Induction exercises and openness of inquiry.

The text for this unit is long – but it didn’t make sense to cut up the first account of creation as it constitutes one ‘whole’. Because there are so many interesting points of departure in this unit we suggest that you make a decision before preparing your class about which of these three themes you want to make the focus of the class (creation, God seeing his creation as ‘ good/very good’, and ‘blessing’). Once you have chosen a focus, we suggest starting with an induction piece that begins to orient the student’s minds around the richness of the concept you have chosen. Which piece we think serves this task the best is noted as a suggestion at the end of each leading idea.  The danger with induction pieces is that they steer the teacher to then ‘teach to the text’  rather than allowing the students to jump in with their own questions – it is a delicate balance. On one hand, to set up their frame of mind, on the other, not to dictate how to read or interpret. Yet without an induction piece in a text as long and rich as this, the danger is that the questions will span such a wide field that it will be hard to establish a focus in a timely way and likely that the resources provided are not adequate to the range of topics. Ultimately, it is your call.