation of their work on the Big
Bang Theory was also requested to ensure that
they had evidence for the learning outcomes set
in the school’s scheme of work. Examples of
different sections of students’ work are shown in
Figures 1 to 6.
l To develop students’ scientific enquiry skills.
l To explain the evidence for the Big Bang
Theory.
l To evaluate similarities and differences
between science and religion.
These aims were divided into four main tasks:
l Task 1: Select one of the ancient/current
civilisations and their associated religious beliefs
(a suggested list was given) and describe and
explain its myth of creation story. Supporting
questions: What is the myth? How is it explained?
Are there any pieces of evidence/information
presented by the culture/community for the
existence of this belief system?
l Task 2: Describe and explain the scientific
‘myth of creation’. Supporting questions: What is
the Big Bang Theory? How is it explained? What are
the pieces of evidence/information presented by the
scientific community for the existnce of this belief?
l Task 3: Compare and contrast the differences
and similarities between the beliefs of your chosen
civilisation and the Big Bang Theory.
l Task 4: Evaluate the evidence/information
you have gathered and, if you so desire, make a
judgement on your position in relation to your
personal beliefs and the scientific understanding
of creation.
122 SSR September 2013, 95(350)
Figure 1 A section of a student’s essay about the
Aboriginal ‘myth of creation’ – she was interested in
her Australian background.
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The Big Bang Theory – multi-religious beliefs in the super-diverse science classroom
Final remarks
The ‘super-diverse’ classroom is a reality in
our urban schools and should not be taken for
granted. This important phenomenon of ‘superdiversity has profound implications for how
[teachers] might understand and deal with modes
of difference and their interactions within the
socio-economic [and educational] circumstances
affecting members of the [school] population.
This will certainly have impacts, for instance, on
Figure 2 A student’s poster about the Big Bang Theory
Figure 3 A section of a student’s hand-crafted work
on the Aztec ‘myth of creation’
Figure 4 A student’s artistic interpretation of the
story of the Big Bang
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The Big Bang Theory – multi-religious beliefs in the super-diverse science classroom
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Figure 5 A student’s comic book strip about the Christian ‘myth of creation’
the “community cohesion” agenda [including our
science classrooms]’ (Vertovec, 2006: 32).
Thus, science teachers and teacher educators
should be involved in developing learning episodes
that are sensitive to this, allowing all students to
engage with a more meaningful view of science
and the benefits it has given the human race,
without fear of giving up their religious beliefs.
Developing this project was a fantastic
experience as it enabled my students to engage
with scientific enquiry, as well as challenging
their perceptions about the world they live in.
Their feedback showed they became more aware
of the meaning of scientific evidence. This
included four open-ended questions that asked
students to comment about their engagement with
the task, the usefulness of the task in addressing
the differences between science and religion, their
understanding of the Big Bang Theory and a final
comment on their thoughts about the influence of
the project on their views about the world.
Many claimed to have learned how to ask
more meaningful and elaborate questions as
well as how to attempt to differentiate between
124 SSR September 2013, 95(350)
faith and the scientific method (in all its varied
formats). Evidence of these skills can be seen
in some of the students’ successful completion
of tasks 1 to 3. However, some students chose
not to do task 4. Their understanding of the Big
Bang Theory was then assessed through a reading
activity where students had to identify from the
text what were the main pieces of evidence for the
Big Bang Theory.
Although this was a time-consuming
endeavour, I believe the learning outcomes were
successfully achieved. Other science teachers in
my school decided to try out this project with their
own classes, achieving good student engagement
and understanding of the Big Bang Theory. The
clear definition of the success criteria, as well as
the links with their examinations, made the project
more relevant to students. The peer-marking also
proved to be an effective way to engage students
with the learning outcomes. We used a tick-sheet
with a list of the success criteria and a comment
box. The feedback was anonymous so students
felt more comfortable writing their thoughts about
their classmates’ answers.
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The Big Bang Theory – multi-religious beliefs in the super-diverse science classroom
Finally, ‘teaching itself is a creative enterprise
and the creativity of the teacher is applicable
in any subject: it is a combination of generic
skills that need to be developed and consciously
crafted over time’ (Padget, 2013: 10). The creative
teacher would then be able to promote engaging
learning episodes that allow students to develop a
critical and tolerant understanding of the ‘super-
Figure 6 A student’s work on the ancient Chinese ‘myth of creation’
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The Big Bang Theory – multi-religious beliefs in the super-diverse science classroom
diverse’ world they now live in. I would certainly
recommend that teachers try out alternative
classroom projects such as this, perhaps through
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cross-curricular work, enabling their students
to peer further into the meaning of science. The
opportunities are endless.
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Roussel De Carvalho is a Lecturer in Science Education (Physics specialism) and Physics and Physics
with Maths PGCE Course Leader at the Institute of Education, University of London.
Email: [email protected]; [email protected]
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